Hexagon Purus trucks to be powered by Panasonic batteries
Hexagon Purus has signed a multi-year supply contract with Panasonic in North America. Panasonic will deliver battery cells for use in electric trucks. Even before the first delivery, Hexagon Purus is investing several million to secure production capacity.
Under the supply agreement, Hexagon Purus will make an upfront payment of around $43 million (€39.3 million) by 2025, provided Panasonic reaches certain milestones – these presumably relate to the construction of the battery factory reportedly began in November 2022. However, with this upfront payment, Hexagon Purus secures key production capacity from Panasonic’s new Kansas plant, with deliveries starting in 2026.
Initially, the cells were to be produced in Kelowna, Canada. Hexagon emphasises that the cells from Kansa will meet the subsidy requirements under the US Inflation Reduction Act.
“We are thrilled to announce this landmark agreement with Panasonic, which further solidifies our leading battery system and vehicle integration offering in North America,” said Todd Sloan, executive vice president of Hexagon Purus. He also called the deal “a strong validation of our technology and will provide us a solid competitive platform to deliver quality solutions to our customers”.
Hexagon Purus only recently signed an agreement with Hino Motors Sales USA to exclusively distribute battery-electric heavy-duty trucks manufactured by Hexagon Purus for the US market through dealers in the Hino network. Based on a Hino chassis, the vehicles are scheduled to go into series production in 2024.
“Securing our battery supply chain has been an important objective for Hexagon Purus to deliver on our customer contracts such as the recently announced distribution agreement with Hino to produce complete battery electric heavy-duty vehicles for the US market,” said Morten Holum, CEO of Hexagon Purus.
Still, America is a relatively new market for the company from Norway. It now specialises in zero-emission vehicle technology, including hydrogen, for which it recently opened a factory in Maryland.
Clearly, Hexagon feels vindicated in its expansion. In today’s news, they mention recent political advances such as the initiatives to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles in California. The US state reportedly wants to introduce stricter environmental regulations and, for example, make manufacturers gradually put more electric trucks on the road from 2024 and phase out diesel. By 2045, all vehicles sold must be zero emission according to ACT regulation. Six other states – namely New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington and Vermont – which, together with California, account for about 20 per cent of heavy-duty vehicle sales nationwide, have already committed to following the stricter standards. Colorado and Main are in the process of adopting the new rules.
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