NorthStar Battery signs $500M deal with Daimler Trucks

Stockholm, Sweden-based NorthStar Battery Co. LLC announced the company’s  North American headquarters in Springfield entered into a $500 million agreement with truck maker Daimler Trucks North America.

Under the terms of the seven-year agreement, NorthStar would supply high-performance, pure-lead, leak-proof designed batteries to the Portland, Ore.-based subsidiary of German company Daimler AG for use in its ParkSmart platform, according to a company news release.

“This is our first really significant achievement,” said John Semeniuk, president of NorthStar’s transportation products division. “We went through an (original equipment) certification, so we’re Daimler-approved worldwide.

Traditionally available as an aftermarket product, NorthStar’s batteries would be original equipment installed in Daimler’s trucks - such as the Freightliner Cascadia - which use the ParkSmart auto start auxiliary power unit. The batteries also would be used in Western Star trucks, Thomas Built Buses and Freightliner Chassis recreational vehicles.

According to the release, the estimated value of the agreement is based on DTNA’s projected future truck sales and historical volumes.

NorthStar will provide the batteries to Daimler’s North American market segments as part of the agreement. Semeniuk said the batteries would be manufactured in NorthStar’s 320,000-square-foot plant at 1320 N. Alliance Ave.

NorthStar employs 456 of its roughly 600 global employees at the North Alliance Avenue plant and another plant at 4000 E. Continental Way. Semeniuk declined to disclose exact figures but said NorthStar’s 2015 revenue was north of $200 million.