Fortescue buys Williams Engineering in major push into high performance batteries

Fortescue Future Industries has made its first major push into battery storage and high performance batteries with the $A310 million purchase of Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE), the offshoot of the Formula 1 specialists Williams Grand Prix Engineering.

The purchase of WAE appears designed to help Fortescue develop advanced battery storage systems and electrify heavy “off-highway” transport, but it also offers opportunities in electric road transport and other battery storage applications.

It’s the latest – and one of the most tangible – of a string of announcements from Fortescue Metals and its Fortescue Future Industries subsidiary in recent months that have been mostly focused on green hydrogen and electrification technologies and projects, and also a big solar play.

“This is the race of our lifetimes – the race to save the planet from cooking,” Fortescue chairman Dr Andrew Forrest said in a statement.

“The speed at which we move matters. Together FFI and WAE will work to decarbonise Fortescue – with the aim of achieving that faster and more effectively than anyone else in the world.” Fortescue aims to reach “net zero emissions” by 2030.

Forrest said the focus of WAE will be on removing fossil fuel powered machinery and replacing it with zero carbon emission technology in heavy industry and other hard to abate sectors, helped by green electricity, green hydrogen and green ammonia.

For Fortescue, that will include the electrification of its 3km long freight trains, its 400 tonne haul trucks (it signed a development deal with WAE earlier last year) and industrial heavy mobile equipment.

The two companies did announce a partnership last year to develop a battery powered heavy hauling truck, but while Fortescue proudly rolled out a fuel cell version, built in just six months, it is not clear where the battery powered vehicle got to.

WAE had also partnered with another mining giant Anglo Amercian and energy company Engie in 2020 to develop and test a 290-tonne hydrogen fuel cell haul truck, thought at the time to be the world’s largest electric dump truck. It is also working on an electrified UK military truck.

Claire Williams, the daughter of Sir Frank Williams, who died last year, noted that the company had sold a majority stake in WAE to London-based private equity firm EMK Capital several years ago (actually, in December, 2019, for an undisclosed price)

“We are delighted that Fortescue are now taking over that mantle and see the value in the company and its people in tackling some of the biggest issues facing our world today,” she said.

There was only a passing reference to on road motor transport (but lots of images) in the media release, but WAE has played key roles in some of the electrification strategies of brands such as Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin and Nissan, and last year unveiled its new specialised EV platform.

There’s no indication of whether WAE will launch its own EV range, or if it will remain a technology supplier to other brands.

It has also been supplying batteries to the Formula E World Championship cars since 2014, and that work will continue. It is also working on other technologies such as “sit-skis” for snow sports, and considers itself a specialist in lightweight composite materials, aerodynamics and data management.

“High performance battery and electrification systems are at the core of what we do at WAE,” said WAE CEO Craig Wilson

“And this acquisition and investment will enable the company’s further growth to support the delivery of zero emission products and services across existing sectors – such as automotive, motorsport and off-highway – and new sectors too.”

Fortescue CEO Elizabeth Gaines said WAE had already designed and built a battery system to power an electric mining truck for Fortescue.

“(This was) an important first step in the decarbonisation of Fortescue’s mining haul fleet. WAE’s expertise in battery systems and electrification further complements FFI’s green hydrogen projects for haul trucks and mobile fleet to further underpin our technical leadership.”