Battery of the future to be built in Tallahassee
Rick Grant has been riding motorcycles for over half a century — since he was 15. The former Navy pilot has a collection of more than two dozen motorcycles, from classic Penton enduro bikes to modern day BMWs and Triumphs.
Eight months ago, he swapped out his heavy lead-acid batteries on two of his off-road KTM motorcycles for the much lighter-weight lithium ion batteries made by Washington, D.C.-based Full Spectrum Power.
“Regular lead acid batteries need to charge all the time,” Grant said. “I’ve been using these lithium batteries for eight months and haven’t had to charge them yet.”
They cost way more than the standard batteries, but Grant, executive vice president and COO of Tallahassee-based Municode, figures they’re worth it. Motorcycle racers don’t worry about cost when it comes to improving performance.
Especially “when you are at the starting line and need to get going, or when you are stuck in mud and can’t kick start your way out,” he said. His bike was underwater over the weekend and the battery kept working.
FSP batteries have been available commercially for about four years. The company has already built a reputation in the racing community and is now looking to break into new markets.
A key part of that strategy involves moving the headquarters and manufacturing operations to Tallahassee. The company’s founders — Mark McIntosh and Jason Levitt —have lined up a group of local investors who want to bring the operation to Tallahassee by next year.
“I’m excited that it’s coming here,” said Ron Sachs, president of Sachs Media Group and one of the investors. “It’s going to be disruptive to the battery industry, in a positive way.”
Other investors include Lawton Langford, president of Municipal Code Corporation, Will Butler, president of Real Estate InSync., J. Everitt Drew, president of SouthGroup Equities and director of the Capital City Bank Group, Benson Green of Benson’s Heating and Air Conditioning, and Sam Rogers JR, CEO of Rogers Gunter Vaughn Insurance.
They’re about halfway toward their investment goal. McIntosh and Levitt will share their vision with business and community leaders this weekend at the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce annual retreat at Amelia Island.
They plan to bring the small, D.C.-based manufacturing company to Tallahassee by next year, hire 40-50 people locally and ramp up production of the next version of their lithium ion batteries. They said the batteries could revolutionize the battery industry.
The batteries weigh about one-sixth of a regular lead acid battery, generate more power and last twice to three times longer. The next generation will have circuit boards that will monitor battery output and performance.
McIntosh was a scholarship athlete at Florida State University. He then went on to law school and spent more than a decade in Washington, D.C., as an energy policy consultant in both the private and public sector. He wants to bring this new technology back to his native state.
“Both the supportive business environment and quality of life are starkly different from the challenges the Washington, D.C., region presents,” McIntosh said.
Washington is driven by the federal government. If you’re not in it or in a job that is directly involved in taking advantage of that bureaucracy, there is no reason to be there, he said.
McIntosh met Levitt while looking for a lightweight battery for one of his own motorcycles.
“I have several motorcycles my wife doesn’t let me drive,” McIntosh said.
While doing research on the internet, McIntosh came across Levitt and his company. Over the next two years, they became friends.
Levitt had designed the battery out of necessity. He wanted a lightweight durable battery for his own bike. Other bikers noticed, asked him to build batteries for them, and the company took off.
McIntosh saw that Levitt could use some help.
“He is the quintessential startup story,” McIntosh said. He started in a bedroom, moved into a basement and eventually got a 2,000-square-foot space in the Dulles corridor.
“I was crazy enough to join him on this trip,” McIntosh said.
They’ve moved into a larger space about a half-mile from the Pentagon. They make about 1,200 to 2,000 batteries a year, all of them handmade. No robotics.
Their business has grown by word of mouth.
“We have no active sales or marketing platform,” McIntosh said.
They have about a 1 percent marketing penetration, he said. Lots of racing teams use their product — Harley-Davidson, KTM Motorcycles and other competitive professional and amateur racers around the world.
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Their problem hasn’t been sales so much as marketing. “I saw Jason turn away an order for 10,000 units because they didn’t have the capacity of scale to meet it,” he said.
They plan to ramp up production over the next year and move to Tallahassee by the fourth quarter of next year. Langford has offered them a 6,000-square- foot building at his Municode compound on Capital Circle Southwest.
Some training will be required. But the workers are available, Langford said. He’s already contacted Workforce Tallahassee. The company doesn’t anticipate transferring workers from D.C.
“Labor costs are competitive here,” Langford said.
The first year goal is to produce 13,000 units while they are still in D.C., McIntosh said.
“That is a small manageable number that allows us to catch up here without hiring more working capital,” he said.
Year two they will move to Tallahassee and boost production up to about 35,000 units.
By the fifth year, they hope to expand production to 335,000 units.
Meanwhile, they have a big job to get their name out and get their story told.
They want to reach out to the Formula 1 and NASCAR teams, distributors and dealerships.
And they want to land government contracts.
“The transition in the power sports market is already happening,” McIntosh said. “There is a great opportunity for growth.”
Contact Jeff Schweers at js.schweers@gmail.com.