The Course for Savings
In 2019 alone, three researchers from the UK, America and Japan won the Nobel Prize for "Creating Lithium-Ion Batteries". Although the development itself appeared first back in the '70s. Victoria Klein, Founder of EnSol, the energy efficient solutions company in MOSCOW, told about who is currently producing such batteries in Russia and how to turn from an unpopular green business into a market leader in ten years.
- Why did you decide to go into the lithium-ion battery business? What are the prospects for this direction today?
- When we chose the direction for our business, we were primarily guided by the fact that this topic was not that popular at the time. However, preliminary analysis showed that the company had a chance to take a large market share in the coming years. We're glad we weren't wrong in our predictions. Today, the prospect for lithium-ion batteries lies in my opinion in the environmental friendliness of the technology and its application in a huge number of industries.
- What is the situation with lithium-ion battery production in Russia? What exactly are your main advantages over competitors?
- Production of lithium-ion batteries is actively gaining momentum in Russia. On the one hand, we get new competitors every year - a kind of "gold rush" period. But at the same time, the subject matter becomes clear to a wider range of consumers and this helps us grow further as a producer. Since we were the flagship of this industry in Russia, we are known as the main manufacturer of such products for loading equipment. The EnSol brand is already somewhat of a household name in its segment. For example, like a xerox in a printing machine. We have been developing our product for ten years, each time we carry out quality work on mistakes improving both technical properties and internal processes. I can say that we always listen carefully to our customers. And that's our main advantage.
- When we chose the direction for our business, we were primarily guided by the fact that this topic was not that popular at the time. However, preliminary analysis showed that the company had a chance to take a large market share in the coming years. We're glad we weren't wrong in our predictions. Today, the prospect for lithium-ion batteries lies in my opinion in the environmental friendliness of the technology and its application in a huge number of industries.
- What is the situation with lithium-ion battery production in Russia? What exactly are your main advantages over competitors?
- Production of lithium-ion batteries is actively gaining momentum in Russia. On the one hand, we get new competitors every year - a kind of "gold rush" period. But at the same time, the subject matter becomes clear to a wider range of consumers and this helps us grow further as a producer. Since we were the flagship of this industry in Russia, we are known as the main manufacturer of such products for loading equipment. The EnSol brand is already somewhat of a household name in its segment. For example, like a xerox in a printing machine. We have been developing our product for ten years, each time we carry out quality work on mistakes improving both technical properties and internal processes. I can say that we always listen carefully to our customers. And that's our main advantage.
— APROPOS —
Lithium-ion batteries are used in equipment with electric motors - forklifts, reach trucks, stackers, electric carts, cleaning and other industrial equipment. The service life of such batteries is two to three times longer than that of traditional lead-acid batteries; the number of batteries cycles exceeds three thousand.
Victoria Klein, Founder of EnSol
- EnSol is quite a young company, only 9 years old, but it has already achieved such a success: large Russian customers and export supplies. What is the secret of success?
- In 2016, for example, we were supported by Panasonic. They acted as a mentor to our development team for a while. This was not a direct investment, but rather mentoring and serious information support. I think that the main secret of success is that we never relied only on the product, but we knew that without an enthusiastic, energetic team even the best product could not become true. And the second reason is that we don't stop and are constantly working to improve the performance of our batteries.
- Is recruitment difficult? What are the requirements for a beginner, is it easy to get a job at your company without any work experience?
- Selecting staff is never easy, but I am very glad that people work with us for a long time. This means that we can find an interesting task for people and notice in time if they need help or conversely if they are ready to grow. We are happy to take apprentices into any department of our company: production, design, foreign trade.
- Last year, you obtained the resident status in the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone, why did you choose this particular site and what advantages do you see in it?
- We are very pleased that we were able to obtain the resident status in the Technopolis Moscow SEZ. I believe that the level of infrastructure at this production site, the availability of electricity and more recently the level of administrative and marketing support allows us to solve complex problems.
- What are your plans for the coming year?
- This year we plan to further develop the export direction. Since the beginning of this year, there have already been a number of implemented projects. We are happy that the pandemic is on the wane, which means that all 2020 restrictions will be a thing of the past and sales to other markets can continue. We also plan to start developing our company not only as a producer of lithium-ion batteries, but also as an engineering and service company, which is able to analyze data, remotely monitor equipment and is ready to develop new complex products including those in power electronics.
- In 2016, for example, we were supported by Panasonic. They acted as a mentor to our development team for a while. This was not a direct investment, but rather mentoring and serious information support. I think that the main secret of success is that we never relied only on the product, but we knew that without an enthusiastic, energetic team even the best product could not become true. And the second reason is that we don't stop and are constantly working to improve the performance of our batteries.
- Is recruitment difficult? What are the requirements for a beginner, is it easy to get a job at your company without any work experience?
- Selecting staff is never easy, but I am very glad that people work with us for a long time. This means that we can find an interesting task for people and notice in time if they need help or conversely if they are ready to grow. We are happy to take apprentices into any department of our company: production, design, foreign trade.
- Last year, you obtained the resident status in the Technopolis Moscow special economic zone, why did you choose this particular site and what advantages do you see in it?
- We are very pleased that we were able to obtain the resident status in the Technopolis Moscow SEZ. I believe that the level of infrastructure at this production site, the availability of electricity and more recently the level of administrative and marketing support allows us to solve complex problems.
- What are your plans for the coming year?
- This year we plan to further develop the export direction. Since the beginning of this year, there have already been a number of implemented projects. We are happy that the pandemic is on the wane, which means that all 2020 restrictions will be a thing of the past and sales to other markets can continue. We also plan to start developing our company not only as a producer of lithium-ion batteries, but also as an engineering and service company, which is able to analyze data, remotely monitor equipment and is ready to develop new complex products including those in power electronics.
E-mail: pressprom@mos.ru
Audience: 16+
Audience: 16+