Germany: ElectricBrands appoints Max Brandt as co-CEO

Aspiring electric vehicle manufacturer ElectricBrands has appointed a new co-CEO - and provides an update on the planned production of the electric minibus XBUS, which is due to roll off the production line at VDL Nedcar in late 2024 or early 2025.

There is HR-related news at German company ElectricBrands: Max Brandt will become co-CEO of the AG. The 49-year-old will initially form the company’s board with founder and CEO Ralf Haller and then take over as chairman. According to a company statement, Brandt brings experience from corporations such as ThyssenKrupp, BaoSteel, medium-sized companies such as MKM, Veritas, AP&T and EDGE, and process-oriented management consultancy.

Brandt confirmed the start of production of the XBUS for late 2024 or early 2025, with the first delivery planned for 2025. “We are no longer developing the vehicle. We are now industrialising it. The development of the vehicle is complete. Fine-tuning has changed a lot about the vehicle,” says the new co-CEO. “We can change the individual modules more quickly and easily. And that’s because we have separated the construction of the basic body from the construction of the superstructures. That allowed us to shorten production start-up times significantly and subsequent production times and costs. As a result, we can maintain the price of the vehicle despite the difficult conditions or only have to increase it slightly.”

According to ElectricBrands, the design for the production preparations has also been completed. The latter is scheduled to start in January and February next year at the facility of Dutch contract manufacturer VDL Nedcar in Born, Holland.

At the beginning of 2023, ElectricBrands announced that it would have its light electric vehicles – the XBUS and the Evetta – manufactured by the Dutch car manufacturer VDL Nedcar. Initially, production of the XBUS was to start in the summer of 2022 – at ElectricBrands itself in Itzehoe, Germany. Due to the modified schedule, the Evetta will arrive in showrooms at the beginning of 2024 and will be delivered to the first customers shortly thereafter. The XBUS will faollow about a year later.

In the future, customers can choose from a total of nine variants of the XBUS, including pick-up, van, bus and camper. In the basic version, the permanently installed 15 kWh battery will provide a range of about 200 kilometres. Additional exchangeable lithium battery packs will increase the storage capacity to 45 kWh and range to 600 kilometres.

openpr.de (in German)