Tesla’s latest rival is not any established automaker but three brothers. Executives of car companies are traveling to a remote Austrian town where three brothers are working to design electric cars that can go faster and further than anything made by Tesla, according to Bloomberg.
The Kreisels have better technology than Tesla
The Kreisel brothers, Johann, Markus and Philipp, are making drivetrains and battery packs for a new generation of plug-in boats, airplanes and cars. At trade shows, the three brothers pitch themselves as “E-Mobility Maniacs,” and they have convinced popular car companies to visit them in Freistadt to test-drive their creations, reports Bloomberg. Freistadt is 200 kilometers northwest of Vienna.
In an interview, Markus Kreisel, the middle sibling in charge of sales, said they actually have the solution the whole industry is searching for.
“Companies come out and offer us projects. We have no real competitors in terms of the way we do business.”
Kreisel Electric gained popularity after its reworked Porsche Panamera outperformed a Tesla Model S on several fronts.
Colin McKerracher, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said the early success of Kreisel Electric is an indication of how smaller companies and entrepreneurs are beginning to disrupt the business model followed by popular companies in the automotive industry. Electric drivetrains have lower barriers to entry and are simpler, which is disruptive and creates a lot of new opportunities and different business models in the car industry, the analyst notes.
Following a threefold strategy
Kreisel Electric GmbH is fielding 20 inquiries a day from automakers, including Volkswagen AG, McLaren Automotive Ltd, and BMW AG. The automotive icons are asking the Kreisel brothers for assistance in negotiating a U-turn away from fossil fuels to join the electric car revolution.
After two years, the Kreisel brothers’ order book is filling up. Their workforce is expected to double to 70 employees by the time production commences in the second quarter of next year. Also they have broken ground on Austria’s first lithium-ion battery assembly plant.
Kreisel Electric is following a threefold strategy. The company makes electric drivetrains and battery packs for orders as huge as 10,000 vehicles. Also the company designs lithium battery production lines for original equipment manufacturers and creates prototypes for top-tier automakers, according to Bloomberg. Markus Kreisel said they already have two contracts with two companies, one of which is bigger than Tesla, and will actually build 100,000 vehicles over the next two years.
