New Energy for Innovation

Innovation arises from collaboration – and sometimes it ends up fitting inside a battery casing.

Lithium-ion batteries are more powerful and efficient than traditional lead-acid batteries. They also require no maintenance and have a significantly longer service life. Nevertheless, they have not been an option for many customers until now. The reason: the comparatively high upfront costs – depending on the application and capacity, lithium-ion batteries cost about two to three times as much as comparable lead-acid batteries.

“We’ve had lithium-ion batteries in our portfolio for a long time – but they were more of a premium solution,” explains Fabian Büssis-Kloß, Product Manager for Energy Solutions at KION. That’s why the company saw a need for action: “Our goal was to further develop lithium-ion technology so that it would become cost-effective for significantly more customers.”

Cost-efficient manufacturing

This is precisely where KION’s development project comes in. The goal is to develop and produce lithium-ion batteries in a way that makes them significantly more cost-efficient to manufacture – without compromising on quality, safety, or performance.

This is made possible by a completely new battery concept. Instead of developing a separate battery for each vehicle, KION relies on standardized “core batteries”. At their heart are standardized cell modules – a component that combines multiple battery cells into a compact unit. Depending on the vehicle type, the core batteries built from these modules are combined with custom balancing weights. This allows the same cell modules to be used in a wide variety of different vehicles .

Modular Approach

“With the modular approach, we significantly reduce the number of variants, simplify production and logistics, and lower costs at the same time,” explains Büssis-Kloß.

Another source of efficiency lies in the design of the batteries. Analyses of real-world usage data show that many vehicles have significantly lower energy requirements in everyday use than is often assumed. Instead of oversizing batteries, capacity and energy content will therefore be specifically tailored to the actual requirements of each application in the future.

Demand-based Design

“We can now design batteries to better meet specific needs, use materials more strategically, and make our production significantly more efficient,” says Büssis-Kloß: “This makes lithium-ion technology more economical and opens it up to a much broader customer base.”

The modular design also lays the foundation for a battery platform that is scalable over the long term. Currently, the standard lithium-ion battery platform is designed for 48- and 80-volt vehicles. Retrofit solutions are also intended to make it possible to convert existing vehicles to the new battery generation. Thus, the platform not only offers advantages in development and production but also creates potential for the after-sales sector.

Modular in concept, developed globally

The fact that this concept works is primarily the result of close collaboration across locations and national borders. The development work is being driven by a German-Chinese team.

In doing so, KION specifically leverages the strengths of both locations: While China, as the world’s leading producer of lithium-ion technology, provides the appropriate cell suppliers and the expertise for cell procurement, Germany focuses on developing the battery platform and its electronics. The selected cells are assembled into modules in China and shipped to Hamburg. Final assembly, the integration of the specially developed battery electronics, and comprehensive quality tests take place there.

For Fabian Büssis-Kloß, this is precisely where the project’s true strength lies: “The market is evolving at an incredible pace. With our direct access to the supply chain, we can respond to technological developments early on and continuously refine our battery platform. This puts us in a very strong position for the future.”

Greater availability, less storage

Instead of purchasing finished batteries with long lead times, control over key parts of the value chain remains in-house, and production can be flexibly coordinated with vehicle manufacturing. Final assembly in Hamburg makes it possible to supply batteries to the vehicle assembly line on a just-in-sequence basis – in exactly the configuration required.

This significantly reduces inventory levels and the variety of models. At the same time, the modular platform creates the conditions for integrating new generations of cells and technological developments into the company’s own products more quickly, thereby enabling a flexible response to the dynamics of the battery market.

Another advantage of the new platform is the in-house developed battery management system (Battery Management Unit, BMU). This “brain” of the battery controls communication between the battery, the vehicle, and the charger. Since KION develops and manufactures the BMU itself, it is precisely tailored to the requirements of its own vehicles. Unlike externally sourced systems, there is no need for the time-consuming process of adapting different components to ensure their compatibility.

Collaboration as a Key Success Factor

For Tim Lehmann, Energy Solutions Expert at KION and coordinator of the European Energy Core teams, collaboration is the true key to the project’s success: “For us, the battery fills an important gap in our portfolio. Above all, however, it demonstrates how well our teams work together across locations and countries.” The Energy Core Teams bring together market and customer perspectives from across Europe, contribute valuable experience to the project definition, and assist in recruiting test customers. In doing so, they lay an important foundation for the development of practical solutions.

At the same time, they play a crucial role in the successful market launch of the new battery: They support the local sales teams, answer even complex technical questions, and thereby give customers confidence. “Our Core teams have made a significant contribution to the fact that we had such a strong start with this product and that it has been so well received,” emphasizes Lehmann.

This close integration paid off particularly during the testing phase. Before the battery was approved for mass production, it was tested under a wide variety of conditions in real-world customer applications – from the cold of Finland to the heat of Spain. “Our goal was to identify and resolve potential weaknesses as early as possible, before they even reached the customer. Thanks to our international network, that wasn’t a problem,” says Lehmann, describing the development approach.

Innovation is Teamwork

Ultimately, the project demonstrates one thing above all: innovation does not arise solely from new technologies. It arises where people pool their expertise, share experiences, and develop solutions together. It is precisely this synergy that makes the development project more than just a new battery – and an example of how KION understands innovation today.