Tantech Subsidiary Launches Innovative Driverless and Autonomous Street Sweepers

LISHUI, China, Nov. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Tantech Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ: TANH) ("Tantech" or the "Company"), a clean energy company in China, today announced the launch by its subsidiary, Shangchi Automobile Co., Ltd. ("Shangchi Automobile"), of two highly innovative driverless and autonomous street sweepers. The Shangchi SC-120A model features unmanned, automatic sweeping, and the Shangchi SC-120B model features manned, autonomous, intelligent sweepingle.

Shangchi Automobile has a long history in vehicle development. The company was founded in 2011, with manufacturing based in Zhangjiagang City, Jiangsu Province. Its innovative driverless and autonomous street sweepers being launched today, were 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. Lidar-based, machine vision technology will enable the driverless model to safely and accurately operate in common environments. The sweepers have two primary operating modes, cleaning and litter-collecting, and can be used for 10 hours at a time or until full. The multi-patented vehicles will come with 1 year warranties.

Mr. Wangfeng Yan, Chief Executive Officer of Tantech, said, "The sanitization market is long overdue for major innovation to increase performance and lower operating costs. It is common to find sweepers still using inefficient, suction technology designed 70 or so years ago requiring expensive, heavy power consumption. We are very excited about the potential for both of our new, state-of-the-art models, which are capable of delivering a higher return on investment to the government organizations, cleaning services and businesses that we are targeting. Both vehicles are undergoing pilot programs, with mass production planned for the first half of 2021. Initial sales are expected to be primarily in the domestic China market, followed by international demand in Europe and North America."

Mr. Yan continued, "The move to develop special use vehicles follows changes in China's national subsidy policy to encourage usage of new energy vehicles and the application of unmanned operation of special use vehicles. We developed very attractive, feature rich vehicles that integrate information collection technology, data analysis systems, artificial intelligence controls, positioning and navigation systems, automatic actuators, and safety assurance technology. Our innovative street sweepers integrate highly intelligent route learning and memory, and real-time deep learning, in order to facilitate assisted driving or driverless driving."

About Tantech Holdings Ltd.

Established in 2001 and headquartered in Lishui City, Zhejiang Province, China, Tantech, together with its subsidiaries, is now, in addition to be a developer and manufacturer of bamboo-based charcoal, an innovative leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of electric vehicles. The Company has also invested in mining business in 2018 and 2019.

For more information please visit: http://ir.tantech.cn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, economic conditions, the impact of competition and pricing, government regulations, and other risks contained in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, and whether made by or on behalf of the Company, are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and any other cautionary statements which may accompany the forward-looking statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.

SOURCE Tantech Holdings Ltd.