Created in 2019 and based in Lempdes in France, GCK Battery, formerly known as Ion Battery System (IBS), designs, develops and manufactures lithium-ion batteries for professional and consumer devices. The company has currently 20 employees.
Interview with Laurent Achard, Business Development director at GCK Battery.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Laurent Achard: GCK Battery is active in 6 different segments of applications:
- E-mobility and more especially 2 and 4-wheelers such as electric bikes, scooters or L6/L7 vehicles;
- Motorsport;
- Marine
- Portable device in tooling and gardening;
- Industry: AVG, robotics, etc.
- Energy storage systems.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
L.A: GCK Batterry offers 3 types of products:
- Standard on-shelf 48V batteries which comes in the form of 3 different models. 24V batteries will be available soon;
- Modular batteries made of subunits available on shelf;
- Batteries co-designed with customers based on their needs with the support of our design office. They range from 3.6V to 1’000V.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
L.A: In June 2022, we will start selling to OEM customers a new range of 48V stand-alone batteries for embedded applications (both for electric mobility and energy storage). This is a variation of our current 48V range with different versions which are typified either power or energy. They are available in 5 and 7kWh and super easy to integrate.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
L.A: We witness 2 main markets trends. First, OEMs are greening their Industrial and professional fleet, therefore turning more and more towards electrification. Second, there is a growing demand from operators to retrofit their fleets. The fact that GCK Battery is both a producer and a system integrator give us a strong edge to answer their requests.
E.E: What is your most innovative product marketed?
L.A: Our co-designed batteries are currently our most innovative products as we are able to adapt quickly to our customers’ needs. Since we are fully integrated, we control every phase of the process and can offer a wide variety of configurations. Furthermore, the fact that our design office is involved from the beginning of the project and fully masters the BMS gives us the opportunity to develop very different solution to meet our customers’ requests.
E.E: What estimations do you have for 2022?
L.A: The battery market is growing quickly as the demand for electrification is stronger than ever. However, the pandemic and the war have had an impact, especially when it comes to the supply of components, therefore making it more difficult to meet the deadlines and to maintain the prices at the level where they were.
