USA / Canada – Newly established (2019) battery supplier, American Battery Solutions Inc* (ABS) of Lake Orion, Michigan (MI), has signed a multi-year contract with Canada’s Winnipeg-based bus manufacturer, NFI Group Inc to supply custom battery packs for installing in New Flyer’s latest 35-, 40-and 60-foot battery-electric transit buses in North America. ABS stated that its Li-Ion batteries have been fully designed, tested, and validated at its engineering and development centre located in Lake Orion with pack production scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2023 at ABS' Springboro, OH manufacturing facility. Deliveries to NFI are expected to start in Q1, 2024.

In a statement, ABS said: ‘This scalable custom designed pack solution is based on the ABS ProLiance Intelligent Battery Series architecture and fits inside NFI’s existing battery enclosure design, providing an alternate source of supply for NFI’s battery-electric bus contracts and creating opportunity for technology enhancements. ABS has secured cell supply by partnering with world-class cell makers in strategic alliances. These partnerships have resulted in the signing of long-term supply agreements to ensure cell supply through to the end of the decade.’‍