Dynamic start to the year for CustomCells: significant increase in revenue and record number of patents
Itzehoe / Tübingen, 14 May 2024. German battery pioneer CustomCells can look back on a successful first four months and is optimistic about the rest of the year. With a significant increase in patent applications, continuous growth in the workforce and an ambitious sales forecast, CustomCells is setting new heights. Contracted volumes alone will triple revenues in 2024. A recently published white paper highlights the cross-industry demand for customised battery solutions and their importance for the breakthrough of electrified mobility.
Innovation drive: almost 40 patent applications in one year
CustomCells has successfully expanded its intellectual property (IP) portfolio and significantly increased the number of patent applications. In doing so, the company is first and foremost securing its major, imminent growth ambitions. With this initiative, CustomCells is protecting cutting-edge technology that is well ahead of mass producers and is being scaled by CustomCells itself to a gigawatt scale.
Most of the applications relate to manufacturing processes and cell design. CustomCells is not only focusing on the current generation of cells, but also on the next two generations.
“Our strength is that we are one of the few companies that can produce the next generation of cells today. We are securing this lead through patent applications,” says Dr Dirk Abendroth, CEO of CustomCells. “Our unique position is that we are strong in both the design of the battery cells and the manufacturing process. This capability is the key to the industrialisation of highly innovative battery technology.”
As a spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute, CustomCells has a strong tradition of innovation. Together with its customers, such as Lilium, the company works at the limits of what is technically feasible. Abendroth: “We have combined cutting-edge cell technologies and the corresponding production technologies in a modular industrial toolkit that enables us to fulfil the individual wishes of our premium customers with pinpoint accuracy and low complexity. The high-quality patent portfolio secures not only our market position but also our profitability.”
Employment drive: significant expansion
Contrary to the general trend in the industry, CustomCells has increased its workforce to 225 employees (April 2024). This represents growth of almost 140% since 2021 (95) and underlines the company’s commitment to creating highly skilled jobs in Germany. The workforce is also very international, with employees from 29 countries of origin. The proportion of women currently stands at just over 20% – roughly the same as the gender distribution in the relevant engineering degree programmes. CustomCells wants to increase its attractiveness as an employer, especially for women.
New white paper on e-mobility
On the occasion of the “Advanced Automotive Battery Conference” in Strasbourg (13-16 May 2024), where CustomCells will participate, the company publishes its second white paper. Entitled “Energizing innovation: Tailored battery solutions for next-gen eMobility”, it provides an overview of the electrification of mobility and the importance of appropriate battery cells for this.
“We see a huge demand for focused battery solutions in many areas of mobility,” says Eric Swedersky, Senior Vice President Commercialisation at CustomCells. “Only customised solutions for harder applications will enable the breakthrough on a broad basis.”
The white paper is not just about electric cars, but about transforming the entire transport ecosystem to make it more efficient, safer and greener. In this fast-moving and disruptive environment, battery cells are becoming a key component of innovation, enabling higher performance, longer range and faster charging.
Their role is moving beyond that of a pure power source to become the key to advanced mobility solutions, powering urban and commercial vehicles, ships, aircraft and the full spectrum of electrified vehicles – including, for example, in agriculture.
The white paper analyses the current landscape, the evolving market needs and technological breakthroughs that will lead to the energy transition and electrified mobility where energy is used sustainably and efficiently.
The white paper can be downloaded here: https://customcells-electromobility.com/