noco-noco to Acquire Japanese Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Assemblepoint

SINGAPORE and YOKOHAMA, Japan, Nov. 27, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire --  noco-noco Inc. (NASDAQ: NCNC, “noco-noco”), a decarbonization solutions provider, has announced its intent to acquire 51% of  Assemblepoint Co. Ltd. (“Assemblepoint”), a Japanese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer with a presence in the Philippines for a consideration of approximately $3.6 million via a share swap arrangement, in a strategic move driven by a shared commitment to address pressing environmental and transportation challenges on a global scale. The acquisition, upon anticipated completion in the first quarter of 2024, is expected to be accretive to revenue growth and earnings in 2024. The proposed acquisition marries noco-noco’s long-lasting and high temperature-resistant battery technology, and Assemblepoint’s rapidly scalable electric "Smart Bus” assembly, where buses are centrally designed in Japan with a commitment to quality and precision, coupled with a locally assembled process at much lower cost.

The Philippines has committed to a 75% reduction in national emissions across key sectors by 2023, but progress has been hampered by bottlenecks like the lack of charging infrastructure and financing to shift to electric vehicles.

This is where the combined strengths of noco-noco’s battery technology and Assemblepoint’s rapid assembly approach synergize to provide transformative solutions to decarbonize the transportation sector.

Assemblepoint’s Agile Production Process (APP) allows its team of engineers in Japan to centrally design, project manage, and procure the components and parts for the electric buses, enabling control teams to work with local EV assemblers without the need for heavy equipment and expensive assembly lines typical to in traditional car manufacturing companies. Assemblepoint’s EV buses are designed with swappable battery packs to avoid the long hours needed to charge a bus. The result – a high quality, precision-designed and affordable electric mini-bus that will zip around the congested main roads and through the narrow back roads of the Philippines.

noco-noco's value proposition lies in its ground-breaking X-SEPA battery technology. Under rigorous testing, lithium-ion batteries (LiB) embedded with the X-SEPA separator and a proprietary electrolyte have shown a fivefold extension of conventional LiBs at sweltering temperatures of 60°C. This breakthrough is particularly significant, given that typical EV batteries experience performance degradation beyond 35°C. In developing economies like the Philippines, where summer temperatures soared to a scorching 50°C in 2022, such X-SEPA-enhanced batteries redefine the possibilities of sustainable transportation with battery longevity translating to longer leasing duration and directly lowering leasing fees, a win for both the EV buyer and the lessor. In addition, the solution  presents a feasible redeployment of the swappable batteries for second life use in Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)  and a force for good to meet the sustainable energy needs of remote and economically-vulnerable regions of the country.