NEUMAN & ESSER and Ballard Invest in QUANTRON

As part of a financing round for Quantron AG of up to 50 million euros, the world-leading fuel cell expert Ballard Power Systems Inc. from Canada and the German hydrogen plant specialist NEUMAN & ESSER are investing in Quantron AG. With a company valuation of 250 million euros, NEUMAN & ESSER acquires a minority stake and also secures an option for further investment.

(Gersthofen/Übach-Palenberg/Burnaby) This underscores the machinery and plant manufacturer’s commitment to this strategic partnership. Ballard Power also acquires a minority stake in the single-digit million range and additionally enters into a development cooperation with QUANTRON for the accelerated market introduction of fuel cell trucks with up to 4 platforms in the next 12 months.

The Quantron AG specializes in battery and hydrogen-electric commercial vehicles. With Quantron-as-a-Service (QaaS), it offers a 360-degree OEM-open ecosystem for its customers. The financing round serves to accelerate the development of further BEVs and FCEVs with a focus on heavy-duty trucks and to further expand the QaaS ecosystem together with QUANTRON’s partner network. In the future, customers will be provided with a 360-degree platform as Hydrogen Alliance, which will include not only zero-emission H₂ vehicles but also the associated infrastructure from H₂ production to refueling.

Focus Areas Around Hydrogen

NEUMAN & ESSER focuses on products and services related to hydrogen to support customers in decarbonizing their energy or industrial systems and decentralized applications. A significant part of the product portfolio concentrates on the production and utilization of climate-neutral hydrogen. The globally operating corporate group contributes to the Hydrogen Alliance by providing the necessary infrastructure, particularly electrolyzers and reformer technologies, as well as piston and membrane compressors for transport and storage, up to complete hydrogen filling stations and bottling plants. With its comprehensive portfolio, NEUMAN & ESSER enables sector coupling as an important prerequisite for the transformation of the fossil fuel-based oil & gas sector into a sustainable economy with climate-neutral hydrogen.

Minority Stake

The world-leading fuel cell experts from BALLARD POWER SYSTEMS have acquired a minority stake in Quantron AG as part of the financing round to accelerate the introduction of fuel cell vehicles in Europe and the USA. Ballard’s investment aims to support the development of fuel cell vehicle platforms under a Joint Development Agreement (“JDA”). Ballard will be the exclusive fuel cell supplier for QUANTRON for these truck platforms.

As an important partner of the Hydrogen Alliance, Deutsche Tamoil / HEM has joined as the first gas station operator and will work with QUANTRON to examine the feasibility of H2 filling stations along its more than 400 HEM gas stations in Germany. These are to be upgraded in a staggered process with H2 refueling options, with a focus also on refueling heavy-duty vehicles of QUANTRON’s customers.

Necessary Room for Development

“We want to provide our customers with the best possible solution. The successfully completed financing round gives us the necessary room to further develop our FCEV development and our environmentally friendly offerings while also solidifying our necessary partner network. With this setup, we will meet our customers’ needs excellently, including range, payload, and refueling time. However, we do not see ourselves as competitors to existing OEMs, but rather as platform partners for engineering and H2 refueling to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen as an energy source for transport, with a focus on heavy-duty and long-distance transport,” said Michael Perschke, CEO of QUANTRON.

“Hydrogen applications are, alongside battery technology, for which we also offer solutions, the second essential component of decarbonizing the mobility sector. To meet the growing demand for hydrogen in this sector, we combine our strategic partnership infrastructure know-how with fuel cell vehicle technology into an ecosystem. This creates access for the increasing number of customers to a fully integrated mobility platform,” said Stefanie and Alexander Peters, Managing Partners of NEUMAN & ESSER.

Market-Ready Zero-Emission Solutions

“This is one of the world’s first commercially available fuel cell trucks for the demanding 44-ton segment. We know that freight logistics will increase in the coming years and decades, along with greenhouse gas emissions, unless we have market-ready zero-emission solutions. We are therefore very pleased to tackle this market opportunity in partnership with QUANTRON, where we bring together an expert in vehicle integration and a leading fuel cell provider,” explained Randy McEwen, CEO of Ballard Power Solutions.

Photo: © Quantron / Image Caption: NEA Group MD Jens Wulff & Quantron AG board members Andreas Haller & Michael Perschke announce investment and collaboration