On July 9, the Eberspächer Group celebrated its 160th anniversary. The company’s management is clearly focused on innovations for the future: the company is entering new business areas through partnerships, Eberspächer said in a release.
“As a technology-driven company, we offer a broad product portfolio. This includes every type of drive system, as well as the option of further developing these outside the automotive environment. The transfer into new business areas opens up opportunities for long-term success in changing market conditions,” said Managing Partner Martin Peters.
New Technologies & Partnerships
This includes the field of hydrogen. In order to increase the availability of hydrogen, the experts developed a concept for the industrial production of high-temperature electrolyzers together with a Danish technology company. The exhaust and acoustics specialist within the group delivered the first two four-ton units at the beginning of June. Purem by Eberspächer is also working with a German start-up on the production of pressure vessels that enable the safe and cost-effective storage and transportation of the energy carrier.
“We achieve this by transferring our core competencies and many years of expertise in exhaust technology and by working together across divisions,” said Jörg Steins, CEO of the Eberspächer Group. The Esslingen-based company recently announced further collaborations in other business areas: As part of the joint venture concluded in 2025 with the Dutch expert for energy storage systems Zeliox, Eberspächer is expanding its portfolio to include mobile power sources for special vehicles. The integrated Zeliox Eberspächer all-in-one energy management system provide electricity in workshop or construction vehicles, for example.
Eberspächer has developed a battery management system with a connection to the passenger car power grid in order to reliably safeguard a wide range of automated driving functions and take account of the increasing complexity of electronic vehicle architecture. This makes the company one of the first in Europe with such a product in series production. The company contributes this hardware and software expertise to the development and distribution of low-voltage batteries as part of a strategic partnership. They are used for applications in starter, back-up and mild hybrid batteries.
160th Anniversary
The origins of Eberspächer date back to 1865, when Jakob Eberspächer founded a small tinsmith’s workshop in Esslingen, Germany. Initially, he manufactured everyday items such as watering cans and gutters, but soon expanded his business to include industrial customers, supplying them with sheet metal spools for spinning mills, among other things. He achieved a technical breakthrough in 1886 with putty-free window glazing on sheet metal bars, which became particularly popular in hall construction and accelerated the company’s growth. The first factory building was constructed in 1900, followed by the first foreign subsidiary in Austria in 1913.
In the 1930s, Eberspächer tapped into a new business area: the automotive industry. In light of the global economic crisis, the idea arose to process sheet metal into silencers. At the same time, the development of vehicle heating systems began. From the 1950s onwards, the company supplied both pre-heaters and exhaust systems — with growing success. Innovations such as the early use of catalytic converters (in series production since 1974), electric auxiliary heaters and high-voltage heating devices for electric vehicles characterize the company’s history.
Eberspächer set its sights on vehicle electronics as early as the 2000s and continuously expanded its position as a technology leader. The company grew both nationally and internationally and positioned itself as a full-service provider of thermal management and electronics solutions through acquisitions. Eberspächer recognized early on the importance of sustainable and technology-neutral mobility solutions — from electrification to the use of hydrogen in fuel cells or engines to industrial applications. For over 160 years, openness to change has been a guiding principle: from a small metalworking shop to a global innovation partner for the automotive industry and beyond.
Detailed information on the company’s history and important dates can be found online here: Anniversary of the Eberspächer Group: 160 Years of Innovation.
