History

History

Over 135 years of innovation heritage.

The first 100 years

A remarkable history of innovation

  • 1887

    Foundation

    Adolph Müller establishes “Accumulatoren-Fabrik Tudorschen Systems Büsche & Müller OHG” in Hagen, the historic origin of VARTA .

  • 1896

    North Pole expedition

    AFA storage batteries withstand low-temperature testing at minus 30°C to 50°C on Fridtjof Nansen’s North Pole expedition

  • 1904

    VARTA

    Subsidiary VARTA Accumulatoren GmbH is established in Berlin (VARTA stands for the German words for distribution, charging and repair of transportable accumulators).

  • 1969

    Moon

    Neil A. Armstrong is the first man to set foot on the moon. The camera uses VARTA batteries.

  • 1997

    Microbatteries

    Setup of NiMH production in Ellwangen

XXI Century

Growth & development in Microbatteries and stationary Energy Storage Solutions

  • 2002

    Split up and sale of former VARTA AG subsidiaries

    Consolidating of global microbattery activities in VARTA Microbattery GmbH Automotive batteries division sold to Johnson Controls, Inc. Consumer batteries division sold to Spcetrum Brands, Inc.

  • 2007

    Montana Tech Components AG

    Buys the R&D and Microbattery business from Deutsche Bank & Fam. Quandt

  • 2009

    Joint venture

    established with VOLKSWAGEN

  • 2011

    Hearing aid

    Construction of the largest and most modern hearing aid battery plant in the world Montana Tech Components AG buys the holding company VARTA AG.

  • 2012

    VARTA Storage

    Establishment of business unit VARTA Storage.

  • 2014

    Environment

    Conversion of battery production to more environmentally friendly mercury-free batteries

  • 2015

    Production

    Fully automated production of small Lithium-Ion batteries.
    CoinPower Composing

  • 2016

    VARTA element

    Market launch of a new energy storage solution – VARTA element

Anniversary 130 years VARTA history

successful IPO

  • 2017

    VARTA pulse

    Market launch wall-mounted energy storage system VARTA pulse.

  • 2019

    Listing in the MDAX and TecDAX

  • 2020

    Re-integration of the household batteries business

  • 2020

    Funding commitment of around 300 million euros from the federal and state governments as part of an IPCEI