Innovation sparks success for local battery firm
Most of our client companies are early stage businesses. Many of them are prerevenue. They are figuring out their value propositions, fighting for early adopter customers and pivoting products and features to better solve bigger problems in the markets they hope to serve.
For a young company, it's never easy and the hard work is never over. It's a long, difficult battle full of fits and starts and failure before success.
That's why it is especially inspiring when an Oklahoma startup sprints out ahead of the pack and continues to grow and mature as a business — especially when that startup is unique in an industry that is expanding worldwide.
Spiers New Technologies (SNT), based in Oklahoma City, is the leading fullservice provider of services and battery life cycle management for advanced battery packs used in hybrid and electric vehicles.
To original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) electric cars and trucks, Spiers Technologies provides an ISO 9001-certified, one-stop solution that includes everything from safety screening of battery packs to repair, refurbishment or remanufacturing for packs that can be redeployed in vehicles. The company supplies complete logistics management of the battery packs, including climatecontrolled storage and endof-life recycling preparation.
How many battery packs are we talking about? More than 2,500 a week.
Just what is SNT's secret sauce?
Proprietary battery grading algorithms, expert engineering talent, and a total commitment to quality and customer service that has given virtually every OEM that produces an electric or hybrid car or truck a reason to do business with Spiers.
There is no company in the world with more experience in this field.
The latest exciting development with SNT is that the company has expanded internationally, duplicating its Oklahoma remanufacturing and servicing facility with an 34,000-square-foot location in Ede, The Netherlands.
“Our customers are global and now we have become a global supplier to OEMs worldwide,” SNT CEO Dirk Spiers said. “We are just 4 years old, and it is now accepted that our vision is real and works because we have proven it. What we are doing is the way of the future.”
SNT is continuing to mature as a company with about 75 employees in Oklahoma City and another five in The Netherlands.
The firm continues to launch new lines.
One example is the company is designing and building energy storage systems for non-vehicle applications such as stationary electricity storage, vehicle recharging stations, and solar support. There are plans for a West Coast location as well as operations in China. SNT has received the Frost & Sullivan Market Leadership Best Practices Award.
“The whole electric vehicle market is getting bigger,” Spiers said. “We are very aggressive at getting better and better.
“We are leaders in that value chain and have created new ways to integrate into our customers' businesses to work as a partner rather than a supplier. We are at it seven days a week.”
With Spiers Technologies, we have an industry leader born and headquartered in Oklahoma that is growing into a global corporation.
That's thrilling and amazing.
It's what Oklahoma innovation is all about. Scott Meacham is president and CEO of i2E Inc., a nonprofit corporation that mentors many of the state's technology-based startup companies. i2E receives state appropriations from the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology. Contact Meacham at i2E_Comments@i2E.org.