Batteries International

Ba eries
International
Issue 76 Spring/Summer 2010
North
Ameri
can su
Puttin pplier
profile
g the s
i
nto cu va
stome -va-voom
r servi
ce
Can this separator Molten salt batteries

outsmart the lithium show potential again
nail penetration test?
Optimism unbounded:
The EV conundrum: AABC Orlando review
time to make the and exhibition special
numbers stand up
Exide’s Cheeseman:
Tributes as BCI's Moe ‘confident we can
Desmarais moves on reinvent lead acid’
Bringing the industry together

www.batteriesinternational.com
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CONTENTS
PUTTING THE VA-VA-VOOM INTO CUSTOMER SERVICE 31
Batteries International took a sample of leading North American suppliers and asked them for their take on the
present business environment. What are the main trends? What changes have most affected their business after the
economic downturn? And what are their prospects?
EDITORIAL 2
Reasons to be anxious:
PETERSEN the next resource crisis of
Welcome to our new columnist, John L Petersen, the scourge of lazy thinking about the battery business 6 the 21st century 2
PEOPLE NEWS 12 1000

Output Energy Density
(Input Energy ensity x Efficiency
Metal-Air
BCI says fond farewell to Moe Desmarais, Craig becomes new president • McShane joins as EVP for International
Batteries
Weight Energy Density – kWh / ton
300
(Not rechargeable
Lighter
electricity)
SoNick
Battery • Axion Power adds Trego as CFO, Baker as CEO, Shindle as VP • Bolch takes over from Ulsh, O’Leary as 100
complete
battery
NaS Battery
Li-ion
Exide chief exec and president • PowerGenix hires Xu Gang Ni-Cd

30 Lead-Acid
Flow Batteries
Batteries
E.C. Capacitors
NEWS 17 10 Fly Wheels

10
Zinc-Air Rechargeable
30 100 300
Smaller
1000
Volume Energy Density – kWh / m3
FIAMM joins forces with MES-DEA in ringing endorsement of SMC • Sodium metal halide to fore as GE releases
Durathon battery • HOMER Energy releases design software • Corvus in NMC lithium tug boat venture • Nexeon Petersen: Electric
signs material evaluation agreement • e-Spark arrival delayed • New US rules on SLABs • Additional production vehicles and the fixed
lines for China Ritar as it moves into testing mode • Bidding war comes close to end as Chloride accepts ABB price • cost conundrum 6
New lead recovery technology to shift from smelting to chemical extraction • Axion to provide new BMS for train sets
• Exide expands in Brazil, ups UK brand presence • Johnson expands in China, GM to roll out new EVs • Asia UPS
sales surge in first quarter • NYSERDA, where the hot technologies are
NEW PRODUCT NEWS 26

Groundbreaking Li-ion separator set for market • Abertax releases another version of GRS VRLA valve
• Battery chargers for agricultural use • Dual input, dual output battery charge controller • Trojan updates deep cycle
renewable range of RE series • Exide launches industrial VRLA high frequency charger
All change at the top at
Exide as Bolch takes over
PROFILE: PAUL CHEESEMAN 40 from Ulsh, O’Leary 15
How advanced is advanced lead acid? And why is one of the largest battery manufacturers devoting resources to
reinventing the humble lead acid battery. Batteries International meets Exide’s top technologist
WEIBULL ANALYSIS 30
Knowing the approximate life characteristics of a number of battery technologies based on Weibull statistics can be a
useful predictive tool.
CONFERENCE IN PRINT 47
Ground-breaking lithium
Profile: Abertax and finding the perfect design mix battery separator moves
Better engineering and better engineering management offer a way ahead for battery industry suppliers. Batteries to manufacturing 26
International visited Abertax’s headquarters in Malta.
Optimism unbounded
The great and the good (and some of the others) of the battery and electric vehicle world descended on the 10th
International Advanced Automotive Battery and EC Capacitor Conference in Orlando, Florida in mid-May. The
conference was packed. The mood upbeat.The conclusions debatable
Spray drying by rotary atomization of lithium ion battery materials
UNSUNG HEROES 61
Paul Cheeseman: the next
Jungner and the unchangeable electrolyte new master of new lead
By the time the inventor of the nickel cadmium battery, Waldmar Jungner, died aged 55 he had provoked a complete acid technologies 40
rethink of many of the ways we look at battery chemistry.
Publisher: Don Cleary, publisher@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 1580 712 323

Editor: Michael Halls, mhalls@batteriesinternational.com, +44 (0) 1798 839 338
Advertising manager Americas: Bob Schacht, bschacht@batteriesinternational.com +1 314 324 7494
Americas editor: Lynnda Greene, lgreene@batteriesinternational.com, +1 314 727-3893
Subscriptions manager: Paula Mills, subscriptions@batteriesinternational.com +44 (0) 1403 741 844
Assistant editor: Philip Moorcroft Staff reporters: Michael Bow
Production/design: Antony Parselle, aparselledesign@me.com
International advertising representation: advertising@batteriesinternational.com
The contents of this publication are protected by copyright. No unauthorised translation or Jungner: was there better
reproduction is permitted. ISSN 1462-6322 (c) 2010 Mustard Seed Publishing, EV chemistry in 1900 than
UK company no: 5976361. Printed in the UK via ThisismethodUK
in 2010? 61
www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International Spring/Summer 2010 1

EDITORIAL
The next resource crisis

of the 21st century
“There’s oil in the Middle East — but there are rare newer ones. Technology was on the march.
earths in China. We must take full advantage of this
resource.” And so to now. Rare earth elements with names that
sound like laxatives — Neodymium, Dysprosium,
An odd phrase at first sight, especially given its Lanthanum, Yttrium or Europium, for instance —
origins. are about to prove desperately important in the way
that the future energy and electronic economy of the
It was penned in 1992 by Deng Xiaoping the then- world will function.
Chinese leader — a visionary, who helped take China
from a peasant society to an industrial superpower in Questions over the availability of lithium are mere
a generation. distractions in comparison.
Deng’s point is a simple one when expanded. Next generation motors

The most important of these rare earths is probably
The world’s traditional energy supplies of oil come the metal Neodymium. Neodymium is essential for
from the Middle East, a region that has dominated so-called “permanent magnets” — the top of the
the global economy since the 1970s. Where the price range magnets that are used in generating electricity
of oil goes — here read the cost of energy — so does by wind turbines or running electric motors.
the health and wealth of nations.
Without decent electric motors, it doesn’t matter
And when alternative, more expensive to extract, what battery chemistry is being used, the world’s
sources of oil become affordable — think the future shift to electric vehicles or hybrids will be
bitumen sands of Alberta that give Canada the handicapped.
second largest reserves of oil in the world — these
same producers have tried their hardest to stop their Some of our dependence on these rare earths is new
oil coming to the petrol pump. to us all.
Feast to famine Others isn’t. The battery industry has known for
The easiest way has been to flood the market with years that progress using NiMH chemistry was
cheap oil. The oil price tanks. The multi-billion seriously constrained by the availability of the rare
dollar cost of developing such reserves becomes earth metal Lanthanum. The first generation Prius
uneconomical again. Oil firms pull away. The car for example needed 12kg of Lanthanum per
primacy of those in control is preserved. battery. Talk is that the latest Prius models will need
twice that.
Deng — who died in 1997 well before he could see
the truth of his forecast — understood that the future The trouble is the only current producer of
world economy was moving on from raw materials. Lanthanum is China. And that’s pretty much the case
Old sources of energy would need to be replaced by for Neodymium, Dysprosium, Yttrium, Europium
BATTERIES INTERNATIONAL GUIDE 2010

Issue 6 •
January 2010
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EDITORIAL
and the other unspellables.
That situation is relatively

new. Go back a generation
and the US mined half of the
world’s rare earths. By 2002
this had slumped to zero as
its last specialist miner shut
its doors.
Adding to the problem is the

fact while there are some
mines that do produce rare
earth ores and oxides, China
is the only country on earth
where these can be refined
into rare earth metals. All
roads lead to China here.
Or put it another way,
all production lines flow
through (and are controlled)
by China.
If you’re of a cynical or
suspicious disposition one
wonders if the western world
might be about to suffer from
a new style variant of the
Alberta oil sands scam.
Because just before the US

found it uneconomical to
mine rare earths a glut of
them had flooded the market, resources more environmentally friendly. Something, to
rendering their diggings uneconomic. date, it’s not been good at and which has made its citizens
angry. China’s move to renewable energy, for example,
And the origin of the rare earths? China. will almost certainly be placed ahead of foreigners.
Since then the price has been heading up. But even if there is no reason to assume that China
is planning to hold the earth to ransom, the fact
China recently slapped an export tax on rare earth that it can do so has to be a major concern for large
exports. The country is now warning that it might swathes of the batteries industry.
need all its rare earths for itself in the future.
Finding a strategy
But that’s not all. China has set its sights on green If a car manufacturer such as Toyota has to worry
energy manufacturing. It can use its near-monopoly — and there are reports that it has been deeply
on rare earths to require foreign companies seeking concerned by this — about resourcing the basic
access to them to locate their factories in China. And, chemicals operating in the next generation of electric
of course, it can build and operate these factories vehicles then we have another complicating factor
themselves. as we struggle to a new and better world of energy
It’s far-fetched to think China plans to hold the storage.
world to ransom over these metals. But it wouldn’t Time is running out. At some point in the next two
be beyond the realms of possibility to reason to five years Chinese domestic rare earth demand will
that China will want to insist that its own needs surpass supply. The fan could be well and truly hit.
for electric vehicles or wind turbines should take
precedence over the rest of the planet. They have the We need to deal with this intelligently without anti-
history of the US as an example/ China barrel-thumping or whining and whinging à la
Michigan manufacturers. To misquote US president
In effect, Chinese factories could become the Barack Obama on another issue — this is the time we
manufacturing centre for the energy storage should match strategy to resources and not put the
infrastructure and vehicles for the future. resource question before the one of strategy.
China, as per their next five year plan, plans to do two
things — promote its own resources to benefit its own Mike Halls, editor
citizens rather than push everything towards export editor@batteriesinternational.com
markets. It is also keen to make its own use of its
www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International Winter 2010 3
PETERSEN
John Petersen says it’s time to critically examine the economics of electric
vehicles and consider how cheaper disruptive technologies — a classic
consequence of rapid technological change — could change the landscape.
EVs and the fixed

cost conundrum
12,500 miles a year, the fixed cost is
I’m an unrepentant EV critic because is $0.24 per mile. The numbers will
$0.16 per mile; and
HEVs are more efficient users of bat- move up and down with fuel prices,
• For an urbanite who drives 6,250
teries, save five to six times more fuel but they won’t change because of a
miles a year, the fixed cost is $0.32
per kWh of battery capacity than EVs buyer's driving habits.
per mile.
and have lower CO2 emissions than In an EV, the cost calculation is more
EVs plugged into a coal-fired grid. complicated because there is a fixed To calculate total cost of ownership,
More importantly, nobody has built cost for the battery and a variable we need to add $0.03 per mile for the
a decent sized fleet of EVs, put them cost for the electricity. The Wall Street cost of electricity in the US and $0.04
into the hands of normal people and Journal recently reported that Nissan’s per mile for the cost of electricity in
run them for several years to find out cost of making a 100-mile battery the EU. The graph compares the effec-
how they’ll perform in the real world. pack for the Leaf is about $18,000. tive cost per mile of ICE vehicles and
When I look at the broader picture, When you add Nissan’s normal 25% EVs in the US and the EU based on
I can’t classify EVs as more than an gross profit, the cost at the end user miles driven per year.
experiment that will treat buyers like level is $24,000, or $1,000 per kWh. While many assume future electricity
lab rats — and make them pay for the prices will remain stable, I think that
privilege. Assumptions assumption is deeply flawed because
While there are plenty of reasons Using some charitable assumptions the cost of carbon taxes and capital
to criticize EVs, my biggest problems including a 10-year battery life, no investments in renewable energy and
arise from the trade-off between fixed loss of capacity over time, no cycle- the smart grid must ultimately be paid
and variable costs. life limitations and a $4,000 end of by consumers. The rate of change in
In a conventional car with an inter- life value, straight-line depreciation electricity prices may be slower than
nal combustion engine, the fixed cost on the battery pack is $2,000 a year, the rate of change in oil prices, but
of the fuel tank is low and the variable which means: it will still be substantial under every
cost of fuel is high. In EVs the dynamic reasonable scenario.
is reversed. The fixed cost of the bat- • For a cabbie who drives 50,000 A more frightening unknown is serv-
tery pack is high and the variable cost miles a year, the fixed cost is $0.04 ice life.
of electricity is low. per mile; Batteries are easily damaged by
At current US gasoline prices of $3 • For a route salesman who drives misuse and they degrade over time
a gallon, a car that gets 25 mpg has a 25,000 miles a year, the fixed cost is whether they’re used or not. Human
fuel cost of $0.12 per mile. At current $0.08 per mile; beings are not as predictable as com-
EU prices of $6 a gallon, the fuel cost • For an average Joe who drives puter test racks. Most of us don’t read
owner’s manuals from cover to cover
and even if we do we rarely follow
All-in Cost Per Mile Driven instructions because the temptation to
push the limits "just this once" is just
$0.40
too strong to resist.
$0.35 Since it doesn’t take many excep-
$0.30 tions to cause a lot of battery damage,
I’d give long odds that lithium-ion
Cost per Mile
$0.25
$0.20 – US ICE battery packs will not last 10 years in
– US EV an automobile.
$0.15
– EU ICE Second life value is anybody’s guess.
$0.10
– EU EV I don’t expect rapid advances in
$0.05
battery technology, but even improve-
$0.00 ments of 5% a year would reduce the
6,250 12,500 18,750 25,000 31,250 37,500
cost of new battery pack to $14,500
Miles Driven per Year by 2020. Since new batteries in 2020
will presumably offer better perform-
PETERSEN
ance, it seems unlikely that a future
Competitive users for advanced batteries
buyer would pay more than scrap
value for a used pack based on 2010 Device type Battery capacity
technology that has lost 20% or 30%
Cellphones and MP3 players 5 watt-hours
of its capacity.
The bottom line is that EVs are only Portable medical devices 10 to 50 watt-hours
economical when you buy no more Laptop computers 10 to 50 watt-hours
battery than you need and you use the
Electric bicycles and scooters 500 to 1,000 watt-hours
battery pack heavily.
That leads to a life and death Hybrid electric vehicles 1,000 to 1,500 watt-hours
struggle between range anxiety and Uninterruptible power systems 2,000 to 8,000 watt-hours
affordability. When you factor in the Plug-in hybrid vehicles 10,000 to 16,000 watt-hours
other uncertainties, I have to believe
that plans to electrify passenger cars Pure electric vehicles 24,000 to 50,000 watt-hours
are doomed until a better answer Utility applications 500,000+ watt-hours
emerges.
Disruptive technologies
Despite the challenges facing EVs and I see a bright future for lithium-ion batteries in
lithium-ion batteries, the mainstream high value applications that need modest battery
media seems convinced that the new-
wonder-batteries will make all other capacity, but think it’s naive to suggest that they’ll
batteries obsolete and store energy for
everything from iPads to windmills. It
become a dominant technology for EVs and
makes for a great story, but it won’t stationary applications that are incredibly price
happen in our lifetimes. sensitive.
Most of us are familiar with the con-
cept of disruptive technologies, a term
coined by Clayton M Christensen to templated and that modest users of Once the work got started, the result
describe simple, low-cost technologies quality products are the fiercest price was almost magical.
that displace established technologies competitors. A key development in the lead-acid
as they mature. The table at the top of the page is a world was Axion Power's PbC battery,
According to Dr Christensen, dis- simple hierarchy of possible lithium- an asymmetric lead-carbon capacitor
ruptive technologies often lack refine- ion battery applications from the high- that was discussed at length in a recent
ment and have performance problems est value per watt-hour to the lowest report from the US Naval Research
because they’re new, appeal to an value per watt-hour. Laboratory which concluded that the
underserved market, and may not I see a bright future for lithium-ion PbC and similar electrochemical capaci-
yet have a proven application; but batteries in high value applications tors have the inherent potential to:
their low cost creates new markets that need modest battery capacity, but
• deliver higher energy densities than
that induce network effects and pro- think it’s naive to suggest that they’ll
supercapacitors and faster charge-
vide an incentive to enhance them to become a dominant technology for
discharge response than batteries;
match or even surpass the prevailing EVs and stationary applications that
• offer longer cycle life and lower
technology. are incredibly price sensitive.
maintenance;
The following graph illustrates the Every reasonable battery producer
• significantly reduce the weight and
phenomenon. will sell its products to the custom-
volume of power systems;
ers that offer the highest margins.
• facilitate deployment of hybrid-elec-
With rapidly growing markets for
tric military vehicles; and
high value uses, nothing but surplus
• facilitate regenerative power systems
and seconds will be left for use in
anding us
e for cranes and other applications.
Most dem plug-in vehicles and utility applica-
At last month’s Advanced Automo-
Performance
High qual
ity use gy tions.
olo
hn tive Battery Conference in Orlando
e tec
v
pti
Dis
ru Current developments Axion unveiled graphs (see top of
e
quality us R&D spending on lead-acid bat- next page) that compare the dynamic
Medium
Low quality
use teries was curtailed in the mid-70s charge acceptance of the PbC battery
after VRLA batteries were brought with conventional VRLA.
Time to market. While lead-acid research Equally important research has been
was being curtailed, the emergence of progressing at companies like General
Reduced to basics, the public believes portable electronics led to rapid and Electric, which is developing a molten
the battery industry can take tech- sustained growth of R&D spending salt battery for use in hybrid locomo-
nologies that were developed for the on advanced batteries, and a host of tives and stationary applications, and
most demanding uses and make them new materials. Italy’s FIAMM, which joined forces
cheap enough for low quality uses that The dynamic didn’t change until with Switzerland’s MES-DEA to speed
require huge amounts of storage. recently, when new large-scale energy commercialization of the Zebra bat-
The belief flies in the face of time- storage needs gave researchers reason tery through a newly formed company
proven realities that technological to go back and investigate the impact named FZ Sonick.
advances always lead to new appli- of new manufacturing methods and Over the next year FZ Sonick
cations the developers never con- materials on old-line chemistries. plans to triple production capacity
The internet may be a wonderful tool, on that we all
agree, but our previous on-the-desk and comprehensive
International Battery Guide is by far the most convenient
way to access directory information.
Now the B.I.G. Guide is back. It will be published every six

months to ensure regular up-dates and detail the latest news and
developments as well as further buying information.
B.I.G. Batteries International Guide 2010 (January Issue), is now available.
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PETERSEN
to 300MWh and offer high energy

systems at prices that are competitive Dynamic charge acceptance graphs
with lithium-ion.
Given MES-DEA’s 12-year operating Standard Lead-Acid Battery (LAB) Axion PbC® Hybrid Battery/Supercapacitor
Dynamic HEV Cycling @ 80% SOC, PDRV Setpoint=12.60V, Channel 7/8C Dynamic HEV Cycling @ 80% SOC, PDRV Setpoint=10.00V, Channel 1/2C
history that has put thousands of elec- 20 110 20 110
tric cars, trucks and buses on the road 100 100
Charge Time (s) and Current (A)
Charge Time (s) and Current (A)
and subjected them to rigorous testing 90 90

