February 23, 2023: Rombat has given the green light to plans to install a new lead battery production line at its plant in Romania as part of a €10 million ($10.6 million) investment in the site for 2023.
Rombat said the lion’s share of the investment — the firm’s biggest such budget commitment in a decade — would be spent on the semi-automatic line for the production of heavy duty enhanced flooded batteries.
The move follows a commitment to expand production first reported by Batteries International last February.
Rombat is also building two solar power parks to give its battery-making facilities a greater degree of energy independence while reducing the carbon footprint and optimizing energy costs.
The new production line is intended for Rombat’s ‘Heavy Duty Champion’ HD-EFB batteries line and AGM batteries for cars with start-stop systems.
The HD-EFB batteries are suitable for both Euro 5/6 trucks and heavy vehicles with high energy requirements, “having a high resistance to vibrations and a number of charge cycles 10x higher than classic batteries, at a discharge of 17.5% continuously,” Rombat said.
On the solar projects, the first 4.2MW capacity park is to be co-financed with funds from Romania’s national recovery and resilience program (PNRR). Work is to start later this year.
The second solar park, with a capacity of 1MW, will be in Copșa Mică, where the company operates Rebat, its own recycling centre for used batteries.
Rombat said it will also invest in an oxygen production facility at Copșa Mică.
Last year, Rombat said it intended to also produce lithium ion batteries intended for customers developing photovoltaic parks or domestic users interested in installing home solar energy systems.
Rombat, one of three battery firms owned by South Africa-based automotive and energy storage group Metair Investments, was founded more than 40 years ago as Acumulatorul Bistrița.
The company changed its name in 1991 to SC Rombat and was state owned until 1996 ,when it was privatized and sold to its employees. Metair acquired the firm in 2012.
Metair had hoped to find a buyer for its international batteries division — which includes Mutlu Akü in Turkey and South Africa’s First National Battery — by the end of last year.
However, a Metair spokesperson told Batteries International on December 15 that offers received to date “were not suitable for the current environment” and the board was “revisiting strategic options”.
