Tropical Battery optimistic on place for products in electric vehicles and renewable energy industries

AS electric vehicles (EVs) go mainstream and greater efforts are being taken to lessen global carbon emission, Tropical Battery Limited said its outlook was positive for the use of its products in the electric automotive and green energy industries.

Managing director of Tropical Battery, Alexander Melville said that the prospects for continued growth in its battery business remain strong despite a universal shift to more electrically charged vehicles.

“The shift to EVs and those types of cars is going to be very positive for us. All EVs on the current market, including Tesla and others, use two batteries. One battery that runs the car and actually replaces the combustion engine, and the second battery which is the same battery that we sell — a conventional battery that starts the car, runs the radio, lights etc,” Melville said while speaking at Mayberry’s weekly investor’s forum held last Wednesday.

“We were at first concerned about it, in terms of how it will work, but it’s definitely going to be positive for us,” he stated.

The junior market-listed company which extracts some 80 per cent of its business from battery sales, commanding as much as 70 per cent of market share, currently operates across a network of over 1000 dealers and re-sellers. As part of its strategic plan to grow earnings the 70-year-old company last year added some new products, including the distribution of Hankook and Laufenn tyre brands and lithium-ion batteries.

Melville noted that while these lithium-ion batteries tend to be a little more expensive than their regular counterparts, they are often more durable and fit in with the new renewable energy thrust. He said the product was also great for home and business use and it can be utilised for a solar, wind and or other renewable energy back-up system.

He said that currently the demand for these types of batteries from his company has also been gaining traction in sales following its introduction to the local market last year.

“They’ve been selling really well and we have sold off the first container [valued at over $50-60 million] and now we are on our second container. It’s selling very well for a completely new space in the energy storage business than just the traditional, legacy automotive type of business.

“We see this area in the lithium-ion and other renewable-type batteries continuing to grow for the next 10/20 years — it’s just a great space to be in. We want to expand more into all energy solutions and help in this transition — moving to cleaner energy and providing storage capacity for people who want to make that transition to having cleaner energy instead of from oil and other forms of energy production,” Melville said.