15 15 80
in challenging conditions throughout 80
Europe, I expect FZ Sonick to become 70 70
Voltage (V)
Voltage (V)
60 60
a strong competitor in the energy stor- 10 10
50 50
age sector. 40
40
The graph at the bottom of the page 30
5 30 5
shows where electrochemical capaci- Charge Time
TOC Current 20
Charge Time
TOC Current 20
tors and sodium batteries fall in the TOCV
PCRV 10
TOCV
PCRV 10
PDRV PDRV
hierarchy of output energy densities. 0
EODV
0 0 EODV
0
0 2000 4000 6000
Both will improve with time, but 0 2000 4000 6000
molten salt could improve to a point Cycle Number Cycle Number
where it eclipses metal-air for the
energy density crown. I have no doubt that lithium-ion
The PbC is basically a power tech- chemistry will continue to advance
nology that is best suited to repetitive
Mark Twain taught us and that lithium batteries will be the
charge discharge cycling, like you find that history doesn't technology of choice when size and
in automotive stop-start systems. In weight are critical, and price is not a
comparison, molten salt batteries are repeat itself but it does priority. But I can’t buy the sugestion
best suited to storing large amounts rhyme. It is never wise that they’ll defy economic gravity and
of energy. supplant cheaper technologies like the
to ignore the lessons of PbC, which is better suited to low
My cloudy crystal ball history. value power applications, and molten
The key features that PbC and molten salt, which is better suited to low value
salt batteries have in common are that Energy Grid Integration Program, San- energy applications.
neither is a silver bullet, both are old- dia National Laboratories predicted Every industrial revolution in his-
line chemistries that use cheap and that the cost of asymmetric lead-car- tory has sprouted from innovation
plentiful raw materials, both can be bon capacitors like the PbC would fall that delivered more economic value at
easily recycled in existing facilities and by at least 50% over the next decade a lower economic cost. Government
both can be dramatically improved and the cost of molten salt batteries intervention to force suboptimal eco-
by using new manufacturing methods would fall by almost 80%. nomic solutions has invariably failed.
and materials. The price declines won’t come from Mark Twain taught us that history
Those common features leave both fundamental changes in battery chem- doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme.
technologies in a position where they istry. It is never wise to ignore the lessons of
have substantial disruptive poten- Instead they’ll come from the normal history. ■
tial because there is ample room for learning process that occurs whenever
improved performance and reduced a new technology is introduced to
cost without reinventing the wheel. the market and improved by profit-
In a July 2008 report for its Solar motivated manufacturers.
1000
Output Energy Density
(Input Energy ensity x Efficiency
Metal-Air
Batteries
Weight Energy Density – kWh / ton
300
(Not rechargeable
Lighter
electricity)
SoNick
complete
battery Li-ion
100 NaS Battery
Ni-Cd John L Petersen, is a US lawyer

30 Lead-Acid
based in Switzerland who works
Flow Batteries as a partner in the law firm of Fefer
Batteries
Petersen & Cie and represents
E.C. Capacitors
Smaller North American, European and
10 Fly Wheels Zinc-Air Rechargeable Asian clients, principally in the
10 30 100 300 1000 energy and alternative energy sec-
tors. More of his thoughts can be
Volume Energy Density – kWh / m3 found on http://seekingalpha.com

• Self-contained and independent modules - to be supplied only with concentrated acid, water,
compressed air, electric power
• Production capacity grows step-by-step with the customers’ requirements
• Controlled conditions guarantee a repeatable and consistent quality of the formed battery
• High productivity: Short formation times and concentrated production
• Reliable and proven technology with more than 100 formation systems in operation worldwide
• Battery / cell type Traction, Stationary
• Module capacity 320 cells per cycle
Up to 100000 cells p.a.
• Formation time Down to 15 hours
• Length of module 8.0 m
• Width of module 2.0 m
• Height of module 5.0m
• Required energy per cell 30 W
• Sulphuric acid exhaust less 1 mg per m3
• Modules in operation > 100 worldwide
• Module includes acid mixing / preparation / storage
• Module includes acid cooling and cleaning
• Module includes exhaust fan / exhaust cleaning
• No electrical powered chiller required
• No excess acid with this process!
• Battery type Truck A, B, C / Gel bloc

• Module capacity 120 batteries per cycle
Up to 120000 batt. p.a.
• Formation time Down to 8 hours (C-type)
Down to 6 hours (B-type)
• Length of module 12.0 m
• Width of module 2.2 m
• Height of module 0.9m (conveyor)
• Required energy per battery 125 W
• Sulphuric acid exhaust less 1 mg per m3
• Modules in operation > 20 worldwide
• Module includes acid mixing / preparation / storage
• Module includes acid cooling and cleaning
• Module includes exhaust fan / exhaust cleaning
• No electrical powered chiller required
• No excess acid with this process!
PEOPLE NEWS
It’s all change at Battery Council International, the lead battery association.
However, the bi-annual changes made at board level have been eclipsed by
the departure of the much-loved Moe Desmarais.
BCI says fond

quarterbacking the Smith
Bucklin staff, did a formi-
dable job of assisting me
during my two years as BCI
president.
farewell to Moe
“Through it all, Moe was
absolutely crucial to keep-
ing everybody right-sided
and focused on moving for-
ward,” he says.
“It was his idea to initiate
It’s the end of an era. Moe ably organizing the BCI’s manufacturers has stead- a relationship with China,
Desmarais, executive vice last conference in May in ily climbed from just over and we went there twice
president at the Battery Austin, Texas which was 150, when he started to 235 to speak on lead acid bat-
Council International — widely acclaimed as being nowadays. tery issues. We did a lot of
and the face of the organi- the best yet. Hal Hawk, who served as lobbying together on vari-
zation for a decade — has Moe started working for president of the board from ous issues demanding sup-
stepped down. the BCI in 2000 under the 2007 through 2008, and port, and he really helped
“I’ve enjoyed my time me, as membership chair,
working for the BCI,” says to increase our membership
Moe. “It’s been a privilege “Through it all, Moe was absolutely numbers, which, I’m happy
working with so many in to say, we’ve kept through
the industry but the relent- crucial to keeping everybody tough times since.”
less travel — including the right-sided and focused on Don Langdon, retiring
commuting to downturn chairman of the BCI board
Chicago — has proved too moving forward” for the last two years, is
much for me. You can only similarly enthusiastic
enjoy life on the road for so auspices of Smith Bucklin, has known him for more about Moe. “He guided
long. In my new job I’ll be a management company than a decade said: “By the the organization through
more based from home and that looks after the interests time I took over we had a a period of tremendous
it’ll be good to spend more of associations such as the pretty sizeable contingency change. Consolidation,
time with my family.” BCI. Under Moe’s watch of lead acid battery mak- regulation, and of course
Moe’s swansong was prob- the number of lead acid ers,” he says, “but Moe, the financial downturn, and
THE CURSE OF MOE — BEWARE LEVEL GROUND AHEAD!
It was uncanny,” said a colleague. flat — not a molehill or banana skin remains in a cast for weeks.
“One moment you’d be walking in sight — the next he’d be flat on The more kindly in the office said
next to Moe, the ground would be his back, he’d be rushed to hospital it was a knee thing. His long-time
and come back in a cast. It was assistant Ann Noll knew better,
a feature of regular life at the BCI cashing in her investments to buy
office. Gypsum futures.
“It happened so often we called it In any event Moe soon set them
the Curse of Moe.” straight.
Some even believed Moe was an Summer sunshine. Gentle breezes
undercover activist for shareholders and blue, blue sea over Cape Cod.
in plaster of Paris companies. What could possibly go wrong?
It started innocently enough a few No need to say the rest. This time
years back. One sunny afternoon it’s the arm that receives the plaster
Moe was strolling down Michigan of Paris.
Avenue, the next he’d broken his “I think his insurance finally cut
knee and was in a cast for weeks. him off for all those therapy ses-
Perhaps it was the sun in his eyes sions he was required to take,” said
that caused the fall? a close colleague.
An unlikely story. Just months “The good news is that he’s been
later on a rainy day, he gets on unhurt for the last year or so —
a bus. The next thing the same maybe the curse has worn off. Any-
knee — Moe always had favourites how, we all wish him the best for
in these things — is broken and he his new job.” ■

PEOPLE NEWS
all the pressures that put and the public as a bat- markets, nations and even “He made the council what
on all organizations. Moe tery that is safe, recyclable, cultures, and of course, pre- it is, and he made us look
was just great, just terrific reliable and efficient — all siding over informative con- fantastic.”
for our organization, very attributes too few realize in ferences that facilitate good “I loved his patience, and
professional — amiable and an increasingly fragmented business for members — in of course his unwavering
unflappable, no matter what mediascape.” the midst of warp-speed commitment to lead acid. He
the pressure. Desmarais’ contributions change, speaks volumes not was always willing to help,
“I will miss him person- to the Council and lead only about his devotion to he would do anything to con-
ally as a friend, and the acid, however — expanding the field, but his immense nect people. A kind, kind
organization will definitely its membership, supporting personal skills. man!,” says Laura Schacht,
miss his genial presence and research and development, “He will be sorely missed, sales director at Bitrode
leadership.” building relationships across I can tell you,” says Hawk. Corporation. ■
Desmarais’s considerable
people-skills, says Hawk,
were largely responsible for BCI LEADERSHIP — THOSE CHANGES AT THE TOP
carrying the organization so
successfully through a dec- And of course there have been major Alex Molinaroli, president, Power Solu-
ade of profound changes, changes at board level at Battery Coun- tions, Johnson Controls, was elected as
including the rise of Asia, the cil International. vice-president of the BCI board of direc-
proliferation of electronic tors. Molinaroli was elected a corporate
technology and media and officer of Johnson Controls in May 2004
communication, and the and has been president of the Power
globalization of markets, Solutions business unit since January
workforces and risks result- 2007.
ing economic upheaval. Johnson Controls is a global provider
Though he would prob- of lead-acid, hybrid and electric batteries
ably blush to hear him- for vehicles, supplying energy storage
self described as a gifted solutions to major automakers, aftermar-
networker, the modest ket retailers and distributors worldwide.
Desmarais expanded the Molinaroli was previously vice presi-
council through the addi- dent and general manager for the North
tions of two significant American Systems Building Efficiency
industry organizations: the business and joined Johnson Controls in
Energy Battery Group in 1983. Molinaroli has served on the BCI
2007, and the National board of directors since 2007.
Alliance for Advanced Jeffrey Graves, president and chief
Transportation Batteries in executive of C&D Technologies has been
2009. elected treasurer of the BCI board of
Both have helped the lead directors. Graves has been a director
acid industry claim a right- John Craig, (above) chairman, presi- of C&D Technologies and its head since
ful place in the growing pan- dent and chief executive of EnerSys has July 2005.
theon of nominally green been appointed the next president of the Before this he was the chief execu-
and clean energy sources. BCI board of directors. His predecessor tive of Kemet Electronics Corporation,
Succeeding Desmarais is Dan Langdon, chief executive at East a manufacturer of high-performance
Jim Kendzel who has over Penn, steps down after two successful capacitor solutions.
20 years’ experience work- years in the job. C&D Technologies is a technology
ing for associations such as Under BCI rules, new presidents are company that produces and markets
the BCI. elected annually but in practice their re- systems for the power conversion and
Kendzel says he is aware appointment after their first year of office storage of electrical power, including
of the very large shoes he is rubberstamped. They typically stand industrial batteries and electronics. Dr.
must fill, but he’s eager to down at the end of the second year. Graves has served on the BCI board
continue Desmarais’ legacy Craig has been the chairman, presi- since 2006.
in matters of both growth dent and CEO of EnerSys since 2000. Jim Kendzel, was chosen as the exec-
and image. A top priority, From 1998 to October 2000, he was utive vice president of the BCI, replac-
he says, will be expanding president and chief operating officer ing Moe Desmarais. The executive vice
The Facts About Lead— of Yuasa the predecessor company to president serves as the lead staff person
The Energy Solution, the EnerSys. He joined Yuasa in 1994. He reporting to the BCI board of directors.
promotional programme is recognised as a man with extensive Kendzel comes to BCI with over 20
Desmarais helped launch knowledge of the lead acid battery years of working at a senior level for
earlier this year. industry and the battery industry as a associations and other not-for-profit
“Moe is a tremendous tal- whole. organizations. His career includes expe-
ent in both the industry and EnerSys is a global leader in stored rience in the development of national
association management,” energy solutions for industrial applica- and international products and system
he says. “He understood tions with sales and service locations standards related to public health and
that one of our greatest throughout the world. safety as well as extensive knowledge in
challenges is to find new Craig has served on the BCI board of quality system development and product
ways to reframe lead acid’s directors since 2001. testing. ■
profile to both the industry
PEOPLE
McShane joins as EVP for Gys makes

International Battery appointments
as part of UK
David McShane has joined McShane has held sen- expansion plan
International Battery as an ior management posi-
executive vice president for tions at Capstone Turbine GYS Ltd, the French
business development and Corporation, a manufac- welding equipment and
engineering. turer of small gas-turbine battery charger manufac-
McShane’s professional systems for distributed gen- turer has announced four
background is in the com- eration, and Wavedriver appointments.
mercialization of early- Ltd. (a UK developer of Cédric Ouguergouz
stage technology-based electric and hybrid-electric has been promoted
businesses. drive-train technology). to UK sales manager
Most recently as chief McShane is chartered elec- responsible for sales of
executive of Wellington trical engineer and inven- all welding equipment,
Drive Technologies US he tor with specializations in battery chargers as
gained the market leading power electronics & con- well as ancillary equip-
position for high-efficiency trols and a Fellow of the ment to an expanding
fractional horse-power elec- Institute of Engineering and network of distributors.
tric motors. Technology (IET). ■ Meanwhile Phil Styles
has been appointed an
area sales manager cov-
ering the West Midlands
Axion Power adds Trego as CFO, and Wales.
David Deventer has
Baker as CEO, Shindle as VP been appointed business
development consult-
Three senior executives facturer and marketer of Between 2001 and 2005 ant with the mandate to
started at the beginning swimming pool compo- he worked at the Trojan introduce the GYS brand
of April at Axion Power, a nents. He started his career plant in Georgia as sen- and products to the north
US developer of advanced as an auditor with Ernst & ior vice president and of England, Scotland and
lead-carbon batteries. Whinney. general manager, where Northern Ireland. He has
Charles Trego, 59, As an indication of where introduced Kaizen events over 20 years’ experi-
became the new chief finan- the firm expects to grow in and Six-Sigma tools and ence working within the
cial officer; Philip Baker, the coming years, Axion improved productive out- industry
62, becomes chief operat- said: “Trego is experienced put by 20% in critical bot- Anthony Pierre joins
ing officer, a new posi- in M&A activities, sup- tleneck areas. from GYS in France
tion; and Jack Shindle, 40, ply chain processes, infor- Before Trojan he worked as sales office manager
became vice president for mation systems, business at Glen-Gery Corporation, bringing with him the
engineering. All appoint- partnering, team building, a manufacturer of build- experience of setting up
ments will be effective as capital markets and risk ing materials where 700 the GYS subsidiary in
of April 1st. management, as well as employees reported Germany. ■
Trego most recently was financial management best upstream to him. He began
an executive vice president practices.: his career at the Houston
and chief financial officer Baker comes from Trojan Brick & Tile Company. Ceramics Company from
of Minrad International, Battery Company where Shindle joins from CTP- 1993 to 2001.
an Amex-listed pharma- he worked from 1997 to Hydrogen Corp, which Shindle has several pat-
ceutical and medical device 2009. From 2006 to 2009 was developing a hydro- ents issued and pending,
company. Minrad was he was senior vice presi- gen generator for fuel and has co-authored sev-
acquired by India’s Piramal dent and general manager cells. He worked as opera- eral articles on hydrogen
Healthcare in early 2009, of a new battery facility tions and ceramic manager generation.
and Trego was an inte- for which he led all the from mid-2005 until 2009 Thomas Granville, chair-
gral part of the acquisition phases of development and when he joined Axion as a man of Axion said: “As
strategy and managed the operations in. consultant. we advance toward com-
bridge financing through Axion said: “Baker guided From 2001 to 2005 he mercialization of our tech-
the transition. the lead-acid battery plant worked at CellTechPower nology, it is time to right-
From 2005 to 2008, he from negotiations and per- where he directly super- size our management, to
was chief financial officer mitting forward, and is vised a team of scientists, maintain our forward
of Hardinge Inc, a Nasdaq- considered to be an expert engineers, technicians and momentum.
listed global machine tool in quality control and doc- operators in the develop- “All three individuals are
company. From 2003 to umentation, productivity ment of a liquid metal seasoned business veterans
2005 he was chief finan- and the maximization of anode solid oxide fuel cell. and we believe their con-
cial officer and treasurer uptime, automation and Before that he was a senior tributions will help propel
of Latham International, the management of envi- manufacturing engineer us to our goals in 2010
a privately held manu- ronmental issues.” Saint-Gobain Industrial and beyond.” ■

PEOPLE
Bolch takes over from Ulsh, O’Leary

as Exide chief exec and president
Exide Technologies has the economic downturn — $2.2 billion industrial tech-
appointed James Bolch as announced a loss for its nologies sector of Ingersoll
its new president and CEO, fiscal 2010 year of $11.8 Rand, which includes air
replacing Gordon Ulsh as million. This was its second compressors, tools, materi-
CEO who is retiring. Ulsh consecutive annual loss. als handling, fluid handling
was the key figure in the Analysts said that this was and compact vehicles.
transformation and turn far less than the $69.5 mil- Before this he worked
around of the troubled lion of the year before. as executive vice presi-
company’s fortunes after it “The board of directors dent of the service busi-
emerged from Chapter 11 conducted a comprehen- ness for Schindler Elevator
bankruptcy in late 2004. sive review of a strong field Corporation, where he led
Bolch, who starts on July of candidates and has the the North American serv-
26, joins from Ingersoll utmost confidence in Jim ices functions, including
Rand Company, where he Bolch,” said John Reilly, sales, marketing and service
was senior vice president chairman of the board of delivery.
and president of the indus- in Exide’s transformation Exide Technologies. “He is Bolch also spent 21 years
trial technologies sector. in the mid-2000s — who the ideal leader for Exide, with United Technologies
Ulsh, who is 64, was to resigned as president and combining deep operational Corporation most latterly
have stepped down at the chief operating officer on acumen with a proven track as vice president, opera-
end of June but difficul- June 16. He had announced record of driving innovations, for the UTC Power
ties in finding his successor his intention to quit on June tion and strategic growth.” Division, where he created
prompted the delay. 2. Bolch has spent 29 years and implemented business
Bolch takes over as presi- The resignation occurred in global industrial busi- strategies to commercial-
dent from Edward O’Leary at the same time as the nesses working in a vari- ize fuel cell production for
— better known as ‘EJ’ and battery manufacturer — ety of customer segments. distributed generation and
one of Ulsh’s key recruits which had been hurt by Since 2005, he has led the transportation markets. ■
PowerGenix hires Xu Gang to

advance product development
PowerGenix, a manufac- Xu has more than 10 years’
turer of rechargeable nickel- experience overseeing battery
zinc batteries has recruited product development, engi-
Xu Gang, a senior figure neering, and manufacturing.
in the Chinese lithium-ion Xu has been a post-doctoral
rechargeable battery indus- fellow at the Institute of Israel
try, as managing direc- Technology. He received
tor of PowerGenix’s Asia his PhD from the Chinese
operations. Academy of Sciences.
The firm says its operations “Dr. Xu has an impressive
will focus on using nickel background and reputation
zinc chemistry for both in the battery industry. With
transportation and stationary his addition, PowerGenix
power. “Nickel-zinc offers can launch its technology
several inherent advantages into more demanding appli-
for hybrid electric vehicles, cations,” said PowerGenix
including high energy den- chief executive Dan Squiller.
sity, low cost, and safety,” “We are ready to take our
says the company. high performance batteries
“The technology is well to new markets and embark
positioned to be a high on the company’s next stage
performance alternative to of growth.”
lead-acid batteries for micro- Xu previously oversaw
hybrids and to nickel-metal technology development at
hydride for mild/full HEVs. Tianjin Lishen Battery. He
“In an industry increas- helped grow the manufac-
ingly focused on cost and turer to becoming a key sup-
performance, NiZn batteries plier of lithium battery prod-
are perfectly suited for the ucts to western power tool,
needs of hybrid vehicles,” electronics, and transporta-
said Xu. tion customers. ■

