Valence Technology and The Tanfield Group Plc Sign a Supply Agreement for Lithium Phosphate Battery Packs
February 07 2008 - 9:05AM
Business Wire
Valence Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNC) today announced it has
entered into a contract with The Tanfield Group Plc (LSE: TAN) to
manufacture and supply safe, Lithium Phosphate energy storage
systems to power zero emission, all-electric commercial delivery
vehicles. The Valence battery systems will be installed in
leading-edge vans and trucks produced by Tanfield�s UK-based
trading division, Smith Electric Vehicles, the world�s largest
manufacturer of electric vans and trucks. Under the agreement,
Tanfield will purchase up to $70 million of Valence products in the
contract�s first phase and Valence has already received a firm
purchase order for the first calendar quarter. The agreement will
also result in Tanfield becoming the first volume customer for
Valence�s third generation Lithium Phosphate Epoch� technology, a
battery system equipped with an advanced management system that
monitors and automatically adjusts cell performance so battery
packs operate at their optimum performance capacity. Epoch benefits
include a fail-soft capability that is designed to eliminate system
failure caused by a single cell and to have a life cycle comprised
of more than 2000 charge cycles when deep discharged in demanding
electric vehicle applications. �The Valence Epoch System which we
introduced at the December 2007 EVS-23 show has the potential to
move the industry closer to the tipping point when EVs and plug-in
HEVs will be broadly adopted and deployed,� said Robert L. Kanode,
president and CEO of Valence. �We believe that Valence is the first
Lithium Phosphate battery producer to have the sourcing and
manufacturing capability and start-to-finish infrastructure to
immediately ship safe, reliable, Lithium Phosphate energy storage
systems in the quantities demanded by the electric vehicle market.
For the past six months we have been working to scale up our proven
operational capabilities to meet anticipated demand.� Darren Kell,
Chief Executive of The Tanfield Group Plc, said �We are constantly
looking for new, cost-effective technologies that can improve our
zero emission commercial electric vehicles and broaden our customer
base. The Valence battery pack is an efficient, inherently robust
and reliable system that gives us greatly increased flexibility in
vehicle design.� Tanfield launched the first of its new generation
of Smith zero-emission commercial vehicles in December 2006 and has
quickly developed a wide customer portfolio across the UK and
mainland Europe, including Sainsbury�s Online, the Royal Mail, TNT
Express, Carlsberg, Balfour Beatty, Amey Construction and DHL Exel
Supply Chain. Smith launched its first United States-specific
vehicle at EVS-23 in California in December 2007. Conference Call
Scheduled For Later Today Valence management will discuss the
Tanfield contract during its Fiscal 2008 Third Quarter Conference
Call scheduled for 4:00 p.m. EST today, Thursday, February 7th. To
access Valence�s conference call via the Internet, please visit
www.valence.com. The conference is also available within the United
States and Canada by dialing 888-820-9409 and entering the passcode
9064825. Callers dialing into the conference from abroad must dial
913-312-1417 and enter passcode 9064825. About Valence Technology,
Inc. Valence Technology developed and markets the industry's first
commercially available, safe, large-format family of lithium
phosphate rechargeable batteries. Valence Technology holds an
extensive, worldwide portfolio of issued and pending patents
relating to its lithium phosphate rechargeable batteries, the only
intrinsically safe lithium rechargeable battery. The company has
its headquarters in Austin, Texas, and facilities in Las Vegas,
Nevada, Mallusk, Northern Ireland and�Suzhou, China. Valence is
traded on the Nasdaq Capital Markets under the ticker symbol VLNC
and can be found on the internet at www.valence.com. About The
Tanfield Group Plc The Tanfield Group Plc is the world's leading
developer and manufacturer of road-going commercial electric
vehicles and aerial work platforms. Tanfield is�headquartered in
Newcastle, United Kingdom with operations in both the North America
and EMEA regions. It has two main divisions: Smith Electric
Vehicles, was founded in 1920 and acquired by Tanfield in October
2004. Following its acquisition, Smith is developing into a world
leader in new technology electric vans and trucks with greatly
enhanced performance, speed and range capabilities. This makes them
attractive for all fleet operators in large towns, cities and
closed industrial environment. For the first time, these fleet
operators have economically viable, zero emission alternatives to
using diesel�vans and trucks. Smith has an unrivalled UK-wide
service and support network, which already maintains over 5,000
vehicles for major fleet operators. This core element of the
business is beginning to fulfill its potential in terms of
addressing the requirements of large urban fleet operators, who
want to reduce their operational costs and more importantly,
greatly reduce their carbon footprint. Smith's airport offering is
complemented by two specialist airport vehicle sub-divisions;
Jumbotugs and Norquip. (www.smithelectricvehicles.com) Powered
Access, contains two of the world's most established aerial
work�platform brands, UpRight Powered Access and Snorkel
International. UpRight is firmly established as the UK's biggest
manufacturer of self-propelled aerial work platforms (also known as
"cherry-pickers", "mobile elevating work platforms", "aerial
lifts", etc). UpRight has assembly facilities in the UK and USA,
with products sold through a strong network of over 180
independent, full-service distributors across Europe, the Middle
East and Asia-Pacific regions. Snorkel, acquired in July 2007, has
significant manufacturing capabilities along with strong sales and
distribution, in the USA and Australasia. Tanfield has been
successful in extending its powered access product range and is now
one of only three "full line" aerial lift manufacturers to have a
significant assembly footprint in both the North America and EMEA
regions, in what is a $7bn global market.
(www.upright.com/www.snorkelusa.com) Safe Harbor Statement Some
information included in this press release contains forward-looking
statements, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. These
statements can sometimes be identified by the use of
forward-looking words such as �may,� �will,� �anticipate,�
�estimate,� �except,� �scheduled,� or �intend� and similar
expressions. These statements reflect the current views and
assumptions of Valence, and are subject to various risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from expectations. Among the important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those in the
forward-looking statements is the actual level of product that
Tanfield purchases under the agreement; and Valence�s ability to
scale its manufacturing and other capacity to fulfill its
obligations under the contract; as well as other factors detailed
in Valence�s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on
10-Q. Valence does not undertake any obligation to update or
supplement any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent
events or circumstances and cannot assure that projected results or
events will be achieved.
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