Banner Batteries secures €60m lead batteries order for North America

Austrian-based lead battery manufacturer Banner Batteries has secured an order worth €60m (£53.6m) for the North American market.

The family-owned business is set to supply 1.5 million lead batteries to the US and Canada, to be retrofitted to European vehicles.

The company’s head of sales and marketing Franz Märzinger commented: “Starting in 2021, we will be delivering lead batteries in the six-digit range to the USA every year.”

“In North America, the market share of European vehicles is around 15%. The market potential is therefore very large.”

Banner’s commercial director, Andreas Bawart, said the order would “make a significant contribution to securing jobs in Austria”. Banner has a workforce of around 800, with 520 employed at its Leonding base. Europe’s lead battery manufacturing sector boosts the EU economy – employing more than 20,000 people across 15 member states, and many more through the value chain.

Banner’s Linz-Leonding location numbers among the most modern battery plants in Europe. Photo credit: Banner Batterien

Banner produces and sells over 4 million starter batteries annually. Banner’s work is demonstrating the strength of the EU’s lead battery value chain. The EU-based lead battery value chain is proven, economically sustaining and operates in a fully closed loop embracing circular economy principles. Approximately €2 billion worth of lead from recycled sources is used per year for EU lead battery production.

Lead batteries are key to achieving the EU’s low carbon aims. As the technology behind ‘start-stop’ micro-hybrid vehicles, lead batteries are delivering up to 8% CO2 savings in a highly cost-effective manner. Lead batteries are an essential onboard component in all forms/categories of hybridisation and full electric vehicles and contribute to the decarbonisation of the transport sector.

The lead battery industry already sets the standard for others to follow in the EU’s circular economy. Thanks to its long-established collection and recycling scheme, almost all used lead batteries are collected at end-of-life for recycling – the highest recycling rate of all battery technologies.

The average lead battery made in the EU today contains more than 80% recycled materials, and almost all of the lead recovered in the recycling process is used to make new lead batteries.

Banner battery production. Photo credit: Banner Batterien

Originally published by World Energy News.

Read more for why analysts predict a high-growth future for lead batteries.

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