THE MAJOR WORLDWIDE
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NEWS
FIAMM joins forces with MES-DEA

in ringing endorsement of SMC
FIAMM, the Europe-based this chemistry will be the
battery manufacturing giant “Our sodium-nickel-chloride next generation of industrial
and Switzerland-based MES- energy storage for the tel-
DEA, one of the two pro-
technology has received attention ecom industry. It can be used
ducers of industrial quantity as an emerging alternative energy as a backup system for hybrid
sodium nickel chloride bat- telecom sites where non-grid
teries worldwide, announced source” sources of power are utilized,
in May that the two had this innovative energy stor- lead-acid batteries tradition- as well as in traditional base
formed a new company age technology,” says Cesare ally used in telecoms, elec- stations powered by robust
called FZ Sonick to market Sinigaglia, former general tric utilities, data centers and or unstable electrical grids.
molten salt batteries. manager of MES-DEA and manufacturing sites.
The move is important for FZ Sonick’s new managing FZ Sonick will be head- NGK, EDF Energy too
the development of the elec- co-director. quartered in MES-DEA’s In February a consortium
tric vehicle market. It pro- MES-DEA has been pro- Stabio plant where it employ- that included Japan’s NGK
vides an alternative energy ducing sodium-nickel-chlo- ees some 190 staff. Insulators, EDF Energy,
chemistry to lithium ion bat- ride batteries since 1998, Research and develop- MEIDEN and JWD signed
teries — but one already been when it acquired the technol- ment efforts will take place an agreement to develop
proven extensively across ogy from AEG and Daimler at FIAMM’s headquarters in large scale sodium sulphur
Europe. while FIAMM has been test- Italy. FZ Sonick has bought batteries to provide ancillary
Its importance for the ing and developing sodium all patents, intellectual prop- services in the UK which pro-
future electric vehicle market metal chloride batteries since erty and manufacturing vide a smoother connection
is partly because FIAMM’s 2005. equipment that were previ- to companies connected to
existing operations in Its antecedent is sodium ously owned by MES-DEA. the national grid.
Waynesboro, Georgia in sulphur chemistry which has Sodium metal chemistry has “Large scale sodium sul-
the US may be expanded to a distinguished, if often unno- already been used by MES- phur battery systems have
include sodium metal chlo- ticed pedigree. Ford Motor DEA in cars, municipal buses been used in several locations
ride (SMC) production — Company, for example, tri- and even as energy storage across the world to store
although this has yet to be alled NaS batteries in a multi- for NATO rescue submarine energy and provide various
confirmed. million dollar electric vehicle systems. applications such as load lev-
It is also a fuller endorse- fleet in the early 1990s, called elling, stabilizing renewable
ment of it as a valid battery ECOSTAR. GE Energy Storage energy and the grid system
chemistry beyond the scope The ECOSTAR project — Other firms are also look- and will be able to do so for
of stationary applications. which ultimately was unsuc- ing at sodium batteries. GE many years to come," said
cessful — included exten- Energy Storage Technologies, the consortium at the time.
Capacity expansion sive fleet testing of over 100 a unit of GE Transportation, “We are working on a
FIAMM says there are also cars. These were operated by put its new Durathon bat- demonstration project before
plans to double capacity of Ford in the US, the UK and tery — sodium metal halide seeking to apply the technol-
SMC batteries at its plant Germany. chemistry — on display at ogy more widely.” ■
in Stabio, in the south of The ECOSTAR fleet of the end of March. GE says
Switzerland. sodium sulphur batteries used
Based on projected market were able to deliver 37kWh
demand for energy storage — substantially more two SMC battery selling points
solutions, FZ Sonick says decades ago than the bulk • High specific energy (120 Wh/kg) — three times
it hopes to increase annual of electric vehicles being pro- lighter and 30% smaller than conventional batteries
production to 170MW annu- posed in the next two years. • Immunity to ambient temperature conditions — con-
ally from the 90MW level stant performance and cycle life in harsh operating
achieved by MES-DEA. Sodium nickel chloride environments (-40°F to +140°F)
This will help with the over- “Our SONICK sodium- • Long calendar and cycle life — 15 years or 2000
load where demand has out- nickel-chloride technology cycles at 80% DOD
stripped supply. (Although enables a wider range of • Infinite shelf life for cold/inactive batteries
this has apparently been in applications than sodium sul- • No memory effect
part due to quality problems fur (NaS) technology, which • Maintenance free
in the cells’ manufacture has received attention as an • Proprietary battery management system
which resulted in some pre- emerging alternative energy • Low environmental impact and zero ambient
mature failures.) source,” says a FZ Sonick emissions
“After more than 10 years spokesperson. • Fully recyclable materials — free from toxic
of steady testing and growth He said the addition of materials
in the transportation sector, advanced battery technol- • Raw materials readily available -- minimal commod-
we are ready to also focus on ogy complements FIAMM’s ity risk
the stationary applications of existing line of industrial Source: FZ Sonick presentation

NEWS
Sodium metal halide to fore as

GE releases Durathon battery
GE Energy Storage important attribute as wire- GE announced in January ARRA grants signal a
Technologies, a unit of GE less providers continue to that it had received a $25.5 mood change across the US
Transportation, put its new expand coverage around million advanced manufac- where the oil price crisis,
Durathon battery on dis- the globe. turing credit for the con- the economic downturn and
play at the end of March. Sodium battery technol- struction of a manufactur- the recent oil spill in the
The Durathon battery is ogy has been in existence ing facility to develop next Gulf of Mexico continue
based on sodium metal hal- for more than 30 years, but generation energy storage to change public opinion
ide chemistry. GE’s acquisition of Beta systems. about its over-reliance on
GE says this chemistry R&D in 2007 jump-started This was part of the 2009 non-domestic energy.
will be the next generation applications for mobile and American Recovery and Certainly GE appears to
of industrial energy storage stationary energy storage. Reinvestment Act and will think so. “GE is entering
for the telecom industry. It Durathon technology uses be used to refurbish a pre- the energy storage mar-
can be used as a backup sys- a patented sodium halide existing GE manufactur- ket at a critical time in the
tem for hybrid telecom sites chemistry. ing facility in Schenectady, United States as power
where non-grid sources of The Durathon battery will New York. GE selected the system stability and secu-
power are used, as well as change the way providers Schenectady site for energy rity and an increase in the
in traditional base stations think about backup energy storage manufacturing in renewable energy portfo-
that are powered by robust storage and its importance in August 2009. lio are becoming integral
or unstable electrical grids. maintaining network availa- The State of New York to 21st century economic
The Durathon battery bility,” says Prescott Logan, has also partnered GE in the development,” said Lorenzo
lasts up to 10 times longer general manager GE Energy construction of the facility Simonelli, president of GE
than traditional telecom Storage Technologies. by pledging more than $15 Transportation.
backup storage systems. “As the telecommunica- million in incentives. At full capacity the plant
This reduces the total cost tions industry continues to The new Durathon bat- could produce approxi-
of ownership and ensures expand, it’s essential that teries will be produced at mately 10 million cells annu-
network efficiency and providers have reliable this plant which is sched- ally — capable of generat-
optimization for wireless backup power to ensure uled to be fully operational ing 900MW hours of energy
providers. continuous coverage for by mid-2011. The fund- per year. GE says this is
The product of a $160 consumers in all areas of ing will create 350 new the equivalent of the battery
million investment by GE, the globe”. jobs. The facility is close power required for 45,000
the Durathon battery is also The batteries will rely to GE Global Research in plug-in hybrid electric vehi-
temperature insensitive, heavily on new materials, Niskayuna, where advances cles with an 80-mile range
allowing for coverage in new manufacturing tech- to the battery chemistry or enough energy to support
remote areas with extreme nologies and intelligent were developed. 1,000 GE Evolution Series
weather conditions, an controls. Observers say that the hybrid locomotives. ■
HOMER Energy releases design software for

hybrid renewable power systems for microgrids
HOMER Energy, a US soft- Increased renewable HOMER 2.75 generates sensitivity analysis) allow
ware company, announced energy adds to the require- warnings when the percent- users to choose the most
in May the release of ment for “spinning” or age of renewable energy in cost-effective energy system
HOMER today, the first standby operating reserve a system gets high enough to by rigorously comparing
commercial release of its to bridge periods of vari- require more detailed mod- a wide range of options.
microgrid design software ability in wind or solar elling. The new version of In the coming months,
since it was licensed from power sources. HOMER also calculates the HOMER Energy will release
the National Renewable Flywheels deliver short peak instantaneous renew- a web-based version of
Energy Laboratory. bursts of power effectively able penetration. Higher pro- HOMER that will respond
The new version of instantaneously to level the portions of renewable energy to customer requirements
HOMER includes the ability delivery of energy in a hybrid in hybrid systems are inevita- with a modular architec-
to model new storage tech- system, when additional gen- ble as the price of renewable ture, including customized
nologies, such as flywheels eration needs to be brought energy technology falls while modules.
and zinc bromine flow bat- on-line suddenly. The new the market, environmental, Version 2.75 of HOMER
teries, both of which will zinc bromine flow batteries and security costs of fossil will be sold for a minimal
allow designers to develop deliver steady backup power fuels continue to rise. fee, but the original free
larger systems that have a for hours and have a longer HOMER’s decision sup- version will always be avail-
higher contribution from life span than tradition lead port capabilities (simula- able at www.homerenergy.
renewable energy. acid batteries. tion, optimization, and com. ■

NEWS
Nexeon signs
material
Corvus in NMC lithium
evaluation
agreement
tug boat venture
Corvus Energy says its lat-
Nexeon, a UK developer est battery line, which will
of silicon-based anodes be used in a new line of
for next generation lith- tugboats that should ship
ium ion batteries, has next year and which could
signed material evalu- eventually lead to the use
ation agreements with of electric tugboats for all
major corporations inter- types of vessel.
ested in its technology. Although the first electric
The start-up firm says tugboats will only be used
that these agreements for training, future elec-
will herald the start of tric tugboats are aiming at
the commercialization of pulling full megaton cargo
its silicon anode battery ships.
materials. According to Corvus there Maritime will use the tug that tugboats will need
These agreements, are about 2,000 coastal boat, a 7.8 metre long boat to meet future emission
which earn revenues workboats in the world with a 450 horsepower pull- regulations.”
for Nexeon, involve the that are more than 40 years ing power, to train future Although the initial trend
sampling of specially pre- old. And of those it esti- tug boat captains. may lead to a replacement
pared silicon materials mates that about 450 will Corvus says that the new of diesel for lead acid batter-
and data from Nexeon’s be replaced in the next five tugboat contract is part ies — on the simple grounds
manufacturing pilot line. years and the remaining will of a larger trend whereby of cost — longer term, says
“The ‘Gen-1’ materials be replaced over the next 10 tug boat companies are Corvus, their batteries will
have proved to be highly years. to switch from diesel to prove more cost-effective.
reproducible in Nexeon’s Initially, however, Corvus electric. “The switch will The boats will use nickel
own testing,” says the Energy, Robert Allan Naval save about 70% on fuel manganese cobalt (NMC)
firm. Architects and Adrenaline costs, which is expected lithium batteries that
“These initial agree- Marine Ltd of Delta — all to translate to a two year Corvus Energy says offers
ments are likely to be three are Canadian firms — return on investment,” about 22% more power
followed by more such are to deliver a hybrid diesel- says Corvus. “Another than lithium iron phosphate
agreements that are electric tugboat and an all- reason is a 60% reduc- batteries and 76% more
already in the pipeline, electric tugboat to Western tion on emissions over die- power than a typical lead
and represent a strong Maritime Institute. Western sel, which is something acid battery. ■
expression of interest
for silicon anode Li-ion
batteries.”
Nexeon would not
Lithium battery price concerns
reveal the names of the
companies but said they delay e-Spark arrival by GM India
are well known bat-
tery and automotive General Motors India has However a lithium ion have a battery option, then
companies. delayed plans to roll out battery costs around there is no option but to
Nexeon recently an electric variant of the Rs350,000 ($7,500), which delay it. We may not be able
announced the achieve- e-Spark. It had earlier said would push up the cost of to commit any specific date
ment of another mile- it would launch the car by an electric Spark to about as of now,” Balendran told
stone when its cells suc- September this year. Rs700,000 ($15,000), a local news magazine.
cessfully completed 500 The reason appears to according to P Balendran, Last September, GM
full charge/ discharge be the disparity between vice-president of corporate India and Bangalore-based
cycles at 1200mAh/g for the price and performance affairs at General Motors Reva Electric Car decided
the anode without signif- of lead acid against lith- India. to jointly develop an elec-
icant capacity fade being ium ion batteries. GM can “You have to have a tie- tric variant of the Spark.
observed. either fit the electric Spark up with a battery maker While Reva would provide
The firm says silicon with lithium-ion battery or or source batteries locally, the technology,
provides far higher per- lead acid batteries. otherwise it is not going to The car would be the first
formance than current While lead acid batter- be beneficial to customers locally manufactured four-
carbon materials as an ies have a shorter running because the ownership cost door passenger electric
anode material, offering span enabling a vehicle to would be very high. vehicle on Indian roads.
lithium storage capacity run for 60km on a single “We may go for a leasing GM India said that it
around 10 times that of charge, lithium-ion batter- arrangement but none of would do the engineering
carbon by weight. ■ ies have a range of close to the parameters have been and manufacturing from its
150km on a single charge. decided yet. If we do not Talegaon plant. ■

NEWS
that provides a level of envi-
US to restrict export of ronmentally sound manage-
ment equivalent to that
of the Basel Convention
spent lead acid batteries requirements.
Exports of SLABs for
New restrictions on the or recovery depend in part transboundary movements recovery to any non-OECD
exports of spent lead-acid on the desired destination of hazardous waste for country that is a Basel Party
batteries (SLAB) from the country — in particular recovery or disposal. are subject to either this
US for recovery come into to the 172 countries that SLABs are listed as haz- agreement or an Article 11
force on July 7. are members of the Basel ardous waste A1160 (waste agreement. ■
US exporters will now Convention (of which the lead-acid batteries, whole or
require a notification and US is not a signatory). crushed) in Annex VIII of Fuller details of this
obtained consent from the Such shipments are sub- the Basel Convention. announcement can be
Environmental Protection ject to the US requirements Article 4, Paragraph 5 of found at http://www.epa.
Agency and the receiving for exports, the regulations the Basel Convention gener- gov/epawaste/hazard/inter-
country, SLAB exporters for imports in the destina- ally prohibits Parties from
should submit notifications tion country, and whatever permitting the import of
to the EPA at least six to international waste agree- hazardous wastes from a New recycling
eight weeks before the date ment is most relevant to non-Party like the United plant for
to avoid delays. the waste and countries States unless the countries
The new requirements for concerned. concerned participate in Florida
exporters that wish to ship The Basel Convention is a separate international Envirofocus Technologies,
spent lead-acid batteries to a multilateral international agreement, also known as a Florida lead acid bat-
other countries for recycling agreement governing all an “Article 11 agreement,” tery recycling firm held
a ground-breaking cer-
emony in mid-March
Finland investigates illegal for its $100 million new
plant. The firm said it will
transportation of used car batteries increase its daily output
of recycled lead acid bat-
Finnish customs authorities batteries. Some 35,000 kilos transport batteries without teries from about 10,000
announced this spring they of car batteries are under- tying them down. If the load a day to 50,000 daily.
are investigating exports of stood to have been moved shifts or falls, the batteries Construction of the new
used car batteries to Estonia, illegally in vans and aboard might crack. In such a case facility will take around
Latvia, and Lithuania in vio- car ferries to Estonia and then battery acid and hydrogen 26 months .
lation of environmental regu- on to the rest of the Baltic. can leak. The poles might
lations. Finnish customs has The customs say the road cause a short circuit, sparks, China 2010
launched investigations into transport of car batteries on and an electric fire if they
12 different cases of environ- Finnish highways poses a touch metal,” said Teemu lead demand
mental law violations involv- major security risk. “In colli- Koskela, chief inspector at seen up 20%
ing the export of spent car sions, it is very dangerous to Finnish customs. ■
on battery
China’s refined lead con-
Additional production lines for China sumption should rise 20%
in 2010 as production of
Ritar as it moves into testing mode lead-acid batteries rises
25%, according to Zeng
Test runs of China Ritar to rebound,” said Jiada Hu, which showed a fall of rev- Jianjun, deputy secretary
Power’s recently installed the firm’s chairman and enues to $98.6 million with of the China Lead-Acid
additional 10 produc- chief executive director. net income of $8.7 million. Battery Association and
tion lines start in July. The “Our position as a lead- Domestic sales increased chief operating officer of
number of production lines ing lead battery manufac- to 34% of total revenues. Ritar Power, one of the
will increase from 19 to ture is supported by our Batteries for renewable largest battery manufac-
29. China Ritar says it high quality batteries with energy storage increased to turers in the country.
expects capital expenditures consistent performance at 25% Zeng said the growth in
to be about $6 million to lower prices than our inter- Revenue for the full year the lead-acid battery sec-
$8 million for the purchase national competitors. 2009 decreased 12% to tor — requiring 75% of
and instillation of the new “Moreover, with the new $98.6 million, compared to the country’s refined lead
equipment. capacity we have coming $112.3 million in 2008. The consumption — would
The moves follows the online in the second half decrease in revenue is mainly be driven by the coun-
completion of the battery of 2010, we are well posi- attributable to a 12% decline try’s green energy projects
manufacturer’s new indus- tioned to ramp up our lead in the company’s average and the transport sector,
trial plant earlier this spring, acid battery sales in line selling price as a result of the including electric buses.
“We are looking forward with new demand.” decline in the average price China is the world’s top
to the expanding market Separately the firm of lead from Rmb16,000 lead producer and con-
opportunities in 2010 as the announced its results for ($2,425) in 2008 to 13,500 sumer. ■
global economies continue the its 2009 financial year in 2009. ■

