ITZEHOE (dpa-AFX) – More than seven months after bankruptcy, the northern German battery manufacturer CustomCells says it has completed its restructuring. The company, founded in 2012, has been downsized, as the new boss Benno Leuthner told the German Press Agency. The number of employees fell from around 230 to 100.
The location in Tübingen has been closed, as has been known since the summer. The factory there served, among other things, to supply the electric aircraft manufacturer Lilium. According to information at the time, CustomCells had to file for insolvency for key companies at the end of April, also because Lilium had not paid bills in the double-digit million range. The holding company was not affected.
CustomCells continues to produce lithium-ion battery cells in Itzehoe (Steinburg district) and will in future focus primarily on the defense and motorsport segments, as Leuthner said. In the past few months, production in Itzehoe has been at full capacity despite the bankruptcy.
Batteries are a growth market and of strategic importance. The International Energy Agency estimated the global battery market to be worth about $130 billion in 2024. The EU has the goal of covering 90 percent of demand from its own production by 2030.
Batteries for drones and racing cars
In the defense sector, CustomCells’ batteries are in demand for drones, for example, as Product Director Andreas Löhrke reported. In motorsports they are used to power racing cars. When asked, the managers did not provide individual customer names; they referred to the confidentiality of the business relationships.
CustomCells advertises that its own supply chains are largely independent of China. This is particularly important for the defense industry, said Löhrke. However, a raw material such as graphite, which is largely supplied from China, can hardly be replaced.
In July, CustomCells announced that a consortium of family offices led by Abacon and Salvia had provided an unspecified amount of money to support CustomCells during the restructuring. Family offices are companies that are intended to increase the wealth of rich families.
“We have been financed for so long that we can take the necessary steps towards development and industrialization for our customers and target markets and become profitable,” said Chief Technology Officer Jan Diekmann./lkm/DP/zb
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