Workhorse partners with Coulomb Solutions for battery systems

Workhorse Group Inc., an American technology company focused on providing drone-integrated electric vehicles to the last mile delivery sector, announced today that it has entered into a supply agreement with Coulomb Solutions, Inc. (CSI), the North American distributor of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) commercial vehicle battery systems, to provide battery systems for its electric delivery vehicles.

The CATL battery systems supplied by CSI will power Workhorse’s advanced composite C-650 and C-1000 delivery vans starting in the second quarter of this year. CSI recently completed the validation of a new 120 kilowatt-hour (kWh) Lithium-Iron Phosphate battery system in Workhorse’s C-1000 delivery platform and will be providing production quantities starting in May 2021.

“We selected the CSI/CATL battery systems for their proven performance over the last decade in commercial EVs worldwide as well as their high safety level, light weight, and wide range of off-the-shelf battery systems from 40 to over 600kWh,” said Workhorse CEO Duane Hughes. “These systems will enable Workhorse to offer our customers a variety of EV driving ranges and with an excellent battery warranty backed by a global, blue-chip enterprise. Incorporating CSI/CATL battery systems into our vehicles enables us to provide a dual benefit of overall superior performance while supporting greater pay-load capacities.”

CATL is a battery manufacturer with more than 60 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of current production capacity and facilities capable of another 70-plus GWh capacity underway. CATL batteries power more than 1.2 million electric vehicles, including over 330,000 trucks and buses currently operating.

Based in Livermore, Calif., CSI optimizes battery system solutions using CATL’s 100 unique pack/cell combinations to match drive system voltages and provide desired energy capacities. The CSI/CATL LFP battery systems selected by Workhorse are rated at up to 160 Wh/kg, which the company said match today’s Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) packs.

“Workhorse is a North American automotive technology leader, and we’re looking forward to supplying CSI/CATL’s high-quality lithium battery systems to support their flagship delivery vehicles,” said CSI CEO David Mazaika. “CATL’s LFP battery systems are rated for an industry-leading 4000 cycles at 100% depth of discharge at 1C which will provide the Workhorse vehicles with exceptionally long battery life. Based on the proven capabilities of CATL battery systems, which have travelled over 25.6 billion miles in over 330,000 commercial EVs worldwide, we believe these new Workhorse vehicles will be setting the industry standard in reliability and performance.”