ALTe Powertrain Technologies has entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Chinese-based investment firm MESA Century to fund production of its range-extended electric powertrain technology.
Under the agreement, ALTe will own one third of the Joint Venture known as MESA Industrial Technology Corporation which will be dedicated to serving the medium duty bus and truck market in the P.R.C. with opportunities to export globally on multiple vehicle applications.
Additionally, the Joint Venture will foster the creation of new energy vehicle component technology company partnerships dedicated to supplying the JV and ALTe with state of the art, high quality, efficient and affordable electronic devices needed in the growing electric and plug in hybrid vehicle ecosystem.
A total of $200 million USD has been committed to the JV at this stage. Under the agreement, $70 million will go directly to ALTe’s suburban Detroit operation to fund engineering and capital equipment — $55 million will go to engineering and $15 million to equipment.
The joint venture is required to reach a production capacity of 240,000 units in China within two years and must generate revenue within 12 months.
To meet the demand, ALTe will ramp up to 125 employees from the current 43. Ninety percent will be in product engineering, in suburban Detroit ahead of full production in China. ALTe will perfect the manufacturing process here and replicate it in China, before opening up three more plants to reach capacity in 2014.
