Fast lane for Hyperdrive
Battery technology firm Hyperdrive Innovation is on track to double its turnover.
The firm is set to hit the £10million-a-year mark this year and could potentially pass the £20million mark by 2020.
Hyperdrive, which employs 40 people at its Sunderland HQ, makes battery packs for a wide range of electric vehicles including off-highway vehicles, municipal vehicles and autonomous and industrial machines.
The Asian market is proving particularly fruitful for the company. Earlier this year the firm signed a deal worth about £40m to enable Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxlink Group to produce and sell Hyperdrive’s modular battery pack across Asia.
With its global presence growing, Hyperdrive has appointed a new chief technology officer (CTO) to help to facilitate its ongoing expansion.
Dr Dave Sandells, previously employed by Dyson, Williams F1, GKN and electric vehicles firm Sevcon, has substantial engineering experience and expert knowledge in power electronics, electric vehicles and electrification technologies.
Commercial managing director Stephen Irish said: “Since we launched six years ago, we have put a lot of effort into developing our new products and getting the production facility up to speed. We are now at the scaling up stage, where we are primarily selling the products and helping customers to adopt them into their own products. The rate of growth we are expecting is, therefore, quite substantial.
“Of course, we still have a considerable research and development programme. The key driver here is to continue to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the battery technology. There are lots of markets we have been involved in that will be increasingly electrified over the next few years so a lot of our work will be helping customers to electrify their products.”
Hyperdrive’s growth has been supported by Sunderland City Council, which helped the company secure its base in the Future Technology Centre near Nissan. It has also assisted in organising overseas trade missions and in generating and protecting its intellectual property.
Coun Michael Mordey, deputy leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “Hyperdrive is a shining example of Sunderland’s world-class status in automotive, advanced manufacturing and knowledge economy.”