Technology company, Torotrak, says it expects to acquire the remaining 80% of flywheel innovator, Flybrid, in November or December this year.
Torotrak took the initial 20% stake in Flybrid to supply turnkey development and manufacture of complete flywheel hybrid systems for buses, trucks, passenger cars, commercial and off-highway vehicles, but now intends to accelerate its ownership.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“If we do this – realistically it is November/December,” Torotrak CEO, Jeremy Deering, told just-auto today (25 July) on the sidelines of the company’s Annual General Meeting at the Heritage Motor Centre in the UK’s Midlands region.
“The timetable is complicated by the fact we have to get shareholder approval – it is a class 1 transaction – that all adds at least a couple of months administration time.
“One of the things I genuinely felt Flybrid does for us is create a different looking company.
“They [Flybrid] are very motivated and very canny – the combination is going to be very powerful. Flybrid will be the branding for all mechanical KERS [energy recovery system] activities – it is a great name.”
Torotrak has shown the M-KERS/Flybrid flywheel energy recovery system in a Volvo S60 prototype test vehicle programme that it says delivered 25% fuel savings.
The next step will be to engage with a Tier 1 manufacturing partner as part of a vehicle development programme.
The Torortak chief executive also hailed this year’s start of The Proving Factory manufacturing initiative, in which the technology provider is one of the lead partners.
Aiming to bring low-carbon technologies to market, The Proving Factory has seen funding of GBP12m (US$15.9m) via the Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI).
“It is an arrangement which has the capability to work really well,” said Deering. “What I would be really happy to see is some of the sponsors such as Jaguar or Land Rover, or others acting as customers for the product, that would be tremendous.
“I have not had discussions about this yet, but I think customer confidence levels are critical.”