NEWS
Bidding war comes close to end

as Chloride accepts ABB price
Switzerland’s ABB Group a competitor to Emerson in Emerson putting them into and annual revenue was sold
announced in early June the US. play forced us to move faster for cash at a far higher value
that it had reached an Irrespective of further bids than we would have, but we than the market attributes to
agreement to buy UK-based for Chloride, approval will had been talking to them for the original equipment man-
Chloride Group for £860 be needed from the UK’s some time,” he said. ufacturers,” says Petersen.
million ($1.3 billion) in Takeover Panel which will Analysts’ views were mixed “If one looks at the finan-
cash. Chloride — which his- make a ruling on the accept- given that ABB is not seen as cial metrics for Chloride,
torically was one of the old- ability of ABB’s offer in the having a notable presence Enersys, Exide and C&D
est battery manufacturing coming weeks. in the uninterruptible power for the trailing 12 months,
companies in Europe until it Following the recent take- supply and critical power I can’t help but conclude
moved into the uninterrupt- over of British confection- markets — meaning that the that either ABB is overpay-
ible power supply business ary giant Cadbury by Kraft opportunities for cost cut- ing for Chloride, or the mar-
in the 1990s — is a global and the broken promise to ting and other synergies was ket is seriously undervaluing
firm but of medium size. keep a factory open, politi- limited. Enersys, Exide and C&D.
Chloride is a well respected cal pressure has been grow- “The best explanation
vendor of uninterruptable ing to make it more difficult High valuation comes from the work of
power solutions for com- for overseas firms to buy UK The valuation is also seen Benjamin Graham who said,
mercial and industrial cus- assets. as high — ABB is paying ‘in the short term, the stock
tomers in Europe (78%), ABB said Chloride would roughly 20 times 2010 market behaves like a vot-
the Americas (10%) and become the global centre for EBITDA (earnings before ing machine, but in the long
Asia (12%). term it acts like a weighing
Chloride’s products pro- machine’. For the last couple
tect business critical sys- There is speculation, however, that years, the market has been
tems and processes from showing its voting machine
the effects of poor power other bidders could still emerge side. Over the next couple
quality and power interrup- years I expect the weighing
tions prevalent in developed
before the ABB offer concludes, machine to emerge with a
and developing countries. including Schneider Electric and vengeance.”
Its products range from Another interpretation
battery back-up systems to Eaton, a US competitor to Emerson. could ascribe ABB taking
diesel generators and fly- a different world picture
wheels. It is also seen as a its uninterruptible power interest, tax, depreciation whereby ABB sees the acqui-
cutting edge firm of tech- supplies division. Chloride’s and amortization), and 18 sition of Chloride as both
nology — roughly half of its traditional customers were times 2011 EBITDA. A an insurance and an asset
revenues come from tech- in heavy industry and utili- more normal market valua- against the clearly haphaz-
nology brought to market ties but the increasing reli- tion might have been around ard and erratic drive world-
in the previous three years. ance on technology in other 10 times EBITDA. wide away from oil and to
sectors has broadened its That said business will better energy storage as an
Emerson spurned customer base and it now reside within ABB’s automa- alternative.
The deal follows Chloride’s ensures the lights stay on tion and motors segment, The argument runs that
rejection of an offer from at EDF Energy, HSBC, and may have some abil- ABB knows that govern-
its US counterpart Emerson Sainsbury’s and BP. ity to leverage ABB’s exist- ments around the world are
Electric, which had valued It has also grown rap- ing relationships to extend forcing utilities to implement
the company at £723m. idly in emerging markets, Chloride’s market reach. alternative energy strategies
The bids and counter- as the demand for energy John Petersen, a lawyer and that will make their weak-
bids started two years ago has led to increasing power also analyst of the energy ened power grids even more
when Emerson approached cuts. Chloride last month storage market, said the unstable and unreliable.
Chloride with an offer but reported profits for the year high market price could also So, although retail cus-
it has subsequently become of £41million ($62 million). indicate that lead acid bat- tomers may suffer lower
clear that ABB has been ABB, which provides power tery manufacturers including power quality and reduced
in contact with Chloride systems and helps industrial Enersys, Exide Technologies reliability, businesses would
for around 18 months. As firms to automate processes, and C&D Technologies are not allow this to happen.
Batteries International was already employs around “woefully undervalued and That being the case, as insta-
going to press the consen- 2,300 people in Britain, part offer outstanding opportu- bilities increase, demand
sus among analysts was that of a global workforce of nity for patient and risk tol- for privately owned UPS
Emerson might return to the 117,000. erant investors. and power quality systems
table with a higher offer. Joe Hogan, the ABB chief “The thing I found fasci- will soar; and in that world,
There is speculation, executive, said his company nating about ABB’s purchase Chloride class systems inte-
however that other bidders had been talking to Chloride of Chloride is the fact that grators and lead acid bat-
could still emerge, including about a potential deal for a systems integrator with a tery producers become of
Schneider Electric and Eaton, 18 months. “Obviously, fraction of the assets, equity clear value. ■

NEWS
New lead recovery technology to shift

from smelting to chemical extraction
Smelter and lead producer than $30 million in research
the Doe Run Company and and development.”
Engitec, an Italian chemical Doe Run and Engitec first
firm, unveiled revolutionary partnered in the early 1990s
new technology at the end when the mining company
of March which replaces was building its Buick
traditional, high-temper- Resource Recycling Division
ature lead smelting with in Boss. At the time, Engitec
a chemical process that it had discovered Flubor but
claims will be safer, cleaner had not tested it on a com-
and more efficient. mercial scale.
The proprietary new tech- In the late 1990s, Doe Run Doe Run’s operations at La Oroya in Peru: perhaps the next
nology, called Flubor, uses built a pilot plant to test spot to move away from smelting
a wet chemical process — the technology. Convinced
essentially fluorboric acid it could be deployed on an the use of lead for hybrid they go on to public roads.
— to dissolve lead concen- industrial-sized scale, the electric vehicles, as well as The company has also
trates into solution and then company’s board author- renewable energy storage been ordered by the EPA
extracts lead from the solu- ized spending $6 million in and frequency regulation to address issues relating to
tion using an electric current. 2006 to build a demon- for smart grid technology. elevated lead blood levels in
The process is similar stration plant. This began “Having a secure domes- the community and lead in
to the technology used operating in 2007 but was tic supply for lead better community soils adjacent to
to extract zinc from con- shut down in early 2009 for ensures that our US-based the smelter. It has also spent
centrates, but has never nine months because of the manufacturing facilities are $10.4 million on buying up
been used in primary lead economic downturn. cost competitive and support to 160 residential properties
production. The plant has been in new and existing jobs in the close to the smelter that are
As a self-contained proc- continuous operation since US,” Flicker said. “We’re contaminated.
ess, the activating solution November, and the global eager to support Doe Run’s In addition to improved
is recycled back into the engineering and construc- dramatic progress toward environmental performance,
process indefinitely. tion firm CH2M HILL has cleaner lead processing Doe Run’s new technology
Doe Run says it is run- conducted a preliminary technology.” provides several economic
ning a demonstration plant feasibility study that vali- The process should benefits to both US state and
in Missouri, completing a dates the technology. improve overall recovery federal economies. The tech-
detailed feasibility study on “This new proprietary rates of lead while dra- nology is expected to extend
the new technology and eval- technology is a game changer matically curbing pollution, the economic life of US lead
uating possible locations for for our industry. It delivers including air emissions of mines by providing a higher
a commercial-scale plant. To on shared goals for cleaner both lead and sulphur diox- rate of metal recovery.
take the project from a dem- communities, energy inde- ide. Lead is a neurotoxin “Doe Run intends to keep
onstration plant to a com- pendence and lead products that can interrupt normal the US at the centre of the
mercial-sized operation, the that will power our world brain development and has global lead industry,” said
new technology is expected into the future,” said Neil. been linked to behavioural Neil. “We believe this tech-
to require investments of The process has already problems in children. nology will set a new stand-
more than $150 million. been recognized by lead- The technology also elimi- ard for sustainable lead pro-
Doe Run says it is pursu- ing figures in the business. nates slag, a glassy, silica- duction around the world,
ing funding and loan guar- “Given the recycling rate rich by-product produced in even as we face increased
antees to help bring the new of more than 97%, lead the smelting process, which competition from China,
technology to fruition. is already an environmen- the company stores on-site. India and other emerging
“We still have a way to tal success story,” said Doe Run has been economies.
go, but we’re convinced this Bob Flicker, chief operat- cited regularly by the US’ “The new technology
technology has tremendous ing officer and executive Environmental Protection was developed with an eye
potential to produce a stra- vice president for battery Agency for infringing emis- toward our common goals
tegic metal in a manner that manufacturer, East Penn sion limits, contaminating of efficiency, environmen-
is environmentally sound in Manufacturing Co. roads and polluting the tal stewardship and cleaner
every respect,” said Bruce “When Doe Run began immediate vicinity of the communities. We’re ready
Neil, Doe Run’s president testing the new technol- smelter. to take a leadership role
and chief executive officer. ogy, we recognized its huge Exceeding of emission in transforming the lead
“We’ve been looking for potential. At its very core, limits has resulted in the industry.”
a breakthrough technology lead keeps the world mov- reduction of the permitted The Doe Run Company
for almost 20 years and ing through batteries that capacity of its main smelter. is a privately owned natu-
have invested more than deliver dependable energy Road contamination has ral resources company and
200,000 man hours to get storage. Advanced lead- resulted in orders to clean the largest integrated lead
us this far. By year’s end, acid batteries, such as the up certain roads and to producer in the Western
we will have invested more UltraBattery, will broaden wash down vehicles before Hemisphere. ■

NEWS
Axion to provide new BMS with

regenerative braking for train sets
Axion Power International, a striking endorsement of system can be successfully of which require extensive
the developer of advanced the value of Axion’s PbC demonstrated in a short and expensive infrastructure
PbC batteries, is to launch battery which essentially time frame. apparatus.
a development programme acts as an asymmetric lead- “Railways are the most Most locomotives oper-
with Norfolk Southern carbon capacitor. fuel-efficient method of ate by burning fossil fuels
Corporation, one of the larg- “The key will be devel- transporting freight, moving although Japanese firm
est railways in the US, to oping a battery manage- a ton of freight 457 miles on NGK uses sodium metal
develop a battery management system that is robust, a single gallon of fuel. The chloride batteries as the
ment system that would allow safe, dependable and easy ability to run locomotives on motive force.
rail locomotives to operate on to maintain,” says Thomas electricity is well established, Norfolk Southern Railway
battery power and recharge Granville, chairman of although the standard means subsidiary operates approx-
their batteries through regen- Axion Power and also its of doing so to date has either imately 21,000 route miles
erative braking. chief executive. “We are been a third rail or an over- in 22 states and the District
The new BMS could be highly confident, that this head connection — both of Columbia. ■
Exide makes further international moves

expands in Brazil, ups UK brand presence
Exide Technologies has hybrid electric vehicles. valuable lead content find which means that anyone
formed a new business entity Exide Technologies do their way to the ‘white van dealing with them is in dan-
Exide Technologies do Brasil, Brasil will market a range man brigade’ who then cash ger of an unlimited fine or
headquartered in São Paulo, of vented and advanced them in at smelting plants. even worse.”
Brazil, to capitalize on the valve regulated lead acid “The problem is that these The marketing will also be
growth potential for stored technologies and lithium ion operators aren’t licensed, extended online. ■
energy markets in South batteries for motive power,
America. network power and trans-
Meanwhile Exide UK has portation applications in
also launched a new brand South America under the
in the UK to capture a larger Exide premium brand-name
share of the £160 million portfolio and Absolyte,
waste battery market. Marathon, Sprinter, GNB
“The company’s new entity Flooded Classic, and Fulmen
in South America gives Exide brands.
better access to our existing “With the establishment of
customers and potential cus- Exide Technologies do Brasil,
tomers, with the opportunity our company is better posi-
to market specific solutions tioned to capitalize on the
for local needs,” says Gordon growth potential for stored
Ulsh, chief executive of Exide electrical energy markets in
Technologies. the South American region,”
“This move forward will says Ulsh.
provide more opportunities Separately Exide UK has
for us to deliver our products launched a new brand called
and services to the region,” . ‘Act Positive’ to help it cap-
Exide says the new entity ture a larger share of the
will serve the industrial £160 million waste battery
energy and transportation market.
markets in South America The ‘Act Positive’ brand
with comprehensive portfo- has been designed as part of
lios of electrical energy stor- a broader campaign which
age products manufactured highlights the environmen-
at its facilities globally. tal and public health hazard
The company says that that discarded batteries can
the business structure also cause, as well as the prob-
enhances the ability of its lems causes by unlicensed
ReStore Energy Systems traders selling them
division to penetrate the Craig Everett, marketing
developing markets for manager for Exide, says;
renewable energy applica- “Currently a high proportion
tions such as solar, wind and of waste batteries, with their
NEWS
Johnson Controls expands in

China, GM to roll out new EVs
US automotive battery Alex Molinaroli, Johnson announced plans to launch on 12 new small displace-
supplier Johnson Controls Controls president of the more fuel efficient vehicles ments engines.
announced in mid-June that power solutions unit. in China, as it aims to cut The Chinese government
it is planning to expand its “China is where we need to fuel consumption by 15% recently announced that
production of car starter invest.” by 2015, according to local it will subsidize buyers of
batteries in China, which In 2008, Johnson Controls paper the Shanghai Daily. electric vehicles by up to
it says is the fastest grow- announced plans to spend Some new hybrids and Rmb60,000 in five cities.
ing battery market in the $90 million to build a lead vehicles powered by elec- Another Rmb3,000 will be
world. acid battery production tricity will be launched given to buyers of cars con-
Johnson Controls, which facility in eastern China’s within five year. suming 20% less fuel.
already has one plant in Zhejiang Province. The pro- The joint venture will
China and is building a sec- duction facility is located initially show a Chevrolet • Chaowei Power Holdings,
ond plant, plans to build in China’s green-power New Sail electric vehicle the lead acid battery
three or four new plants in energy industrial centre prototype this year and roll maker based in Zhejiang-
China, raising production in Changxing Economic out the new Buick LaCrosse based aims to raise $100
capacity for lead acid auto- Development Zone of hybrid and the Chevrolet million in an initial public
motive battery to 30 million Zhejiang Province. Volt electric vehicle with offering in Hong Kong. It
units a year by 2015. The capacity of the plant extended range capability. plans to sell shares at
Johnson Controls is also was expected to be 4 mil- In 2008, Shanghai General between HK$2.18 and
a manufacturer of build- lion auto batteries per year. Motors Corp Ltd, the joint HK$2.90 each. ■
ing controls as well as auto Construction of the plant venture between GM and
interiors, seating and batter- was designed to start in Shanghai Automotive • The American Chamber of
ies for hybrid vehicles. January 2009 with comple- Industry Corp, launched Commerce in Bangladesh
“We are expecting to tion in June 2010. a similar plan called “the has proposed that the
add a plant a year over Separately car giant 2011-2015 Green Product government reduce the
the next few years,” said General Motors Corp has Strategy”, which focusing import duty on sealed
lead acid batteries sug-
gesting it fall from 36.7%
to 24.5%.
Asia UPS sales surge in first quarter “Computers need the bat-
teries as a main device for
Sales of uninterruptible snappy economic rebounds will remain above the rest of UPS. Presently, computer
power supplies (UPS) into of several key UPS mar- the world. imports are free of tax.
Asia during the first quarter kets like India, China, and Against the backdrop of a These kinds of batteries
grew by over 25% from areas of south-east Asia. fragmented recovery comes are not produced in the
last year. According to a These countries are once renewed M&A activity as country,” the proposal
recent analysis of the mar- again deploying UPS across companies jockey for pieces said. ■
ket by IMS Research, Asia infrastructure, small and of the power protection
added revenues at the fast- medium business, and data pie. Emerson Electric’s sec- • China Ritar Power Corp,
est rate in five years. The center segments. The first ond effort to absorb UK’s one of the country’s lead-
spike in billings comes after quarter marked an impor- Chloride Power was dealt a ing lead acid battery
four consecutive quarters of tant milestone in the history potentially lethal blow when makers has announced
decline, resulting in a $500 of the market.” Swiss-based ABB swooped a surge in first-quarter
million dip in volume. However, dePreaux says in with a higher offer that profit — up almost three
The research also esti- the current exceptional rate was approved by Chloride’s times from $500,000
mates that UPS revenues of growth is unsustainable. board (see fuller story). in the same period last
from the Asia eclipsed that “What we are seeing in While the supplier base year to $1.6 million for
of the Americas and Europe, Asia is the rapid recovery for UPS is highly concen- this quarter. Revenue
Middle East and Africa for to pre-recessionary demand trated with the top five ven- increased by 51% to
the first time. levels. UPS spending in Asia dors controlling 60% of the $24.8 million as manu-
“There was a swift uptick dropped by nearly 20%, market, Asia has a more facturing volumes rose
in the Asia UPS market in so while it is recovering diverse landscape with doz- 31%. Sales in its inter-
the first quarter while UPS quickly, the current growth ens of suppliers that cater to national division, which
sales in much of the rest of is being fuelled in part by the varied market require- takes up about three-
the world remained stag- inventory restocking and ments in the regions. fourths of its total rev-
nant,” said Jason dePreaux, a pipeline of projects that DePreaux says: “With enue, increased 45%
a senior analyst at IMS were in the waiting.” attractive long-term growth and domestic sales rose
Research. He projects growth will prospects and a diverse 72%. China Ritar said
“The extremely high taper slightly into 2011/2012, supplier base, expect future its results had benefited
growth in Asia can be though the five year com- acquisitions to increasingly from the World Expo
attributed in part to the pound annual growth rate focus on Asia.” ■ 2010 in Shanghai. ■

