E-mobility specialist Quantron expands into North America
The German company Quantron, a provider of mobility solutions for environmentally friendly goods and passenger transport, wants to enter the North American market.
The Augsburg-based company currently not only supplies numerous European customers with battery- and hydrogen-electric commercial vehicles such as trucks and buses to sustainably reduce CO2 emissions, but also offers a 360° product & solution ecosystem around zero-emission mobility.
Several requests from US fleet operators for these new technologies have supported the decision to expand into North America, Quantron said in a recent statement.
Based on its strategic partnership with Canadian fuel cell expert Ballard Power Systems, Quantron's goal is to become one of the pioneers in the hydrogen-based zero-emission long-range vehicle segment in the US. By 2025, Quantron aims to generate around 50 per cent of its sales in the North American market, with a strong focus on hydrogen solutions for long-haul transport such as Class 8 trucks.
"The establishment of a subsidiary in the US is an important step towards our goal of putting zero-emission vehicles on the road worldwide. In Europe, nearly 100 vehicles converted by Quantron are already successfully in use," says Michael Perschke, board member and CEO of Quantron AG. For the USA, Quantron sees the potential of a triple-digit volume annually in the first few years.
Before joining Quantron, Richard Haas was Managing Director and CEO of automotive start-up Mahindra Automotive North America, where he established a new assembly plant in the Detroit area. Before that, he was Director of Engineering for the Tesla Model S and is a veteran of Ford Motor Company, including a five-year stint at Ford South America, where he was part of a task force that included the launch of several new products at a greenfield assembly complex in northeast Brazil.
There is a steadily growing demand in the US for vehicles with alternative powertrains. As recently as the end of September, the Biden administration announced an eight billion US dollar funding base to establish regional clean hydrogen hubs (H2Hubs) across the country to form a critical branch of America's future clean energy economy.