Benzinga | Dec 13, 2021 09:03AM EST

Tantech Subsidiary Receives Milestone Order For 12 Driverless Street Sweepers; Develops Next Generation Sweeper With Enhanced Features; Terms Not Disclosed

Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TANH) ("Tantech" or the "Company"), a clean energy company in China, today announced that its subsidiary, Lishui Smart New Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., received a milestone order for twelve of its highly innovative SC-120A driverless and autonomous street sweepers. The customer is a real estate development and property management company, managing industrial parks and other properties in China. This represents the first order since the recent completion of the final phase of factory testing and standard factory quality control reviews. The Company separately announced the successful development of its third generation of driverless and autonomous sweeper with enhanced features, including expanded route and memory capabilities, additional sensors and improved further improved navigation and positioning accuracy.

With a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of RMB 300,000 per vehicle, the SC-120A model features unmanned, automatic sweeping. The innovative driverless and autonomous street sweeper was designed for quieter operation and improved cleaning performance, with the ability to reduce or eliminate the 7 to 8 humans required for typical sweeper vehicle operation. The SC-120A is an attractive, feature rich vehicle that integrates information collection technology, data analysis systems, artificial intelligence controls, positioning and navigation systems, automatic actuators, and safety assurance technology. The innovative street sweeper boasts highly intelligent route learning and memory, and real-time deep learning, in order to facilitate assisted driving or driverless driving. The SC-120A's lidar-based, machine vision technology will enable the driverless model to safely and accurately operate in common environments, with two primary operating modes, cleaning and litter-collecting, and it can be used for 10 hours at a time or until full. The sweeper comes with 1 year warranty.

Mr. Wangfeng Yan, Chief Executive Officer of Tantech, said, "This is another major milestone for us, as we continue to execute on our growth strategy. We designed our sweeper with close attention to performance, safety and experience, while offering customers a greater return on investment than traditional, less efficient street sweepers, with maximum up time and reduced maintenance costs. We have developed a strong base of existing customers that manage a sizable number of industrial parks and property management offices. Based on customer feedback and expected demand levels, we expect the SC-120A will continue to increase its revenue contribution to the company and become a new growth point for us moving forward."

Mr. Wangfeng Yan continued, "At the same time, I am pleased to announce the successful development of the third generation of our driverless sweepers, which we expect to expand our addressable market and create significant new sales opportunities for us at existing and new customers. Our new third generation driverless and autonomous sweeper will incorporate even more enhancements, including additional sensors, greater all-weather performance, prevention of external signal interference, and further improved navigation and positioning accuracy. Our engineers and sales teams are also excited about the expanded route memory capabilities and the addition of a touch screen operating mode, which will give us an even stronger competitive position."