NEWS
India’s Amara Raja show UK bounce back

— for some,
ever more robust results but take-over
likely for others
India’s industrial and auto- managing director Jayadev in lead prices and forex In encouraging news for
motive battery manufac- Galla said the 2009-2010 rates in managing our per- the UK tyres, exhausts
turer Amara Raja Batteries fiscal year, had given it the formance,” he said. and batteries industry,
reported at the end of May highest ever profits in the Amara Raja Batteries is 349 of the top 1,000
a 107% rise in net profit to company’s history. an Amara Raja Johnson companies in the market
Rs 1,670 million ($36 mil- “The recovery of the auto- Controls Company, with are growing at more than
lion) for the year ended motive industry, operational 26% equity held by 10% a year and making
March 31, 2010. Total excellence aided by organi- Johnson Controls. It manu- healthy profits. However,
income for the financial zational restructuring and factures lead acid batteries according to industry
year grew to Rs 14,674 strong brands have enabled for industrial and automo- analysts Plimsoll, while
million ($315 million) from the company to post excel- tive applications. many of these companies
Rs 13,196 million in the lent results,” he said. The batteries are exported are leading a sustainable
previous year. “But, we continue to face to the Asia-Pacific, Africa recovery in the market,
Amara Raja Batteries the challenges of volatility and the Middle East. ■ there are 87 other com-
panies whose headline
grabbing sales growth
NYSERDA commits $8 million for masks difficulties and
which could well be ripe
for a take-over.
exciting range of technologies David Pattison, senior
analyst and author of
More interesting than the device on a common power and voltage performance: the new Plimsoll report
funding levels is the choice circuit serving two renew- $200,000. says “Essentially there
of awards by the New York able-energy generation • General Motors is are two types of growth
State Energy Research and sources: $2.4 million. developing materials for in the market – Good v
Development Authority • Rensselaer Polytechnic improved lithium-ion bat- Bad: 87 companies have
which provide an interest- Institute is developing next- tery electrodes for automo- achieved over 10% sales
ing snapshot of the hottest generation Li-ion recharge- tive applications: $196,000. growth but in doing so
areas in battery develop- able batteries: $200,000. • Impact Technologies is have seen their profit
ment and energy storage. • Ioxus under three developing a way to increase margin collapse.
New York State Energy projects, is improving its the lifetime of batteries by “They are simply over-
Research and Development ultracapacitor performance assessing battery health trading. More worrying,
Authority has awarded $8 through developing a novel using in-cell measurement: nine of these companies
million to help develop or electrode-electrolyte inter- $99,800. have been loss making
commercialize 19 energy face, using nanostructured • Cerion Enterprises is for two years — even
storage projects to compa- materials in the electrodes, developing materials for with double digit sales
nies and universities across and developing a new high next-generation lithium-ion growth I doubt they will
New York. The projects density electrode material: batteries, which are used make it to a third.
will leverage $7.3 million $600,000. in automotive applications “While the market con-
in cost-sharing by recipients • College of Nanoscale and in consumer electron- tinues to recover and the
for a total of $15.3 million Science and Engineering of ics: $200,000. 349 top performers show
in funding. the University at Albany • Rochester Institute of the way, there are 110
Funding is either for is developing electrolytes to Technology is develop- companies facing a very
industry-led near-term com- improve the performance of ing methods to recycle and bleak future indeed. Losing
mercialization partnerships ultra-capacitors: $200,000. reuse lithium-ion batteries: sales, profits and probably
or technology development. • Hollingsworth & Vose $195,900. most of their remaining
• General Electric is devel- is developing an advanced • Brookhaven National options, these companies
oping improvements to its separator for valve regu- Laboratory, SUNY have been rated as Danger
sodium metal halide batter- lated lead acid batteries: Binghamton, and SUNY in our report. Time is run-
ies for use in a new genera- $200,000. Buffalo are working on ning out and only a takeo-
tion of cleaner locomotives • City University of New three projects to develop ver or a rapid turnaround
and stationary applications York, under two projects, is improved batteries for sta- is likely to redeem their
to smooth intermittent developing a novel nickel- tionary grid scale energy situation.”
renewable power genera- zinc battery that uses low- storage applications, includ- The new analysis gives
tion as it interconnects with cost materials and tech- ing, lithium-air, lithium-ion, an instant performance
the grid and critical load nologies to improve the and lithium-titanate batter- rating on the top 1000
back-up power and other performance of ultra-capac- ies: $552,900. companies in the mar-
applications: $2.5 million. itors: $349,600. • Binghamton University is ket and an overview of
• Ultralife Corporation, • Cornell University is developing lithium air stor- which companies are ripe
Newark is integrating bat- developing non-flammable age systems that could have for acquisition and who
tery and ultra-capacitors in battery electrolytes with applications in vehicle or is set to be buying. ■
an electronic energy-storage improved temperature grid systems: $200,000. ■
PRODUCT NEWS
Groundbreaking Li-ion
separator set for market
Advanced Membrane Biax Laboratories to open a offers better performance, the technology advantage
Systems, which filed a pat- 25,000 square foot manu- improved safety, lower costs, and that our new produc-
ent in February with what facturing plant in North the ability to work in any tion facility will allow us to
it claims is a breakthrough Carolina. The new venture, lithium chemistry and it can be the type of resource that
in lithium battery safety — called UltraLith LLC, plans run on the same equipment US government sponsors are
with a separator that even to ship products to battery that battery manufacturers seeking.”
passes the so-called nail pen- manufacturers in August. use now,” says a company Advanced Membrane
etration test — told Batteries No eventual buyer has been official. “UltraLith-SD, a Systems has been involved
International in June that it is confirmed but AMS says shutdown separator, offers in research and development
set to move into manufactur- that A123Systems, Enerdel performance and adaptabil- of separator and materials
ing these separators within technology for green energy
the next three months. designs since 2000. “With
“Our separator is not a multiple patents awarded
pure polyolefin material but and pending, AMS is a leader
uses mineral ingredients in in the creation of intellec-
our proprietary cell struc- tual property for lithium and
ture,” an official said. “If alkaline applications,” the
you apply a standard nail firm says.
penetration test, our rivals’ One key question for the
cells explode. With ours success of the operation —
after about 60 seconds we and its eventual valuation,
see venting. This is a major at present the firm is a pri-
step forward in lithium bat- vately held closed corpo-
tery development and its role ration — will be its future
within electric vehicles.” sales. AMS believes that
Industry reaction has nat- “demand for EDV sepa-
urally been positive — the rator material expected to
explosive nature of lithium rapidly exceed several hun-
within next generation bat- dred million square meters
teries continues to be a major in five years, coupled with
drawback to its use. lithium separator material
“That said, extraordinary Here are the battery separator and components within a for consumer applications
claims require extraordinary typical spiral wound lithium ion battery. The newly patented seeing double digit growth
proofs,” a senior indus- Ultralith-HP separator is claimed to offer greater battery
in China, AMS intends to
performance and improved safety — without the added cost
try figure told Batteries of multiple layersor expensive coatings. The firm says it was deliver volume quantities of
International. “This may engineered specifically to meet all current requirements for leading separator products
be a step forward in lith- Electric Drive Vehicle applications. for lithium battery manufac-
ium battery chemistry. But turers worldwide.”
is it enough? I’ve been test- and JCI are looking into the ity advantages for consumer The firm claims that, com-
ing these batteries for years new separator. The separa- applications. pared to other lithium bat-
and know pure lab tests are tor works with all classes of AMS believes that its sepa- tery separators, UltraLith-HP
insufficient. lithium ion batteries. rators will give the US a com- offers a combination of
“It’s real life situations The North Carolina plant petitive edge in lithium bat- advantages:
that count, say, the effect of will represent the first new tery manufacture that it lacks
a steel bumper entering a battery separator manufac- when compared to Japan, • Better performance, up to
lithium battery at 100 miles turing company in the US in China and Korea. 70% porosity; up to five
an hour — not just a nail. decades, says the firm. It will “While US separator manu- times longer cycle life; fast
It’s getting, for example, the also be the world’s only plant facturers are trying to extend wettability and improved
fat lady stuck in the back of to offer battery separator the capabilities of their exist- ion conductivity;
a smashed car out quickly technology that meets all of ing separator products, more • Improved safety, a special
before an explosion happens, the lithium battery capabil- recent patents, particularly formulation for robust, high
rather than just giving a cou- ity targets in planned electric from Asia, have given those melt integrity performance
ple of minutes’ grace.” drive vehicle applications. companies a technology lead with an enhanced ability
But even the most cyni- “The newly patented in lithium batteries, and a to mitigate short circuit or
cal welcome the advance and UltraLith-HP is a non-shut- head start in electric drive thermal runaway condi-
full commercialization of the down polyolefin separator vehicles,” says Abbas Samii, tions should they occur;
product could happen within engineered for high power, president and chief scientist • Lower costs, due to a
months. high density lithium batteries for AMS. proprietary ingredient
AMS says it has entered (LIBs). Compared to other “We believe our new
into a joint venture with separators, UltraLith-HP UltraLith patents give us Continued on facing page

PRODUCT NEWS
Abertax releases another

version of GRS VRLA valve
Abertax, the Malta-based which potentially damages seeking an advanced bat- the new generation of elec-
company manufacturing the plates. tery,” he says. tric vehicles requiring fur-
advanced battery accesso- “One of the prime advan- “And engineering design ther AGM batteries.
ries, has released their inno- tages of our GRS is the very around the battery has been Abertax, which has
vative valve for providing low tolerances and consist- left relatively unexplored.” invested extensively in
the ideal gas release system ency of closing pressures,” Research into the econ- research and development
(GRS) in M27 size as well says Joseph Cilia, research omies that a high quality — and has the capabil-
now, making their technol- director of Abertax. “And valve such as the GRS can ity to design and manufac-
ogy available for a wider we have rigorously tested bring has been scarce, say ture most of the machinery
range of 2V cells in VRLA them in some extreme field Abertax, and has been dif- needed to produce a new
batteries — both for gel and conditions.” ficult to quantify as gas- range of GRS in-house —
high quality absorbent glass The patented valve can be sing and venting are often a believes that automation
matt (AGM). supplied in various ranges function of how efficiently provides it with a competi-
Until now the patented of opening pressures, with or inefficiently charging tive edge against compe-
valve has only been availa- the lowest range starting at or discharging a battery is tition from Asian econo-
ble in the smaller M18 size. 150mbar and the highest being carried out. mies where labour costs are
Abertax says other sizes will with an opening pressure However, all manufactur- low.
be later made available — at 400mbar. Thus the valve ers are aware that a bet- “Once you have devised
the M27s became available can be designed to give the ter GRS produces a better one set of machinery to
at the end of March — and optimal pressure for any battery. produce the GRS,” says
a 27mm valve with bayonet battery size and design. Abertax presently keeps up Schembri who is an engi-
fitting should also appear The consistency of the with the current demand of neer specialised in high
shortly. GRS calibration pressure is GRS but has spare produc- quality manufacturing. “It’s
Since battery venting is ensured through the equip- tion capacity to produce up simply a question of multi-
the prime reason for humid- ment specially devised and to another 2 million annu- pyling them to scale up
ity loss in VRLA batteries, manufactured by Abertax. ally from its headquarters in production.”
the GRS design and tech- Although the fundamen- Paola in Malta. “But we’re Abertax says its origi-
nology providing the right tal chemistry of the lead planning to up production nal M18 valve has already
release pressure of a better acid battery is virtually to around 11 million a year undergone years of test-
valve, can dramatically keep unchanged since the mid- in the next couple of years,” ing — both in-house and
moisture levels higher inside 19th century, KD Merz, the says George Schembri, gen- through independent moni-
the battery and so extend battery expert at Abertax, eral manager at Abertax. toring in German labora-
the battery life. says there are still refine- Abertax reckons that tories — in a rugged, dirty
Additionally, the dia- ments to be made. “For the there will be a big increase environment, including pro-
phragm design in the GRS past decade or more bat- in demand for GRS for the longed exposure to sulphu-
also ensures the preven- tery developers have looked new ‘stop-and-go’ vehicle ric acid and dust, and has
tion of air entering the cells to alternative chemistries in applications as well as for not been found wanting. ■
Continued from facing page vehicle continue to evolve, in the safety and performance Profoto goes
UltraLith-HP represents the features for consumer elec- Lithium with
that eliminates the added first separator to deliver the tronic battery applications.
expense of external coating performance, safety and mass The new product involves ProB3 1200 AirS,
applications and the risk of market cost structures the a single layer shutdown sep- AcuteB2 600 AirS
those coatings peeling off; industry requires. Production arator with very high melt
and it eliminates the need quantities of this technology integrity. In addition, it offers Profoto has rolled out two new
for expensive, multi-layer are what LIB manufacturers improved air permeability battery powered flash packs,
products have been asking for” says and mechanical strength. both of which use lithium
• I n t e r c h a n g e a b i l i t y, Samii These traits represent sig- iron phosphate (LiFe) battery
meaning, UltraLith-HP On February 16 the nificant improvements over chemistry to reduce pack size
can replace existing sep- United States Patent Office other LIB separators. and weight.
arator material in any had awarded a new patent “The awarding of the The Pro-B3 1200 AirS is
lithium chemistry and to Advanced Membrane patent, combined with sev- rated at 1200ws, features a
run on the same equip- Systems for its latest lithium- eral other patents pending, full power recyling time of 1.8
ment that LIB manufac- ion battery separator inven- exemplifies ... leadership seconds and 300 full power
turers currently use. tion. Patent #7,662,518 B1 in developing intellectual pops per charge.
sets forth technology exten- property for lithium-ion The AcuteB2 600 AirS is
“While specifications for sions to previous AMS pat- and alkaline battery appli- rated at 600ws, recycles in 2
next generation lithium ents, and represents major cations,” said the firm at seconds and delivers 200 full
batteries and electric drive state-of-the-art advancements the time. ■ power pops per charge. ■

PRODUCT NEWS
Battery chargers battery the Batium 15/24

can detect sulphation in the
battery and the user can
for agricultural use then select the SOS process

which will perform the de-
sulphation. In many cases
Two battery charger manu- designed for use on modern the battery. It will charge this process can recover an
facturers — GYS and CTEK agricultural vehicles. 6V, 12V and 24V batteries otherwise ‘dead’ battery.
have released new products Batium 15/24 is a heavy up to a rating of 225Ah . Sulphation is the single big-
for agricultural vehicles. duty, micro-processor con- GYS says a cost-saving fea- gest killer of batteries and
These have different battery trolled charger with a multi ture of this battery charger occurs when batteries are
needs from other equipment stage ‘WuoU’ charging curve is the SOS recovery func- left for prolonged periods.
as they may be left unused to ensure a 100% charge of tion. When connected to the All types of batteries, liq-
for months at a time between uid, gel and AGM batteries
seasons and without the cor- can be re-charged without
rect battery maintenance, disconnecting them from
the natural onset of stratifi- the vehicle.
cation will begin to kill the Other features include
lead acid battery. automatic charging with-
GYS, the French weld- out supervision, an easy
ing equipment and battery to use control panel and
charger manufacturer, has protection against polarity
introduced Batium 15/24, GYS’ Batium reversal.
a high tech battery charger chargers Meanwhile, CTEK, a
vehicle battery maintenance
firm, has released Multi
XS 7000, a smart battery
Dual input, charger that it says will
revive, charge, condition
dual output battery charge controller and maintain all types of
12V lead-acid batteries.
Tycon Power Systems sun is shining grid power full protection for over- “Once fully charged, the
released end-May its dual is not used. There are two charge, over-discharge, patented CTEK float / pulse
input/dual output bat- outputs; The 24W Power short circuit, over-voltage, maintenance charge mode
tery charge controllers for Over Ethernet (POE) out- and over-current. Low self
backup power and remote put utilizes a high efficiency consumption of <0.5W
power applications. The DC-DC converter to provide suits them for remote power All types of
SCPOE series can charge 12V, 18V, 24V, or 48VDC applications. The units are
lead acid batteries from POE and the secondary rated for operation from batteries, liquid,
solar panel input or Power wire terminal output on the -30°C to 60°C, suitable for
Over Ethernet (POE) input. back is essentially the bat- year round outdoor opera-
gel and AGM
The 5A solar panel input tery voltage. tion in a weatherproof batteries can
takes priority so when the The SCPOE series offers enclosure. ■
be re-charged
without
Trojan updates deep cycle disconnecting
them from the
renewable range of RE series vehicle.
Trojan Battery Company has L16RE-A, L16RE-B and is 370AH and its 100-hour
updated its models of bat- T105-RE models are made rate is 410AH. Its voltage
teries for renewable energy of Maxguard XL separa- capacity is 6V. enables batteries to be con-
applications. The firm says tor with DuraGrid tech- The terminal types used nected to the charger for
these deep cycle batteries nology. The company also for the deep cycle battery are months at a time ‘exercising’
are suitable for small wind, offers deep cycle batteries the following: Low Profile the battery to extend its life,”
solar/photovoltaic and in flooded and dual purpose Terminal, High Profile says the company. “This
micro-hydro applications AGM types in 6V and 12V Terminal, Wingnut Profile makes it ideal for vehicles
and can deliver uninter- sizes, and also in mainte- Terminal, Automotive Post that are used infrequently or
rupted power in harsh envi- nance free Deep-Cycle Gel Terminal, Automotive left standing for long periods
ronment conditions. types. Post and Stud Terminal, of time – the charger is also
The Renewable Energy The L16RE-B deep cycle Stud Terminal, Universal approved for outdoor use
(RE) Series batteries avail- battery is available in a length Terminal, Dual Wingnut and can withstand tempera-
able from Trojan Battery of 295mm, width of 178mm Terminal and L-Terminal. tures as low as -20˚C.”
Company are lead acid deep and height of 450mm. It The terminal of the The firm says the Multi
cycle batteries. The RE Series weighs up to 54kg. The deep L16RE-B deep cycle battery XS 7000 is spark proof and
batteries such as L16RE-2V, cycle battery’s 20-hour rate is L-Terminal (LT). ■ reverse polarity protected. ■
PRODUCT NEWS
Exide launches industrial high

frequency charger for VRLA
Exide Technologies has contains environmentally- customers use batteries to Reduced maximum input cur-
launched its EHF Series advanced elements that their maximum potential in rents allow for reduced circuit
industrial charger, a multi- incorporate an energy- conventional motive power breaker, cabling and distribu-
profile range of high fre- efficiency design,” says the applications. tion equipment sizes.”
quency chargers for firm. “The charger uses “The EHF Series charg- The charger also ensures
standard-flooded, low-main- less electricity resulting in ers offer greater efficiency of that the charging current and
tenance-flooded and valve- increased utility savings, a power conversion — as com- voltage remain constant dur-
regulated lead-acid motive higher power factor (the pared to chargers that incor- ing any mains fluctuations,
power batteries. percentage of electricity that porate Ferroresonant and guaranteeing a constant and
“The new EHF Series is delivered and used effec- SCR technologies — lead- optimized charge. End-of-
charger line, with mod- tively) and efficiency opti- ing to reduced power con- charge on the EHF models
els ranging from 24V-80V mization — all which help sumption and energy costs. is detected by the change
in voltage over the change
in time measure (dV/dt) to
New ‘fast charge’ electric vehicle avoid risk of undercharge or
overcharge.
equipment arrives in the UK “As a result, the EHF
industrial chargers boast an
Infracharge Technologies, 200 existing on-street charge using battery charge. efficiency rating of up to
the parent company behind points. The FastCharge can The HomeCharge con- 92%: approximately 15%
the POD Point charging unit, charge two cars simultane- forms to the latest safety to 23% more efficient than
has launched two new elec- ously from a single unit and cut-off legislation and the other charging technolo-
tric vehicle charging prod- uses the proposed European unit is also future-ready for gies,” Exide says.
ucts in the UK — FastCharge standard automotive connection to Smartgrid The chargers use fourth
and HomeCharge — and connector. Technologies. generation MOSFET tech-
announced a replacement to The Chargemaster The Chargemaster nology and Zero Volt
its existing POD Point unit HomeCharge is the first DuoCharge updates the Switching which provide
to be called DuoCharge. charging station specifically existing standard rate, greater power conversion
The products come at designed for home use. The dual charging station with efficiency. The EHF charger
a time when the move to HomeCharge automatically improved design and reli- utilizes a space-saving Planar
put EV infrastructure in uses low-cost night-time ability features for on-street Transformer design which
place is gathering pace. electricity tariffs which can and car park charging. allows for reductions in size
Last December the mayor save up to 70% off the cost The modifications include and weight and efficient
of London, Boris Johnson of charging. updated styling, high resolu- cooling.
laid out plans for 25,000 The unit also features the tion and high visibility colour The chargers are equipped
charging bays to be in place ability to remotely switch on screen, redesigned electron- with a high resolution
across London by 2015. the car’s heating and defrost- ics and improved network LCD display that pro-
This March, the government ing system 15 minutes before communications. The design vides detailed information
also announced financing the owner needs to leave, update also improves safety in Danish, Dutch, English,
for three regions — London, providing a clear windscreen by eliminating the need to French, German, Spanish
Milton Keynes and the north and a warm car without cross over charging cables. ■ and Swedish. A data archive
east — to install over 10,000 also is available on the front
charging locations as part panel and details recharge
of its ‘Plugged in Places’ information from the last
initiative. 250 cycles, including charts
The recent proposals from the last 15 recharges
further support the antici- which all viewable on the
pated growth of electric LCD display.
cars expected from January The EHF Series Industrial
2011, when a 25% (up to Charger models are UL listed
£5,000 ($7,400) government and built to Battery Council
subsidy on electric car pur- International standards. The
chases is introduced. chargers also are designed for
The Chargemaster multiple lead-acid technolo-
FastCharge is the first ‘fast gies offering a wide range
charge’ unit to be introduced of charge profiles that can
to the UK market. Delivering be selected for all of Exide’s
a 32A (7kW) current, the product offerings includ-
system is able to charge an ing Tubular-HP, Liberator,
electric car at more than Titan/GNB Flooded Classic,
twice the speed of London’s Element and Sonnenschein. ■
PRODUCT NEWS
Ground faults in storage battery systems are common and can be hard to
locate. There is now, however, a test technique that can make the job much
easier, as Tony Wills, application engineer at Megger explains.
Grounds for a fault

