Dutch battery startup Eleo has already outgrown its first factory

The diesel engine is on its way out, even in heavy equipment used in construction, mining and agriculture. The main issue standing in the way is the battery pack: unlike in the automotive world, standardization of batteries is difficult. After all, a steamroller has very different requirements in terms of energy and power than a small excavator. Additionally, customized solutions are relatively expensive and time consuming to develop.

This is the untapped market that Eleo has sunk its teeth into. The young Helmond-based company has come up with a modular concept that allows the manufacturing of batteries of a wide capacity range at a reasonable price. “To customers, it seems like we deliver custom solutions, even though under the hood ninety percent of the engineering has already been figured out. That way, we can achieve reasonable scale in a high-mix, low-volume market,” says Eleo CTO Bram van Diggelen.