A Swatch-backed vehicle battery developed by research firm Belenos will take another 2 to 3 years to certify, Swatch CEO Nick Hayek stated in an interview with broadcaster SRF on Friday.
“We are in the process of putting a prototype into operation in Itingen, Basel, where we’ll test the first batteries with our partner Geely for the mobility of their cars,” Hayek stated in a tv interview released the day after the Swiss watchmaker’s full-year outcomes.
“However it will take another two to three years till we get the necessary certification.”
Hayek over the last few years had revealed he was taking Swatch in a new direction, launching a battery for electric cars with the objective of reaching sales of $10-15 billion by 2020. However investors have called the plan costly and unrealistic.
Hayek stated the research company, developed by his late father in 2008 as Belenos Clean Power Holding, where Swatch holds a 51 percent stake, was using the exact same innovation to engineer batteries for little devices such as e-bikes, drones and watches.
“It will continue a lot faster there,” he stated. “We have partners, including ones in Switzerland, with whom we’re currently evaluating the (smaller device) batteries in some cases.”