In many applications, rang- the equipment powered by quency, in the 5kHz range which is essentially a clamp
ing from circuit breaker the battery has to be taken This eliminates the adverse meter that has been tuned so
tripping systems to uninter- out of service while the tests effects on protection relays, that it discriminates against
ruptible power supplies for are performed. but it introduces another signals at frequencies other
data and telecommunication Several alternative testing problem. At these frequen- than that of the test signal.
installations, storage batter- techniques have been pro- cies, the capacitors that are The transmitter incorpo-
ies are used as a standby posed in an attempt to solve often used in battery sys- rates a resistance bridge,
power source. And, in most these problems. One of these tems for surge suppression it shows the resistance of
cases, the battery systems is to inject a low-frequency present a low impedance all the parallel circuits to
are designed to float — that test pulse, typically around and, therefore, during test- ground from the point where
is, to operate without an 5Hz, and use a signal tracker ing they appear as “phan- it is clamped. A capacitance
earth connection. to determine how this prop- tom” ground faults, making bridge is also provided as an
A common problem, how- agates through the battery it much harder to localise additional aid to discrimina-
ever, is that a ground fault system, thereby locating the the real ground faults. tion against phantom faults.
develops somewhere in the fault. The most effective solu- To locate a fault, the sig-
battery system, typically as This arrangement has the tion, and the one adopted nal generator is connected
a result of dirt and moisture. benefit that the tests can, in Megger’s BGFT battery between earth and either the
The fault is usually indicated at least in theory, be car- ground fault tester, is to use positive or the negative pole
on a control panel and may ried out while the battery a test signal frequency in the of the battery system, the
create an alarm condition. remains in service, and that range 20Hz to 30Hz. This is correct choice being the pole
Such faults can be very dif- no removal of connecting high enough to prevent inter- that has the ground fault.
ficult to locate, especially in straps is needed. However, action with protective relays, The probe is then used to
large battery installations in, the use of low-frequency but low enough to minimize track the test signal from the
for example, power stations pulses has a major draw- the phantom ground fault source, always following the
and large substations. back, as the pulses are very problems associated with circuit branches that show
The most obvious likely to upset the operation capacitors. the lowest resistance.
approach to ground fault of protection relays associ- The technique of locating Systematically applied, this
location is to disconnect the ated with the battery, lead- ground faults with test sets procedure leads quickly and
battery from its load, and ing to spurious tripping. operating at these frequen- positively to the fault loca-
to split it into sections so The designers of some bat- cies is straightforward. The tion. Note that tests can be
that the fault can be local- tery ground fault location test equipment comprises a carried out equally well on
ised. While this approach test sets have sought to avoid signal generator, which is batteries that are in service
undoubtedly works, it is this problem by using test mains powered, and a sepa- and those that have been
inconvenient, as equipment signals of much higher fre- rate battery-powered probe, isolated.
While this method of locat-
ing battery ground faults is
simple in principle, it nev-
ertheless makes substantial
demands on the test equip-
ment used. To ensure suc-
cess, the equipment must,
for example, be immune to
distributed noise in the bat-
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SUPPLIER FOCUS — NORTH AMERICA
Batteries International took a sample of leading North American
suppliers and asked them for their take on the present business
environment. What are the main trends? What changes have most
affected their business after the economic downturn? And what are
their prospects? Lynnda Greene reports.
Keep the customer

satisfied
The noughties — the first decade of deals are a good example.
the new century — have been char- While no business can achieve suc-
acterised by sweeping changes in the cess without a traditional marketing
battery industry. network, suppliers say new elec-
Suppliers and manufacturers alike tronic media — the internet,
have faced the same series of develop- websites and email — have
ments — globalization of both mar- had a profound effect on
ketplace and workplace, the explosion how companies accom-
of electronic media/communication plish that. Certainly, it’s
hitting every aspect of marketing and become much easier to
the supply chain, accelerated develop- get their companies’
ment of technologies and applications, products and serv-
China’s ascendency as a major power ices out in front of
with India on its coat-tails — and cri- customers. That said
ses — energy instability and financial some basics don’t
chaos. change, be they the
And let’s not forget a global reces- face-to-face meeting
sion deeper than anything seen since to conclude a deal or
the 1930s. the simple meeting over
Bad news aside, there’s been one lunch to get to know the
sweeping change worldwide — gov- customer.
ernments around the world have “The world is a much smaller
finally accepted the urgent need for place now, because of internet
new energy sources and their storage communication,” says Doug
as well as the policies to implement Bornas, vice president of sales
them. The good news is that batteries, and marketing for MAC Engi-
so long the wallflowers among energy neering, based in Michigan.
technologies, have found their way “Just 20 years ago you had
into the mainstream. to go visit everyone, or you
So how have lead acid suppliers, had to hope they’d come to
the backbone of the North American trade shows so you could
battery industry, fared through what’s see them. Otherwise people
been billed as the worst economic who might buy equipment
recession in 75 years? What changes wouldn’t even know who
have had the most impact on their you were.”
business? What new problems have Now, he says, they still par-
they encountered, and how have they ticipate in all battery shows
handled them? And with that do cus- and conferences, and they
tomers most value in their products, advertise in the magazines.
and services, and what innovations do This kind of communication
they want to see? Where do they see helps reduce time and travel
the industry going in the future? What on the front end. Conversely,
do they worry about? it places a new emphasis and
Answering these interrelated ques- investment in time and care, on
tions is problematic in that some the back end, when it comes to
aspects of work change while other the sale. The personal meeting
stay the same. Marketing and closing with the customer is as important
www.batteriesinternational.com Batteries International Spring /Summer 2010 31
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WHERE DO YOU THINK THE LEAD ACID SEGMENT OF THE INDUSTRY IS HEADING?
Which way lead? One word: forward. regarded as significant in terms of

All the survey suppliers said no mat- “Batteries will play its ability to address the Achilles heel
ter what misconceptions the news of lead acid: partial state-of-duty.
media spin — the economy is tank- an ever greater role
ing, US manufacturing is dead, lith- as the entire world Lead acid: here to stay
ium batteries will save the world — “I feel secure in the certainty that
customers still have work to do, and seeks better energy the lead acid battery is going to be
they need the equipment to do it.
“The media tends to focus on
solutions. From around for a long time,” says Doug
Bornas, vice president of sales and
perceived trends, sound-bites the continuation of marketing for MAC Engineering.
rather than well researched, veri-
fied facts,” says Susan Hoffmann,
lead acid demand, “It is not going to be replaced
by any new chemistry any time
director of marketing at Inter- to ‘super’ lead acid soon — this technology is an
national Thermal Systems. inexpensive way to power,
technologies, to the and completely recyclable.”
Over-hyped downturn advanced battery For all the hype about dog-eat-
“They have hyped the economic dog competition, however, Ales-
downturn across the board, particu-
chemistries, this is an sandro Fossemo, head of sales for
larly in manufacturing," Hoffmann exciting time.” Sovema US, notes a new spirit of
says We’ve continued to get orders collective learning in the industry.
and serve our customers as always. “I am happy to say that Sovema
When it rains, you close the win- ers kept things as slim as they could enjoys working in a pool of com-
dows and put on your rain coat.” — kept stocks down as low as they petitors that are open to work-
That said, a nice cold — and could. Now we see things taking off. ing together and learning from
long winter — always helps. There are always those who have one another,” he says.
“Cold winters certainly boost bat- credit issues, but I don’t think this For example, Sovema has been
tery sales,” says Kevin Whear, vice recession has generated more credit largely responsible for the adoption
president of technology for Daramic, issues than there would be normally.” of the Ball Mill production method by
noting this last one primed the pump the likes of Johnson Controls, among
for what promises to be a good Drive to consolidation others battery producers in the US.
year. “Here at Daramic, we think in All reported they were busy find- That said Sovema USA does not
terms of the inventory pipeline, from ing ways to meet anticipated itself sell its curing chambers directly
distributor, battery manufacturer, to needs. Daramic is watching the in the North American market, allow-
seller. In 2009, we noticed custom- promising mini-and micro-hybrid ing them to be sold by MAC Engi-
auto industry, in which lead acid neering under Sovema’s licence.
looks to be a frontrunner. In the “This helps the industry in that we
meantime, they’re heeding cus- all help development of ever bet-
tomers’ expressed needs for con- ter equipment,” says Fossemo.
solidation of popular products. “That’s why I think the bat-
“We’ve begun working toward tery industry can only grow
consolidating several of our niche stronger now,” he says.
products into one new product fea-
turing multiple benefits,” he says, Increasing role of
“so that we can bring them to the energy storage
market in a more cost-effective way.” “Batteries will play an ever greater
Suppliers appeared universally role as the entire world seeks better
energized by exciting work being energy solutions," says Fossemo.
done across the lead acid indus- "From the continuation of lead acid
try, with Enersys, Exide Technolo- demand, to ‘super’ lead acid tech-
gies, C&D Technologies, Ultralife, nologies, to the advanced battery
Axion Power International, and chemistries, this is an exciting time.”
ZBB Energy as leading the field. Although much of the future is
The CSIRO’s Ultrabattery in Aus- clearly uncertain, what is known
tralia, which has been adopted by is that while the newer lead acid
the likes of Banner and East Penn, is technologies, including the very
promising work being done in
ultracapacitors, may not yet
“From the continuation of lead acid demand, to offer the best long-term solu-
tion for full EV applications.
‘super’ lead acid technologies, to the advanced But that said they do offer excit-
battery chemistries, this is a truly exciting time ing possibilities to power a variety of
hybrid applications, and new ways
to be in the business” to reduce vehicle emissions without
Alessandro Fossemo, Sovema US trading out the entire vehicular fleet.
34 Batteries International Winter

Spring/Summer
2010 2010 www.batteriesinternational.com
“Customers are looking COMPANY PROFILE

for anything we can DARAMIC
bring them that will help
them differentiate their
battery from others.
That means we have to
know their product and
process inside out”
Kevin Whear, Daramic
Established 75 years ago, Dara-
mic, a business unit of Polypore,
as it ever ways, if not more so, on has become a major manufacturer
some level, especially with customers and supplier of battery separa-
outside the US. tors for automotive, industrial
“So we visit customers on an almost changed, reflecting the times,” says and specialty applications.
daily basis around the world — that’s Susan Hoffmann, director of market- Daramic claims it supplies more
how we get the word out on what ing at International Thermal Systems. than 50% of the world’s demand
we do,” says Bornas. “We follow “Instead of ordering a major piece for high performance polyeth-
that through with quotations, techni- of capital equipment, they not infre- ylene battery separators to the
cal answers and orders, and we build quently focus on refining how they lead acid battery industry.
equipment. Customers want to meet, use what they have to achieve greater From their headquarters in Char-
they want to negotiate things in per- efficiency. We can offer operational lotte, North Carolina in the US, Dara-
son. We rarely sign a contract that assistance, to help control costs and mic operates marketing and sales
does not involve on-site visits. Cus- streamline operations.” offices across the Americas, Europe,
tomers do not want to do everything For example, when a company has Australia, south-east Asia and China.
through the internet.” to shut down a line to make a repair, it It has nine manufacturing facilities
loses money. To reduce downtime and with a combined annual capacity of
Evolution of product lines costs, ITS can examine the operation over 350 million square metres of
Certainly suppliers have had to refine and find ways to institute a change, battery separators produced in Ken-
their product lines as the industry’s whether it’s replacing a motor or refin- tucky and Indiana in the US; Selestat,
needs have shifted, and adjusted to ing a process. France; Norderstedt, Germany; Feist-
the demands of the global marketplace “Or let’s say a company wants to ritz, Austria; Bangalore, India; Tianjin,
and the strains of a global recession. reduce energy usage, cut their util- China; and Prachinburi, Thailand.
“Our customers have continued to ity bills by a certain percentage,” Daramic’s Center of Innovation
come to us for products and services, she says. “We can come in and help in the Kentucky location serves
even if the nature of their requests has them achieve that. Maybe it’s install- as the central hive of scientists,
industry experts and service tech-
nicians charged with developing
“Instead of customers ordering a major piece of state-of-the-art product develop-
ment, material analysis, pilot manu-
capital equipment, they not infrequently focus on facturing and testing facilities.
refining how they use what they have to achieve
greater efficiency”
Susan Hoffmann, International Thermal Systems
COMPANY PROFILE
INTERNATIONAL THERMAL SYSTEMS
Formed in 2000 from the merger of washers and associated
three well known and well respected material handling equip-
names in the heat processing, finish- ment for applications
ing and metal decorating industries in automotive, aerospace, power sands of thermal processing units
— Industrial Heat Enterprises Inter- generation, battery manufactur- installed worldwide. ITS capabilities
national, Oven Systems Incorporated ing, building products, foundry also include the engineering and
and LTG Metal Decorating — Inter- and metal packaging industries. manufacturing of complete heat
national Thermal Systems is a global It is headquartered in Milwaukee, processing solutions including ovens,
original equipment manufacturer of Wisconsin in the US with offices in furnaces, washers, coolers, and asso-
industrial process ovens, furnaces, Europe and Asia, ITS boasts thou- ciated material handling equipment.

ing more energy efficient
motors or auxiliary equip- What sets apart successful suppliers, however,
ment, or retooling a machine
for smoother operation.” These can seems to be an ability to provide a kind of total
include measures that will help com- solution — an ownership of what has to be done
panies qualify for green energy credits,
tax incentives and grant funding. to be successful.
“We find we often serve as a sort of
go-to knowledge resource,” she says.
Problems only spur suppliers to come machinery,” he says. “The Barton Ball Mill production method.”
up with ever more inventive solutions System can be inconsistent, tempera- The result has been the Sovema “S”
that will save customers money, says mental to run, and greatly affected series oxide mill, developed specifi-
Alessandro Fossemo, head of sales by environmental conditions; more cally to meet customers wanting extra
for Sovema US which operates from importantly, the machines require fre- production performance featuring new
its subsidiary Bitrode Corporation, in quent, lengthy cleaning downtimes control features, such as a pre-heating
Missouri. sometimes running 30 dirty and dan- system for temperature control and
He points to issues such as the rising gerous hours per month. to achieve exactly the exact level of
costs of raw materials, in particular, and “The higher reactivity of the Ball oxidation required.
manufacturers’ ever-watchful eye on the Mill system allows higher reactivity “Clients seek a total solution
improvement of productivity, reliability, of the lead oxide, resulting in a 5% approach to their problems,” he says.
and up-time to retain profitability. decrease in lead use. So we set to work “They want you to think along with
“For example, we heard so many refining the process to create a virtu- them, and offer expanded solutions
complaints about lead oxidation ally maintenance-free and consistent for them.
GLOBALIZATION OF THE WORKFORCE

Lead acid — perceived as a com-
moditized product — is cost driven
because it is a volume product. As
with any manufactured product,
players strive to find the lowest
cost to make that product, and that
drives manufacturers to China and
India, other low cost countries.
Finding enough qualified work-
ers to man these Asian plants is
an issue for any company working
there, most add. Kevin Whear, vice
president of technology for Daramic,
says the company makes a point of
employing local people in it plants in
India, Thailand and China. “But that
means we first have to find people Extraordinary change: Beijing business district, mostly farmland 20 years ago
who want to work for a western
company (not hard), and who have All reported learning to be flexible Globalization has changed the way
language skills (English). Then we in what they loosely called “cultural companies produce — but also the
try to relocate other workers from expectations”. When Daramic, origi- way they approach new markets.
other countries for a time, to get nally based in Boston, began building “The thing we have the most trouble
them trained and up to speed. plants, work forces and sales teams with is making sure we have the right
“This has been problematic in China, abroad, they found that no matter the match of capacity in the right region,”
more recently, where growth has been location — France, Germany, Austria, he says, referencing rising demand
so fast and inflation relatively high, and later Asia, each culture presented for products in China where consum-
that I think people have thought that its own challenges. “For example in ers, just purchasing a car for the first
if they changed jobs they could do China, we found that people tend time, are often less knowledgeable.
better. So they tend not to stick in one more toward subservience,” says “Another problem is that there
job very long, and that has proven Whear. “Used to a more hierarchical is a conversion going on in Asia
difficult to work around, though structure, they waited for instructions from what we call historic separator
recently things have stabilized.” from a leader, a boss. To us, a boss technology — cellulosic and rubber
Challenges abound in cross-cultural has a role but he doesn’t have all the and PVC — to polyethylene, which
workforces, particularly the need for answers. So we had to help them has replaced the bulk of the busi-
fast-track cultural sensitivity training break out of that — making them feel ness in North America and Europe.
at nearly every level. The survey's more comfortable taking the initiative.” So China represents a market that
suppliers, most of whom had been A tangential issue, too, he says, is is making essentially two transi-
in the battery business for at least 10 just managing growth in a time of so tions in terms of consumers and
years, remarked on the dizzying pace much change, not only in the industry, technology, which requires some
of expansion — and acculturation. but among consumers themselves. accommodation on our part.”

COMPANY PROFILE
MAC ENGINEERING
After launching production of its first
machine, an SLI-cast-on strap, in
1965, MAC Engineering expanded
further into the lead acid battery
industry with state-of-the-art
pasting and plate flash drying
equipment for both automotive
and industrial battery production, as
well as an automotive plate parter.
In recent years MAC has intro-
duced numerous new machines
including platemaking equip-
The bottom line, comes to value — resulting in immediate savings. A ment, curing equipment, panel
but with a twist. company’s success can depend on its parters, Cast On Strap machines
The mature market is into optimizing ability to meet that demand, he says. for both automotive and indus-
costs. But the cost is not just tied to “For example, our acid recirculation trial batteries, acid fillers, heat
the purchase price, it’s also tied to how product is considered one of the most sealers, short testers, leak test-
well it serves in their operational proc- effective industry solutions for short- ers, and continuous expanded
ess. Increasingly important now is a ening lead acid battery formation— metal plate production under the
new kind of multi-pronged service that dramatically reducing overall produc- names COMAC and MAC ACP.
includes partnership as well as nimble- tion time, which can multiply fantastic In 2005, MAC formed a partner-
ness in delivering a rapid, response to a ROI to the bottom line.” ship with Eagle Oxide Systems,
demand — after the sale. Bornas says about a third of the giving it the ability to offer all
equipment MAC Engineering sells will sizes of Linklater, Eagle Barton
One step ahead of the game have some innovative design on it that oxide, red lead furnaces, ball mill
What’s needed is a laser-sharp acuity originated from a customer. systems and components.
in perceiving clients’ needs before they “Our major focus is equipment,
know it themselves. That means keep- design for the battery industry, for the
ing five steps ahead, not just one. battery making companies, to help get
What sets apart successful suppli- the best and most consistent product,
ers, however, seems to be an ability and to save labour,” he says.
to provide a kind of total solution, an “We have consistently found that
ownership of what has to be done to our customers always want some
be successful. Because every company innovative design, some advantage
feels their product is unique, they nat- over company ‘B’ down the street that
urally want to feel that whatever goes they can promote to their customers.
into its production is likewise unique. So they’ll often ask us, ‘Can you do
“Customers are looking for any- it?’ Our reputation rests in our answer
thing we can bring them that will to that, and it is ‘yes, we will do all
help them differentiate their battery those things.’ If we think it will work,
from others,” says Whear. “Any kind we’ll do it.”
of performance increase is welcomed.
So that means we have to know their Over-hyped and over here
product and process inside out.” Most suppliers felt impatience with
And because companies don’t neces- what they view as an industry-wide
sarily expand their equipment capaci- malaise, particularly given the over-
ties every year, their needs vary as hyping of the lithium segment in the
they absorb one purchase, or adjust to last few years. To some degree, lead
some operational change. acid batteries have suffered from their
“We find customers demand a con- own success in quietly being behind
sistent ability to deliver manufactur- the power of modern living for over
ing solutions that are not only reli- a century.
able and production-efficient, but also But in the past decade suppliers — “Customers want to
prompt,” says Fossemo, affirming both high-tech or otherwise — to the
a certain time-is-money urgency all lead acid business have been seen as meet, they want to
the suppliers noted in an increasingly inferior to their lithium-ion counter-
competitive industry. “Customers can- parts now being developed for electric
negotiate things in
not wait a week to get a line back into vehicles. person. We rarely sign
production. They demand help now, The topic is a sore one, given the
and over the years, we’ve learned to younger chemistry’s unresolved per- a contract that does not
react quickly with solutions.” formance issues. involve on-site visits”
Customers worldwide often expect “The lithium industry, for automo-
not just a repair but an improvement tive application, is still relatively under- Doug Bornas, MAC Engineering
developed,” says Bornas. “It’s
at the stage where lead acid COMPANY PROFILE
was 100 years ago. They’ve
got a chemistry that works, that WIRTZ MANUFACTURING
gives good test results, but now they’ve
got to figure out how to produce it in Specializing in battery grid and plate-
quantity, and at an affordable price, making technology since its founding
at a time when we’re trying to find in 1932, Wirtz has also moved into
ways to reduce costs in cars. So far this oxide conveying and mixing, battery
chemistry just adds costs.” assembly and corrosive resistant con-
veyors, and finishing line machines.
Advancing the business The company prides itself on its
What’s not being done in the lead acid grid casting machines and con-
industry, they say, is proper marketing tinuous casting (ConCast and
of the technological advances being ConRoll) and pasting lines, con-
made in this segment every day. sidered industry standards.
John Sims, director of sales for Wirtz The Wirtz group of companies also
Manufacturing in, Michigan says “The includes several acquisition, including:
way to build a lead acid battery hasn’t LEKO, offering a full range of assem-
changed much in 100 years. Materi- bly products including TTP welders,
als have changed, techniques have heat sealers, and related line equip- and washing/drying systems; and
changed, but the basic chemistry has ment; Oxmaster; ConBro formation Battery Recycling Systems, which
stayed the same. and finishing systems including acid provides turnkey secondary lead
“That’s one of the testaments as to dilution plants, acid fillers, dumpers, smelting and recycling systems.
why developing lead acid chemistry is
the right course, long term. Its longev-
ity says a great deal.”
It’s a familiar industry refrain too. “We haven’t done enough in the last five years to
The old saw among battery men — champion the cause for why lead acid is still the
“Once you get lead in your blood,
you never get it out” — holds true at best mousetrap” John Sims, Wirtz
a business level tool.
“We haven’t done enough in the last
five years to champion the cause for COMPANY PROFILE
why lead acid is still the best mouse-
trap,” says Sims. SOVEMA US
“What politicians and bureaucrats
don’t understand — when they say Founded in 1969, Sovema offers an product know-how and plant com-
they want it clean and green — is that extensive line of production machin- missioning by specialized staff.
when it comes right down to it, lead ery for battery manufacturing from Sovema is particularly known
acid is the most reasonable alternative its own headquarters near Verona for its "Performer", the continuous
compared to all the other materials on in Italy, and through Sovema US, progressive expander, the innova-
offer for high tech batteries. based in Wisconsin, and subsidiary tive technology that makes it pos-
“Lithium doesn’t recycle well, and Bitrode Corporation, in Missouri, as sible to produce both positive
nickel not easily — 99% of all lead well as a facility in Tianjin, China. and negative grids at double the
used in North America comes from The company supplies individual speed of other available systems.
recycled batteries.” equipment (paster, flash drying In 2008 Sovema incorporated
The industry needs to do a better job ovens, plate collecting systems, Bitrode Corporation, a respected
of getting the truth out about lead acid, etc.) for specific processing opera- supplier of electrical power conver-
he says. “What we need are good com- tions, as well as complete lines for sion systems for electric vehicle
municators who can distil and articu- the entire production cycle, using an and hybrid electric vehicle bat-
late this technology into language from integrated technological approach tery testing, as well as produc-
a manufacturing and business stand- starting from the study of factory tion and test systems used in
point to the general public.” ■ and department lay-out through to the manufacturing of batteries.
“Clients seek a total

solution approach to
their problems. They
want you to think along
with them, and offer
expanded solutions for
them”
Alessandro Fossemo, Sovema US

