Valence Technology and The Tanfield Group Plc Sign a Supply Agreement for Lithium Phosphate Battery Packs
Thursday February 7, 9:05 am ET
AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Valence Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNC - News) today announced it has entered into a contract with The Tanfield Group Plc (LSE: TAN - News) 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.â€Â
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.â€Â
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 http://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 http://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. (http://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. (http://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.
Contact:
for Valence Technology, Inc.
Pierpont Communications, Inc.
Helen Rodriguez, +1 512 448-4950
Media Relations
or
Pierpont Investor Relations
A. Pierre Dubois, +1 512 527-2921
Director of Investor Relations
or
UK Company Contact:
Valence Technology Inc
Mark Donaghy, +44 28 9084 5401
Global Marketing Manager
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Source: Valence Technology, Inc.
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