• Last Saturday, in the city of Bruges, Belgium, Leclanché unveiled its first allelectric bus, in partnership with Van Hool, the bus manufacturer and Bombardier, one of the world leaders in the transportation industry. 
• In line with Leclanché’s growth strategy, this project is a solid proof point of Leclanché’ comprehensive range of solutions for Hybrid and Electric Bus comprised of on-board Battery Packs; Integrated Electric Drive Train; Charging Systems; and Cloud-based Fleet Operations Software. 

Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland, October 19, 2015 – Leclanché S.A. (SIX Swiss Exchange: LECN), a group specialised in Battery-based
Energy Storage Systems, is going from strength to strength. This Saturday in Bruges, Belgium, Leclanché introduced its first all-electric bus to coincide with busworld Europe, the biggest trade show for public road transport
professionals. Three buses were handed over to the Flanders public transport company, De Lijn.

Flemish Minister for mobility Mr. Ben Weyts made following statement: “I will continue to invest in to the fleet of “De Lijn”. With modern, fast and comfortable vehicles we can seduce more Flemish people to use our public transport. The electric busses are not only the cleanest, but also the most quiet of the country. This is really an investment in the future.”

Jan Van Hool, director of the Van Hool company, commented: “We value this partnership especially as the battery system has such exceptionally good specifications and are tailor-made to fit our vehicles. Furthermore, the remote management system will be a great benefit when the vehicles go on
the road.”

Anil Srivastava, Leclanché’s CEO underlines the importance of this project: “Bus operators around the world are actively addressing the dual challenge of reducing harmful emissions and at the same time reducing cost of fleet operations. Thanks to a series of innovations and cost reduction, hybrid and full-electric buses are competitively addressing both these challenges. We wish to thank Van Hool and De Lijn for giving us this opportunity. Building these credible references is crucial for Leclanché to capture this fast growing market with a projected global need of 2.7GWh in battery systems by 2020 1.

Stefan Louis, Leclanché’s Chief Strategy Officer, highlights the advantages of Leclanché’s offer to the transport sector which helps optimize the cost of fleet operations through better energy management and safer operations:

• Dynamic route simulation and system planning programs supporting clients to design optimized
  fleet operations and remote monitoring of all system components via a cloud service.
• Complete system solutions including latest-generation, made-to-measure lithium-ion battery packs with thermal management, infrastructure such as chargers and connectivity up to fully integrated electric drive trains through its strategic partnership with Visedo. 
• Leasing and financing services, to accelerate the introduction of new technologies without heavy investments.

The project was part of the ‘living lab for electric vehicles program’, initiated by the Flemish ministry for innovation and subsidised by the Flemish agency for innovation in science and technology (IWT). It was completed in partnership with the bus constructor, Van Hool, and Bombardier for the
inductive charging system at the bus depot. Leclanché provided the fast-charge battery system, the battery management software including remote
management and conductive chargers. The bus travelled through the streets of Bruges during the weekend with many of the professional visitors to the busworld Europe show as passengers. This vehicle and its proven technical innovations have already attracted interest from a number of Europe’s major cities.

1 Frost & Sullivan “Strategic analysis of global hybrid and electric heavy-duty transit bus market”.

For further information:
Claude-Olivier Rochat, Voxia communication. Tel.: (+41) 079 203 52 19 – co.rochat@voxia.ch
Rohan Sant, Voxia communication. Tel.: (+41) 079 120 00 28 – rohan.sant@voxia.ch

About Leclanché

Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading provider of high-quality energy storage solutions designed to accelerate our progress towards a clean energy future. Leclanché’s history and heritage is rooted in over 100 years of battery and energy storage innovation and the Company is a trusted provider of energy storage solutions globally. This coupled with the Company’s culture of German engineering and Swiss precision and quality, continues to make Leclanché the partner of choice for both disruptors, established companies and governments who are pioneering positive changes in how energy is produced, distributed and consumed around the world. The energy transition is being driven primarily by changes in the management of our electricity networks and the electrification of transport, and these two end markets form the backbone of our strategy and business model. Leclanché is at the heart of the convergence of the electrification of transport and the changes in the distribution network. Leclanché is the only listed pure play energy storage company in the world, organised along three business units: stationary storage solutions, e-Transport solutions and specialty batteries systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: LECN).

SIX Swiss Exchange: ticker symbol LECN | ISIN CH 011 030 311 9

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Leclanché’s business, which can be identified by terminology such as “strategic”, “proposes”, “to introduce”, “will”, “planned”, “expected”, “commitment”, “expects”, “set”, “preparing”, “plans”, “estimates”, “aims”, “would”, “potential”, “awaiting”, “estimated”, “proposal”, or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding the ramp up of Leclanché’s production capacity, potential applications for existing products, or regarding potential future revenues from any such products, or potential future sales or earnings of Leclanché or any of its business units. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Leclanché regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Leclanché’s products will achieve any particular revenue levels. Nor can there be any guarantee that Leclanché, or any of the business units, will achieve any particular financial results.

Contacts Leclanché

Media Switzerland /Europe:

Thierry Meyer

T: +41 (0) 79 785 35 81

E-mail: tme@dynamicsgroup.ch

Media North America:

Henry Feintuch / Ashley Blas

T: +1-914-548-6924 / +1-509-494-4053

E-mail: leclanche@feintuchpr.com  

Media Germany:

Christoph Miller

T: +49 (0) 711 947 670

E-mail: leclanche@sympra.de

Investor Contacts:

Anil Srivastava / Hubert Angleys

T: +41 (0) 24 424 65 00

E-mail: invest.leclanche@leclanche.com