Quantron succeeded in closing the A financing round with up to €50 million, following a successful seed round back in March 2021. Among other investors, the more prominent ones include the German machinery and equipment producer Neuman & Esser and Canadian fuel cell tech group Ballard Power Systems.
The fresh funding will probably be used to place a larger focus on heavy-duty trucks and to expand the QaaS ecosystem with their new partners. Further, the mission is to create a 360-degree open ecosystem that will offer zero-emission H2 generation and fueling capabilities.
Michael Perschke, CEO of Quantron, highlighted that the financing round allows his firm to further the development of its fuel cells, thus accelerating the adoption of hydrogen as an energy source.
“However, we don’t see ourselves as a competitor to existing OEMs – but rather as an engineering and H2-fueling platform partner, thus allowing the acceleration of hydrogen adoption as a source of energy for transportation with a focus on heavy duty and long-distance transportation.”
The first fuel cell truck
Neuman & Esser, which bring battery technology know-how to the table, are also looking at hydrogen as a fuel source as an additional component of the decarbonization efforts around the mobility sector.
By creating a fully integrated mobility platform, they believe they will be well placed to play a major role in pushing the sector to net-zero carbon emissions and offering a complete service to their clients.
Randy McEwen, CEO of Ballard Power Solutions, spoke about the integration of a vehicle expert with a leading fuel cell supplier and the benefits that can come out of such a cooperation.
“This is really one of the world’s first commercially available fuel cell trucks for the demanding 44-ton heavy segment. And we know of course moving forward over the next years and decades that freight logistics will grow and GHG-emissions will therefore grow unless we have market value zero emission solutions.”
Finally, Quantron, as part of its strategic reorientation, will stop selling buses from the Turkish firm Karsan in Germany at the end of 2022. Though, the area of converting vehicles to use alternative fuels remains an important part of their business for now.
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Source: https://finbold.com/neuman-esser-and-ballard-invest-e50-million-into-quantron-to-accelerate-hydrogen-adoption/