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AF F O R DAB LE Q UALI T Y WO R L DWI D E F RO M T H E WI RTZ G RO U P O F CO M PA N I ES

PROFILE: PAUL CHEESEMAN
How advanced is advanced lead acid? And why is one of the largest battery
manufacturers devoting resources to reinventing the humble lead acid
battery. Lynnda Greene interviewed Paul Cheeseman, vice president global
engineering and research, at Exide Technologies.
The new masters

of lead acid
It’s a surprise twist of fate. Dr. Paul
Cheeseman, vice president, global
engineering and research at Exide
Technologies, after spending virtually
his entire career working on every bat-
tery chemistry except lead is now to
concentrate on ... lead-acid.
“I’ve saved the oldest for last, in the
third trimester of my career,” he says.
“I’m excited in that I am confident we
are able to reinvent lead-acid for the
future. Already there is an understand-
ing that advanced lead-acid is not the
same as old lead-acid. At Exide, we’re
applying what I like to call the ‘Back
to the Future technology strategy’.
“Of course we can’t go into the
future,” he says, “but what we can do
is take technologies that existed yes-
terday, not to mention 150 years ago,
and we can apply those technologies
to problems that could not be solved
in the past, so we can be successful in
the future.”
There are thousands of examples, he
insists, of how we can do that, though
his favourite example is carbon.
Until 20 years ago, there was just
plain black carbon. But since then,
due in part to the development of fuel
cells and in part to the development of
lithium-ion, very sophisticated graph-
ite and activated carbons have been
developed featuring different conduc- Does he get the urge to just go in the lab and fool
tivities, and with high surface areas. around? “Oh yes, all the time. Trouble is my staff
Eliminating sulphation gets scared when I even get near the door.”
But the lead-acid industry has found,
he says, that applying those carbons lead’s weight, have been some of the then make lead-acid a better product
to the negative plate in a lead-acid bat- most significant obstacles to lead-acid for the future,” he says, adding that
tery can reduce and maybe even elimi- being used in hybrid electric vehicles. the R&D initiatives at Exide’s new
nate the age-old chemical problem of “So, ostensibly, if we steal these research centre in Milton, Georgia,
sulphation, which significantly inter- new carbons — from fuel cells and in particular, are keyed around the
rupts the charge acceptance capability lithium-ion — that have developed principal of taking technologies today
of a lead-acid battery. Sulphation, and and apply them to lead-acid, we can (that didn’t exist yesterday) and apply-
ing them to lead-acid for the purpose
of reinventing it.
It doesn’t take much to cajole a
few more such examples from a man
clearly excited about the future of
lead-acid batteries in all manner of
applications.
Take the way lead acid is manufac-
tured. “Historically, it’s been done
PHOTO: MICHAEL LESTER
with relatively dated processes,” he

says. “If we apply some of the process
precision that’s available with nickel
metal hydride and lithium-ion, we can
make better products.”
As a technologist, he says, he has no
intention of putting a lot of work into
something that’s not marketable.
“The thing that switched me over Exide Global RD&E team at Milton, Georgia: Paul Cheeseman, (far left).
years ago, from enjoying a sociable
life to being driven to develop new Cheeseman’s present work at Exide Oddly enough, it was only a whim
products and technologies, was really — he joined in June 2008 being spe- of fate that led him to the energy
wanting to see products in the market- cially chosen for the post by then-chief storage business. “In my final year
place – products that customers love operating officer Edward O’Leary, of university — my first degree was
and that consumers want to buy, that caps an already extensive career in the in chemistry and materials science
they can use.” battery business. — I’d already signed up to join an
He spent 16 years at Duracell, where accountancy firm,” he says. “At that
Gasoline savings he held a variety of jobs including time, they were recruiting chemists!
Having spent more of his career work- director of lithium-ion technology and But I became captivated by a research
ing on AA batteries, he says, the director of operations for its New project, and one thing led to another.
chance to work on something that Products Division. I stayed on and earned a PhD in elec-
can reduce energy usage and help the In the early 1990s he moved to trochemistry.”
environment is tremendously satisfy- Spectrum Brands, (formerly Rayovac),
ing. “The batteries we make with the where as senior vice president for Duracell days
assistance of an approximately $30 R&D and quality, he led four global From there it was a natural step
million grant from the United States research and development integration to move into the battery business.
Department of Energy will save, in the programmes resulting from acquisi- “Duracell liked me, and I liked them,
right vehicles, up to 75 million gallons tions, and oversaw the efforts of some so I set off to become a research
of gasoline.” 150 scientists and engineers. scientist in their European technical
centre,” he says.
Those early years with Duracell were
“We’ve reached some tipping points about the crucial, he says, in that they allowed
him to spend half his time in R&D
way we see the world and how we manage our and half in manufacturing, doing dif-
economies, and that’s changed how we think ferent jobs in different places, often
abroad.
about our economic security.” Through the early 1990s he worked
DIVERSITY: A KEY ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGY

During the past 18 months, Exide hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) prod- arrows. The best technologies are
has established two technical cen- uct development — an environ- the ones that are usable or reus-
tres, one in the state of Georgia ment that enables advanced R&D able across different product lines.”
in the US and one in Büdingen, surrounding emerging applica- But why three facilities scat-
Germany. It also has another exist- tions for stored electrical energy. tered across the world?
ing facility in Azuqueca, Spain. Cheeseman sees the Mil- “The best way to solve a prob-
Cheeseman is clearly proud of ton’s function as an incubation lem is to bring different perspec-
Exide’s new state-of-the-art 20,000 centre for product develop- tives to the table, so they can
square foot technical centre in ment groups elsewhere. see that problem from different
Milton, Georgia, one of three new “I want to develop better prod- angles,” says Cheeseman.
or upgraded engineering centres ucts,” he says. “I want to meet “People of different educa-
dedicated to development of vari- customers’ needs. It’s a bit like fir- tions and cultures bring a lot to
ous forms of stored energy. ing arrows. R&D is like stocking up the table. Over the last 15 years,
It boasts analytical, electronics the quiver, and the new technolo- I’ve come to see diversity as a
and prototype battery laborato- gies are arrows in the quiver. You key organizational strategy to
ries and world-class instrument use them as you need them — but help me create an organization
rooms, as well as a garage for the main point is to have a lot of that can beat the competition.”

RESEARCH IN THE FAST LANE

Before his arrival, each of Exide’s
operating divisions principally con- Just before I came, R&D was focused on
ducted its own engineering accord-
ing to product line and application. two years and in, not much more. But with
Cheeseman considers he wears
two hats on the job, serving as both
new markets emerging and opportunities
captain and navigator to the vast developing, there was need for a longer-term
vessel that is Exide’s R&D division.
“Exide wants to achieve two
viewpoint for research and development
things,” he says. “The first is to con-
nect all the engineering groups that
we have working around the world.
This is a product of Exide’s history.
We’ve accumulated lots of engineer-
ing groups through historical acquisi-
tions, working in multiple countries
and divisions. So, one key part of my
job is to connect all those together,
and coordinate their efforts.”
And this is quite some operation —
the ship’s crew numbers in the thou-
sands and operates in 80 countries.
Exide already has engaged in
a number of partnerships aim-
ing to accelerate growth and offer
new directions for the firm.
The company’s recent alliance with
Axion Power International means
that Exide expects to enhance its
ability to expedite the development
of advanced lead-acid batteries and
new chemistries for use in prod-
uct development, thus broaden-
ing opportunities in transportation Lookose Malikayil, lab engineer, at Exid'es new technology centre in Georgia
original equipment channels.
Exide essentially becomes Axion and not much further,” he says. able lead-acid batteries incorporat-
Power’s principal transporta- “But with new markets emerging advanced carbon technology.
tion battery OEM customer. ing and opportunities develop- Exide’s project involves two of its
Exide’s new collaboration with the ing, there was need for a longer global technologies: a spiral wound
US Department of Energy’s Savan- term viewpoint for research and absorbed glass mat (AGM) design
nah River National Laboratory and development. So, another key and a flat plate AGM design.
the University of Idaho should help part of my job was developing Exide, nevertheless, regards
the company commercialize further strategies and plans for technol- lithium-ion as part of its future. “Our
improvements in lead-acid battery ogy, and for developing roadmaps strategy is to make sure we build
technology. Already, scientists have looking out five years and more.” an energy storage portfolio that
developed a unique glass micro- Put another way, his role at Exide enables us to meet the many mar-
sphere technology now being con- can be compared to a recalibration ket opportunities,” he says. “We
sidered for a variety of commercial of routes that reflects not just the will maintain a focus in the indus-
uses, particularly in battery perform- next port, but an entire voyage last- trial segment, as we expect that to
ance enhancement applications. ing years into the future — including grow over the next years, and on
Through a new deal with Nano- ports and markets still underap- the backbone of lead-acid will grow
Terra, a nanotechnology firm, Exide preciated by too many companies. lithium-ion. But we will be on the
plans to expand work in surface Exide, he says, is not one of them. lookout for other battery chemistries
chemistry and engineering to cre- “What excited me was the Exide that might supplement our portfolio.
ate innovative functionalities for team’s vision to grow energy stor- Yes, people still deride lead-acid
stored energy solutions toward age, particularly for markets related as being old and heavy. “But it’s
motive power, network power to hybrid electric vehicles,” he says. incredibly low cost, incredibly good
and transportation applications. “Exide recognized this was going energy storage, and is effectively
Cheeseman already has to be a great market opportunity.” recycled — more so than any other
helped change the mindset of As it happens, last summer Exide chemistry. However, it still can’t
the research department. was awarded $34.3 million under the meet all needs,” he says. “So, we
“Just before I came to Exide, the American Recovery and Reinvest- will supplement what lead-acid
company’s R&D initiative was prin- ment Act of 2009 for its proposal for can do with lithium-ion and other
cipally focused on two years out the domestic manufacture of afford- chemistries that make sense.”

in Duracell’s rechargeable division —
first in operations, managing a battery I’m not going to say it’s exceeded my wildest
pack plant then under development,
and from 1995 to 1998 as director of
dreams. But lithium-ion has not travelled the path I
lithium-ion cell development. “This expected it to travel
was before so much of the industry
moved to Asia,” he says. Both Dura-
cell and Energizer were then investing
heavily in lithum-ion, expecting that
they could diversify their businesses
into rechargeable battery packs for
computers and cell phones.”
So was anyone even dreaming of
automotive applications for lithium-
ion batteries back then?
First metal hybrid cars

According to industry research, the
answer is yes. Duracell joined Toshiba
and Varta in a partnership in 1992 to
produce metal hydride rechargeable
batteries for hybrid cars.
By 1996, the three companies
had won research grants from the
PHOTO: MICHAEL LESTER
US Advanced Battery Consortium

(USABC), toward development of
lithium-ion batteries in electric vehi-
cle applications. In 1997, they were
granted $14.5 million contract exten-
sion from the USABC.
“It was clear even then that lithium- The new Exide hybrid vehicle, a Honda HEV retrofitted with Exide batteries.
ion was going to be a significant bat-
tery chemistry of the future,” he says “From a hybrid electric vehicle tially less costly.”
of the chemistry’s dramatic rise during standpoint, implementing a battery to For all the immense changes the bat-
the past 15 years. “It is only fulfilling a help their drive train is much simpler tery industry has endured over the last
long expected plan, but I’m not going than doing a complete electric vehi- few years — globalization of markets,
to say it’s exceeded my wildest dreams. cle,” he says. “A good HEV — mild, trade, finances, and of course a deep,
But lithium-ion has not travelled the medium or full hybrid — emits less crippling recession — Cheeseman is
path I expected it to travel. CO2 than a full electric vehicle that sanguine about the future.
“If anything, I’d say that lithium- is being charged with electricity being
ion is a little bit behind where I generated, in most countries, from a Managing resources better
thought it might be.” grid highly dependent on coal fired “We’ve reached some tipping points
He thinks the chemistry’s sudden power. So an HEV actually produces about the way we see the world and
ascendency into the realms of auto- less CO2 when you look at the total how we manage our economies, and
motive application — and thereby CO2 supply chain.” that’s changed how we think about
labs and shops of some major indus- He says Exide likes HEV technol- our economic security,” he says. “I
try players — is due only in part to ogy and production because it can sense a mainstream realization that
a proliferation of public and pri- be implemented relatively cheaply, energy and fuel are finite resources
vate investment, as well as innovative without the costly construction of the that need to be managed better. The
partnerships across both industries. recharging infrastructure a plug-in other thing about an economic reces-
What’s really pivoted the whole fleet will need. sion is that, you know, when people
discussion, to his mind, is the marked “They need power, but not that have a heart attack, they have to
sea change in public recognition of much energy,” Cheeseman points out. change their lifestyles.
the most salient issue at stake: an “They typically need a one- kilowatt- “Similarly, we’ve got to change how
urgent need for efficient, renewable hour battery. So, in that case, lead- we do things. And, the outcome of
and sustainable sources of energy. acid is not a bad solution. The price that is a lot of companies have failed
“During the last year, the climate is not going to be prohibitive. A one- — but some companies are a lot
has changed,” he says. “For battery kilowatt-hour car battery is substan- stronger.”
makers and car makers, yes, but it’s Above all, he says, the interest in
also that suddenly all the interested batteries and energy storage is here
groups – the stakeholders – are at the The best technologies to stay. “From a personal standpoint,
table. It’s the first time in my memory there has never been a better time to
that everybody is saying that finally
are the ones that are be in the battery industry.”
we have an opportunity for electric usable or reusable Does he get the urge to just go in a
vehicles.” lab and fool around? “Oh yes, all the
But Cheeseman is doubtful that across different product time. Trouble is my staff gets scared
the world is ready for all-electric lines. when I even get near the door. ■
vehicles.
WEIBULL ANALYSIS
Knowing the approximate life characteristics of a number of battery
technologies based on Weibull statistics can be a useful predictive tool,
writes Erik Spek from Innovative Testing Solutions and Neil Johnson from
Ricardo.
Test, repair, bin or re-use

As new battery technologies evolve ficient samples, it will Decreasing Constant failure Increasing
to meet the needs of PHEVs (plug-in still take over two failure rate rate failure rate
hybrid electric vehicles) and EVs (elec- years to accumulate
tric vehicles), the pressure to reduce the data required.
costs has led to concepts that take Many business man- observe
advantage of the remaining life in agement decisions Wear Out
automotive traction batteries for sub- cannot be deferred Random
sequent use in less demanding applica- for such a long time
tions. and less exact but Infant mortality
The most common of these ideas is still relevant methods
to use automotive high power batter- are required when
ies in lower power applications when confronted with the Product ‘Bathtub’ failure curve
the minimum power deliverable can- repair and subsequent
not meet the automotive requirement. use question. to the pack but does not impede the
Another idea is to rebuild these This is where knowing the approxi- remaining cells in their function. This
packs with new cells or modules of mate life characteristics of a number of is typically called a ‘benign’ failure.
cells to regain the power or energy battery technologies based on Weibull Some technologies such as NaS and
specification. statistics can be useful. If there is no NaNiCl2 were designed to be able
The replacement of a few cells may data, then Weibull statistics (as infer- to perform in this manner with the
seem a straightforward operation and ence versus exact data) is a better help of electronic bypass elements
the use of an automotive sub-specifi- alternative for decision-making than or electrochemical reactions in deep
cation pack in stationary service may having no information. discharge that resulted in ‘to specifica-
be financially attractive, however, the Weibull factors (slope and life) have tion’ resistance.
expected new service life in these sce- their limitations but within reason (ie If a cell fails in such as way as to
narios needs to be verified. beta greater than 1) represent typical impede the function of the remaining
One of the ways to do this is to run bathtub curves and are a model based cells, it can compromise the function
life tests on an intensified basis — 24 on log-log values of the supporting of the pack.
hours a day, seven days a week, 52 data. Interpretation of the Weibull sta- This is sometimes referred to as a
weeks of a year — on enough samples tistics requires an understanding of the ‘catastrophic’ failure. Examples are:
to be able to develop meaningful sta- fundamental physical phenomenon in physical destruction from I2R over-
tistics for prediction purposes. the battery cells. heating; damage from external forces
While this is an exact and rigorous (abuse, charging, immersion, etc) lead-
method, it is also demanding in terms Cell failure characteristics ing to thermal runaway; expulsion of
of time and money. The ideal failed cell is one which no molten, conductive materials creating
Even with an intensive testing plan longer is able to supply the minimum internal short circuits, and the like.
costing upwards of $1 million for suf- specification of power and/or energy Some benign failures if provoked by
catastrophically failed cells can them-
Distinguishing between cell and non-cell causes of pack end of life selves become catastrophic.
Repair to pack Involving cells NiMH HEV Lithium Ion challenge

Cell fails to perform to No significant Establish cell performance &
specification (W or Wh) known warranty claims degradation over life statistics
Ground fault Cell caused Caused by cell abuse
– establish tolerance levels
Non-cell caused Avoided by best design practice
Repair to pack not Involving cells NiMH HEV Lithium ion challenge
Structural failure No significant
Sensor Failure known warranty claims Adopt best practices from NiMH
Current carrying path
Software & controls

