Kit dismissed by cynics is taken up by Chinese

Apr 22 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

COMESYS Europe is aiming to double its workforce after winning a five-year contract worth £10.3m to supply its environmentally friendly engine technology to China.

The Cramlington company needs to ramp up its production staff from 13 to 25 to meet the order for 3,000 of its Mini Hybrid TK engine cooling systems, which cut fuel use by 10 to 15% and carbon dioxide emissions by 10%.

The Yangzhou Yaxing Motor Coach Co will fit the systems to the engines of buses it is building for Canada. The buses will start running in British Columbia next year.

Comesys director Ryan Maughan said: “It’s the first mass production deal we’ve got for this hybrid system. It’s significant on a financial level and long-term, prospect-wise.

“It’s an excellent reference point. It is being adopted for buses and mass manufactured vehicles. It really is a very important deal for the company. We will be adding to our production capacity to make them. There will be production jobs coming off the back of this.”

Comesys, which counts Volvo, Daimler, DAF and MAN among its customers for the accelerator pedals and hand controls it also produces, has been working for two years to produce the Mini Hybrid TK system.

But it has faced difficulties selling the concept at home. Mr Maughan said: “We’ve had customers in the US, Asia and other parts of Europe, but we’ve always struggled in the UK.

“We got help from One North East to demonstrate products to UK bus manufacturers, but ironically, a Chinese manufacturer picked up on that.”

The development agency supplied £15,000 through its low carbon transport strategy to help build a demonstration vehicle fitted with the technology, which has been running in the region for three months.

Mr Maughan said: “Our system is quite unique – it has all the environmental benefits and cuts fuel use by 10 to 15%.

“They say, yeah, right. They are instantly cynical – you have to do a lot of work to convince them.”