Automotive component manufacturer and distributor Metair is centralising its research and development (R&D) work in Turkey, in an attempt to bolster the company’s ability to produce affordable start/stop batteries.

The new R&D centre is part of an expansion plan in which Metair aims to build its vehicle battery production capacity to 50-million batteries a year within the next five years, up from the current 11-million batteries a year, says MD Theo Loock.

This expansion programme will also see new global acquisitions, adding to the two already completed, one of these being Mutlu Akü, a lead-acid battery manufacturer and distributor in Turkey and the Middle East.

The R&D centre will be managed by a new structure, Metair International Batteries (MIB), which will also act as an international battery sales company for the Mutlu, Rombat and First National Battery brands.

Loock says MIB was formed when Metair in 2014 failed to clinch two international start/stop battery supply contracts, one with BMW and the other with Mercedes-Benz.

Metair also realised that the market for start/stop batteries was evolving. (A start/stop battery aids a vehicle in ‘switching’ off when idling at a traffic light or in traffic, thereby cutting fuel consumption and emission output.)

Many passenger cars are sold with a three-year or five-year warranty and/or maintenance plan, explains Loock. However, a start/stop battery may not outlive this warranty or maintenance plan, prompting vehicle manufacturers to seek batteries that will outlast the warranty and/or maintenance plan period.

“So, the rules of joining the club became more difficult.”

However, he adds that Mutlu has succeeded in meeting the specifications of what he calls the second generation of start/stop batteries.

The MIB R&D centre will employ 50 engineers and artisans.

The centre will be located in Turkey, and not South Africa, for a number of reasons, explains Loock.

The Turkish government offers attractive tax benefits and support initiatives to the centre, while there are also numerous chemical test facilities and laboratories available at Turkish universities and research centres.

Also, the Mutlu plant is the only facility that has all the relevant battery technology under one roof.

Another reason is that Turkey is closer to Metair’s main market for start/stop batteries – Europe – than South Africa.

Legislation in Europe will see more stringent demands on lowering vehicle emissions by 2016, which Loock believes can only be achieved through the use of start/stop batteries.

Ultimately, MIB is to aid Metair in achieving phase four of its redesign, says Loock. Phase one sought to wean Metair from its dependency on Toyota, with phase two targeting product and customer diversification, and phase three geographical aftermarket diversification.

Phase four ¬– globalisation – will probably take four to five times more work than the previous phases, says Loock.

While currently producing batteries on three continents – Europe, the Middle East and Africa – Metair will look “left and right” to acquire its new manufacturing sites, he adds.

ELECTRIC VEHICLES
It is possible that Metair “will eventually” add a lithium-ion battery producer to its fold, says Loock.

These batteries are used in electric vehicles (EVs).

At the moment, Metair “purely starts the vehicle, and does not supply the energy to run the vehicle” explains Loock.

He believes the lead-acid battery used in conventional internal combustion engine vehicles will remain in demand “for the next forty years”.

This is largely owing to the fact that most of the remarkable, persistent growth seen in global vehicle sales resides in the lower-cost section of the market, with EVs, and their battery technology still too expensive to garner mainstream support.