Norway: Exide Sonnak continues 78-year tradition

Advanced Battery Technology, Jan 2001

AROUND THE INDUSTRY

Norway: Exide Sonnak Continues 78-Year Tradition

Exide Sonnak in Norway, a subsidiary of Exide Technologies and supplier for the Royal Norwegian Navy (RNoN) since 1922, recently finalized the last in a series of batteries for the RNoN's Kobben Class submarine.

During a ceremony when the last Kobben battery was delivered, a RNoN spokesman said, "The longest known continued series production of submarine batteries in our part of the world in peacetime is over. Seventy-seven batteries are delivered to RnoN and additionally four to the Royal Danish Navy's Tumleren class, a modernized version of Kobben. Exide has thereby altogether produced 81 main house-size batteries to Kobben/Tumleren consisting of approximately 22,400 single cells at a total weight of 7,290 metric tons."

The submarines, of which Norway built 15 from 1964 to 1967, are diesel electric and approximately 500 metric tons. They were a further development of the German design IKL Type 205, with improved diving depth. The building costs were 50% financed by the U.S. The Kobben submarines are coming to an end of their operational life.

Exide Sonnak's Horten plant, 90 kilometers south of Oslo, has been the sole producer of submarine batteries to the RnoN since 1922. While concluding delivery of the last of the Kobben class batteries, the company recently started production of battery # 13 of the third generation of RnoN's Ula submarines. It also is expected to be a major partner with the Scandinavian Navies and The Viking Submarine Corporation in the design and production of the main batteries for Viking submarines being developed by Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, and scheduled for production in the middle of this decade.

The company has also produced submarine batteries for other nations worldwide, in cooperation with other Exide companies. With its recent merger with GNB Batteries, which also provides submarine power for navies around the world, the new Exide Technologies produces virtually all the submarine batteries used in the world today.