Skeleton and Siemens Sign Off on Partnership

Skeleton Technologies and Siemens have agreed on a technology partnership for the development, planning and implementation of a fully automated, digital manufacturing technology for the production of supercapacitors in Germany. The production line is to be used in a new Skeleton factory in Markranstädt, Leipzig, Germany, and is projected to reduce production costs by around 90% within the 5-year project.

The collaboration aims to achieve the digitization of Skeleton's value chain—from supercapacitor cell design to production and services—and expand to the production of next-generation supercapacitors. Siemens supports this with its Digital Enterprise portfolio as well as domain know-how in industrial battery cell production. It is planned to expand business relations between the two companies.

Skeleton's supercapacitors are used in automotive, transport, grid and industrial applications and allow to reduce CO2 emissions and save energy. With the use of "curved graphene" material, Skeleton's supercapacitors offer high power density, almost instant charging and discharging and long lifetimes.

"Supercapacitors are a key element in dramatically reducing emissions in the power generation, transportation and industrial sectors," says Taavi Madiberk, CEO, and co-founder of Skeleton Technologies.

The new factory for the next generation of supercapacitor cells in Markranstädt is scheduled to start production in 2024 and produce up to 12 million cells a year. It will be built in two phases, with the second one to be completed in 2025. The factory will have 40 times more output than Skeleton’s current production site in Großröhrsdorf, and 240 jobs are expected to be created.

"With our holistic automation and digitalization portfolio, we can use the appropriate tools and our industrial know-how together with Skeleton, from greenfield planning to factory simulation and optimized high-end production, to realize a highly efficient, fully automated production line that is unique in the world," says Guido Feind, head of Siemens Digital Industries Germany.

"Skeleton already has a strong business relationship with Siemens, but thanks to this partnership, we will now also benefit from their world-class expertise in electrification, automation and digitalization to expand our manufacturing," says Dr. Linus Froböse, chief operating officer of Skeleton Technologies. "This ramp-up will allow us to meet market demand for our next-generation products and make our new factory the largest and most modern supercapacitor factory in Europe."

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.