WEIBULL ANALYSIS
Thus both cell design for failure and the renewed pack would have lived a value of from 1.5 to <2 while com-
pack design are critical for a reliable beyond eight years. paratively, the dotted line for best,
and durable pack. The conclusion may be that if the mature, flooded lead acid traction
ß is high and the cell population has battery cells have a ß slope of >3.
Using Weibull diagrams a long life, the prize for repairing a In this case, repair could extend the
for repair decisions pack is marginal with only a short life of the immature product beyond
The number of cumulative percent- additional life to be gained. warranty terms or for other special
age failed cells in a battery pack is This is typically the case for a mature reasons. The remaining cells will con-
strongly dependent on the cell failure product with high ß and long life. This tinue to fail but the new cells will
modes and this in turn is influenced by conclusion may not be relevant if the improve the ß.
the application’s tolerance for reduced product, while mature, is also high In the first diagram entitled ‘examples
power and energy. If, for example, cost. In this case, a repair may be of different shape factors’ the topmost
failure of 5% the total cell population financially advantageous if even for line is in the shape of a ‘hockey stick’
result in below specification power only a short reprieve to end of life. to show that after a certain life, a
or energy, a simple decision could be By contrast, products which are dominant failure mode is reached and
made to revive that battery pack by relatively new using immature tech- changes the ß significantly.
replacing the failed cells, assuming nology will have lower value ß slopes The early ß of one is characteristic
they can be definitively identified. exhibiting the Weibull characteristics until just after the two-year point. At
With the long service lives of NiMH as shown in the last figure. The ß that point the dominant failure mode
packs and their complementary power example slope for the immature cells results in about one more year of life.
role making repair largely unneces- in the lower half of the diagram has If this dominant failure mode is an
sary, lithium ion packs are then the
most likely candidates for cell replace-
ment.
WEIBULL DIAGRAMS: THE MEANING OF BETA
There are other ‘check or correct
before repair’ factors that must be Weibull diagrams are a method of externalities cause the symptom
addressed in a rebuild to make it safe graphically depicting the failures of (degraded connection, out of sync,
and effective such as: a product over its lifetime. ‘Failure’ etc). A truly ‘bad’ cell may be the
is defined by the owner of the data result of permanent failure modes
• the state of charge of the remaining
and can cover many different sce- such as irreversible internal corrosion.
cells to synchronize to;
narios and their consequences. It A typical Weibull diagram, as seen
• sufficient reconnection materials
is important to clearly define what here, has a line or lines each char-
remaining for an effective current-
a ‘failed’ cell is in order to be able acterized by a slope and intercept.
carrying node;
to determine what to do with those The x axis fundamentally represents
• cell integrity with no loss of fluids;
failed cells — a fundamentally ‘good’ a time based value such as years
and,
cell could appear to be failed if or cycles to failure. The y axis is the
• cell resistance.
cumulative percent-
An out of specification condition for age of failed data. As
Examples of different shape factors (ß)
any of these factors can make repair the data for failure is
difficult and possibly unsafe. How- gathered, it can be
ever, if the cells fail benignly, repair directly plotted on the
may be feasible and then the extent Weibull diagram as
and frequency of the repair must be scatter data and then
evaluated for feasibility. fitted to a straight line.
Knowing the Weibull statistics for the The two line charac-
particular technology or even a similar teristics are graphically
technology can be of help when making determined by Weibull
the repair/rebuild decision. methods based on the
estimation point (top
The case of mature products left corner) and the
In the charts on the next page, a acceptable number of
number of mature technology packs accumulated failures.
for an HEV application when tested The slope, known as
to failure had a ß of about seven as ‘ß’, typically has a
shown in the two lines in the upper value from about one
half of the diagram. to three or more.
These lines are derived from the A value of one rep-
fault tolerance limits of cumulative resents an immature
percentage failed cells in the lower product with failures
half of the diagram where the life occurring at a some-
of the cells can be expected to be what regular rate over
between seven and eight years. the lifetime. As the
Translating this into pack life, it can be value of ß increases,
said that 62.3% of the packs will have the product is matur-
failed between five and seven years. ing with few early fail-
Thus if the 2.5% of failed cells that ures and most failures
did so in the seven to eight years grouped late in life.
were replaced, it is unlikely that
WEIBULL ANALYSIS
uncontrollable factor such as cell inter-
nal corrosion, there is little argument for So what does Weibull say about repair? It is likely
repairing such packs in the hope of real-
izing longer than three years of life.
not effective with mature and low cost product;
but might be effective for immature or high cost
Putting it all together
The Weibull lines presented in these product.
plots are derived from experience
with several different battery tech- a small improvement in remaining life tion, it should be noted that to effect
nologies since the mid-1980s. can be expected. a safe and effective repair, it is impor-
Assuming that cell failures are If the ß was a low value, as in the tant to establish the state of health
benign, there may be scenarios that case of a new product, repair may be of the cells which will be used as
are worthwhile for repair and pos- worthwhile to delay warranty costs replacements for the defective units.
sibly reuse. For example, repair pro- or maintain a fleet in service while the This can typically only be done by
grammes for second life make eco- product life is improved. In the case testing each and every cell and bring-
nomic sense when the second life of catastrophic cell failures, the collat- ing all into balance.
criteria for power and energy are less eral damage inflicted on the remaining Accordingly, it would appear that the
than first life. This implies that the cells and pack infrastructure usually most feasible path would be to strip
second application and its risks are presents a barrier to an effective, safe every pack as received with healthy
understood well enough to avoid new repair due to physical damage. parts set aside as WIP for subsequent
or unintended failure modes. So what does Weibull say about use in the rebuilding process.
A measure of caution should be repair? It is likely not effective with The logistics of corralling old packs
exercised if a decision to repair or mature and low cost product; but is also a significant factor and should
reuse is taken. There are many more might be effective for immature or not be underestimated. For example,
factors than simply the Weibull lines high cost product. the reverse distribution of lead acid
to be taken into account. For example, the track record of packs is a highly organized and low
The background leading to a repair NiMH has been very good with esti- cost drill orchestrated to supply the
scenario would be either one of mated ß of well over three and a highly efficient lead acid recycling
gradual reduction in pack perform- minimum warranty of eight years. industry.
ance through multiple benign cell With no firm data available concern- Establishing the same system for
failures or immediate loss of pack ing end of life, repair of these packs high voltage NiMH and lithium ion
performance through one or more will likely not be worthwhile unless packs will be a challenge.
catastrophic cell failures. a highly organized process similar to
Repair in the first case does not lead-acid is developed at the tier one For further information contact Erik
makes sense in most circumstances or two level. J Spek, ITS at erik@intestsolutions.
when the ß is a high value since only Beyond the simple Weibull informa- com ■
Early technology pack and cell life Mature power technology pack and cell life — postulation

CONFERENCE
IN PRINT
A letter from the publisher
Welcome to a new section of our magazine,

called Conference in Print.
Our aim is a simple one. We want to offer you the

readers a section where you can highlight your
products, technology and skills to our broader
audience — rather like going to a conference or
an exhibition without the inconvenience of all
the travel!
We’re putting no restrictions on what you’d like

to showcase — this is your section not ours
— but hope that this will prove an invaluable
and cost-effective way to reach our audience of
subscribers and readers.
Let me know what you think!
With warmest regards
Don Cleary
Publisher
CONFERENCE IN PRINT: ABERTAX PROFILE
Better engineering and better engineering management offer a way ahead
for battery industry suppliers. Batteries International visited Abertax’s
headquarters in Malta.
Finding the perfect

design mix
Developers tend to think in one direction
only — tweaking the basic chemistry
—when trying to create a better battery.
But perhaps another viewpoint should be
considered: how can better engineering
design be brought to bear to make batter-
ies more efficient? And then add another
layer. How can the management of engi-
neering design be made more efficient?
And that’s been the approach from
Abertax, an advanced supplier for battery
accessories, since the firm was revamped
with the appointment of a chief executive,
Dr Ing Joseph Cilia and general manager
Ing George Schembri, in October 2003.
Together with their new vice president
Mr Klaus Dieter Merz, a chemical engi-
neer who needs no introduction to the
"Engineering design in and around the battery has not had the attention it deserves"
battery industry, they form the perfect
team to steer their R&D department for system in the GRS also prevents air enter- and a 27mm valve with a bayonet fitting
providing the battery industry with the ing the cells which potentially damages should appear shortly.
ideal accessories. the plates.) As part of this dissection of the manu-
“Engineering design in and around “But our approach to this was more facturing approach, the firm says it has
the battery has not had the attention than just an engineering one,” says had to look at ways of ensuring the
it deserves,” says Merz. “Creating a Schembri. “We put the valves through timeliness of its delivery of products.
better battery shouldn’t just be stuck their paces in some of the most demand- This is more than just a key issue for any
at looking at alternative chemistries in ing environments a battery might have supplier but, in management jargon, also
seeking to build an advanced product. to withstand. And then we dissected the a “core competency” — an issue that is
Rather it should also be dissecting ways whole manufacturing approach — from critical to the success of both Abertax
of enabling that chemistry to be more a business point of view as well as an and its customers.
efficient.” engineering one — to find the optimal
A good example of his thinking in production path, in view of Quality Secure inventory
terms of ‘enabling’ can be seen in one and the aggressive competition especially One of Abertax’s strengths has been the
of the firm’s earliest patents for a valve from the far eastern countries.” variety of ways it has looked at in trying
referred to as gas release system (GRS) Abertax presently keeps up with the to ensure continuity of supplies to its
for all types of valve regulated batteries. existing demand of GRS, but has enough customers.
In essence it’s a plug, but a clever spare capacity to increase its production. “In order to provide for any eventually
one. It’s clever design allows accurate “Through further machinery, and exist- that could possibly turn out with deliv-
and consistent opening and closing pres- ing experience we are planning to satisfy ery,” says Schembri, “we make sure that
sure values that can be calibrated. This growing demand by short term adding we carry at least three months’ inventory
increases the working life of batteries as of capacity- doubling or tripling present in our base factory at Corradino. That
it reduces the loss of humidity within the output” says Schembri. covers any delays that we might possibly
battery. At the end of March Abertax released encounter and on top of that we added a
Since battery venting is the prime rea- a new version of its gas release system further buffer in case of other eventuali-
son for moisture loss in VRLA batteries, (GRS) valve suitable to work with M27 ties. Guaranteed delivery to our clients is
the performance of a better valve can dra- sized VRLA batteries. Until now the one thing that we strive for.”
matically keep the water content higher patented valve has only been available As an indication of how seriously the
within the gel or acid and so extend the in the smaller M18 size. Abertax says company takes its ability to deliver its
battery life. (Additionally, the diaphragm other sizes will be later made available products to its customers, to specifica-
CONFERENCE IN PRINT: ABERTAX PROFILE
tion and on time, Abertax has a back-up often research departments will come up “However, when we looked at improv-
subcontracting factory located some 50 with a product and then the marketing ing the performance by installing Aber-
km away on the island of Gozo that can department will go out and try to sell tax battery management and control
be used as a back-up in any kind of emer- it. We think we have a better system in unit, we found that by using the absolute
gency disaster recovery situation. that our people, with a vast experience in maximum power of the motor rather
But rather than expose itself to poten- the battery industry, work hand in hand then the ideal one we added only 1% to
tial disruptions, the company took the with the customers on their needs and its speed while taking 25% more current
step to invest in taking fuller control over our research will go all the way to, design from the battery for this. Through proper
external inputs. “We decided to bring the it, improve on it, perfect it, and finally management and control we ended up
design, building and maintenance of all provide it.” getting nine trips on just one charge.”
the equipment used — such as moulds
and automation — in-house,” says Dr Battery monitoring From monitoring to the grid
Cilia. The result is that Abertax has a At the moment — at least in terms of Better battery monitoring is also bringing
state of the art computerised design and R&D — the firm’s two main product spin-off benefits to Abertax and could
machine tool department capable of pro- lines are its GRS valve system and its even cause a rethink of the way that the
ducing everything from simple templates battery sensors and battery management small island of Malta runs its electrical
for injection moulding to designing and lines, though it has various other subsidi- grid. Abertax R&D has looked at the
building the machines that will automate ary products such as magnetic water inlet way that photo-voltaics can be used as
their GRS and other monitoring lines. valves for use in any water storage tank, part of a smarter grid. The roof of the
“We’re finding an immense autonomy cleaning machines and the like. main Abertax factory is full of solar
and a sense of security in having this “The GRS is a relatively easy product panels that are being tested in a variety of
high-tech, computerized design facility to market,” says Merz, “in that it imme- ways — which also cannily enough pay
in-house,” says Schembri. “It’s more than diately provides you with a better, more for themselves in their contribution to the
just relieving us from problems with sup- reliable battery. The Battery Monitoring Maltese national grid.
pliers and sub-contractors but it gives Units, which also have a huge impact The results of their research could well
us a production advantage in being able on the battery life and performance are create a template that could be used inter-
to develop the most effective designs for becoming more popular , he says. nationally. “We find each year there is a
what we do.” As the next generation of lithium (and three month period in the summer when
other) battery chemistries emerge, the electrical demand peaks due to the load
Virtuous feedback range of uses and conditions where they caused by the use of air conditioners,”
The firm believes one of its key strengths will be exposed will necessitate a greater says Dr Cilia. “That necessitates an extra
lies here in that its R&D department awareness, and ease of awareness, of the gas turbine, with a capital investment of
works closely with the various produc- state of the batteries. approx 80 million euros, that has to kick
tion and design. “It’s a kind of virtuous The corresponding next generation of in to cope with the peak — and that’s
feedback between all aspects of our electrical vehicles, he believes is a case in not including the fuel needed to run.
company,” says Schembri. point in that battery monitoring should “By comparison my calculations show
Equally important is the fact that Aber- deliver more than just information about that if people on the island were to gen-
tax believes it can use first-world skills to the health of the battery but also its erate this electrical shortfall by installing
deal with third-world competition. charge and discharge rates and, in par- photovoltaic panels on ideal roofs, they
“Competitive advantages for large ticular, a long history of data that can can save 10 million euros of fuel every
swathes of the manufacturing side of the be mined. summer — and create massive savings
battery business is now mostly found in One immediate need for car, and other on everyone’s electricity bills. In such a
price,” says Cilia. “And countries such electrical vehicle manufacturers looking scenario payback periods of five years
as China are able to use their cheaper at leasing — as may become a trend — is and less are possible – keeping in mind
workforce to drive the price of their that such a monitoring system immedi- that such PV panels have a lifetime of
products down. ately allows the lessor to calculate the over 30 years, a proper feed in tariff
“Our answer lies in greater and more power used for billing purposes. will lead us to a clean way to our future
efficient automation and perhaps equally But there are spin-off benefits too. energy needs.”
important, the ability to drive the way Remote monitoring should provide an “On top of that there are the benefits,
automation works ourselves. Being able invaluable tool for standby power testing outside of that period, when home-own-
to make much of our manufacturing or even fleet management of say airport ers would be saving money by generating
equipment is liberating in this respect. ground vehicles. Since Abertax’s system power that they could either use them-
This way we can provide our products at can also be delivered with GPS — and selves for free or sell back to the power
a price that can compete globally.” information transmitted over the internet company.”
Global sales require a sales force almost — its ability to pinpoint where the trou- Dr Cilia, himself, is a pioneer figure in
permanently on the road. ble may be originating can add another electric vehicles as well. For the past six
For Abertax the key figure in support- dimension to the product. years he has driven a Reva to work —
ing their esteemed customers with profes- But this is not just moving into the “on a small island such as Malta, EVs
sional support is Mr Merz, who worked world of fantasy. Already field tests have come into their own” he says. “It’s only
in both the R&D and Applications Engi- validated many of the uses of remote, 7km from my house to work, where I
neering departments at the German bat- wireless based monitoring. can plug it in. And this is an excellent
tery firm Sonnenschein before making a “One good example,” says Dr Cilia, example where a simple lead acid bat-
name for himself as marketing director “is when we were looking at the optimal tery is more than enough to satisfy my
for motive power products at Exide use of a Gel battery that was being used needs.”
Industries. to power a boat. We found that on a Dr Cilia also has several solar panels on
Dr Cilia believes that — frequently at single charge the boat initially allowed the roof of his house which in effect give
least — the way products come to mar- us three trips of a standard length before him both free fuel in his ride into work
ket are the wrong way round. “Quite going flat out. and an emission free journey. ■

NOTES FROM A CONFERENCE
The great and the good (and some of the others) of the battery and electric
vehicle world descended on the 10th International Advanced Automotive
Battery and EC Capacitor Conference in Orlando, Florida in mid-May. The
conference was packed. The mood upbeat.The conclusions debatable.
Optimism unbounded
“This isn’t just big. But it’s big, big.” lithium ion battery community. “I’m about whether lithium would neces-
That was the view of one delegate at openly sceptic about whether lithium sarily be the chemistry of choice in the
the annual AABC conference held this ion will turn out to be the power solu- next generation of cars.
May in Florida. tion for electric cars any time in my Perhaps more worryingly — and again
The point was well made. It wasn’t lifetime,” said one delegate. a truth that also couldn’t quite speak its
just that the Omni Hotel is a vast “But the mood at the conference was name — was a vague undercurrent of
sprawling conference-style resort situ- astounding. There was a real sense that fear. Where would the whole confer-
ated in the middle of a championship- enormous progress had been made ence be if the magical world of lithium
level golf course (and where some and that the promised land of lithium powered EVs didn’t materialize in the
of the less conscientious delegates powered EVs was in sight.” next couple of years? “Only half of us
sneaked off to). Indeed the mood of the conference — maybe only a third — will be here, if
Nor was it the fact that there was — perhaps this is a reflection of the that’s the case,” said one delegate.
a big pile of letters to be digested — whole of the lithium battery industry “A lot of us are being bankrolled by
there were three conferences going — oscillated between the visionary and government money either directly or
on, the LLIBTA (Large Lithium Ion the prosaic. With one breath, speakers dripping down from companies that
Battery Technology and Application), discussed a Brave New America where have received state funding. That kind
ECCCAP (Large EC Capacitor Tech- Smart Grid would speak unto EV and of money can’t last forever and, here
nology and Application) and not for- unto Smart Grid again. With the next, in the US, the Obama stimulus pack-
getting the AABC (Advanced Automo- issues such as dealing with the noxious age was clearly a one-off.”
tive Battery Conference) itself. issues of lithium battery formation
Nor was it the size of the number came to the fore. A question of timetabling
of attendees — 900 is not just a good However, one undercurrent — the “Yes we’re all largely playing with
number for a conference but a blow- truth that couldn’t quite speak its government money,” said another del-
out one — or the two large halls full name — was there despite the protes- egate.” “When that dries up, how can
of exhibitors’ stands. tations of the most passionate enthu- we keep going? It’s not that I believe
Rather it was the sense that this was siasts of all-things lithium. And that that we won’t ever reach a kind of
a big event that seemed to be marking was that a hard core that maintained tipping point when lithium becomes
a sense of arrival for the whole of the a scepticism (healthy or otherwise) the new norm — it’s just that I can see
supply power when necessary, one
“If you start to look away from, say, the delegate, David McShane, EVP busi-
ness development and engineering, at
Californians and New Yorkers who are eager to International Battery says his firm is
embrace change and are environmentally aware, looking at using large format lithium
batteries for stationary, energy storage
you won’t find Middle America willing to pay even at the electric-utility power distribu-
a couple of thousand dollars extra for a car that tion level.
“We have a programme through
could conceivably be looked at as green” S&C Electric with AEP (the Ohio-
based energy utility) targeted at com-
hybrids and nickel metal hydride as will to move to all things electric as
being a more dominant alternative in now being solid. “One thing seems to
the interim.” be certain,” said one conference del-
This question of when was clearly on egate, “the US federal government has
many people’s minds. “At the moment taken the issue of energy storage to its
we’re in a situation where the regular heart and I don’t personally believe
economic triggers for a business don’t that this is an Obama Democrat thing
apply,” said one exhibitor. “Normally but one that is going to be broadly
companies work on the basis of supply cross-party. The Department of Energy
and demand — but as yet we’ve not understands the issues at stake.
the faintest idea of what demand will “A lot of senior people — and now
be, so it’s difficult for us to make any that includes the politicians — in the
kind of sensible planning on providing US haven’t forgotten the spectacular
the supply side of the equation.” rise of the price of oil two years ago.
Creating a secure energy storage sys-
Battery price the key tem has become a question of national
Given that demand for the new cars security.”
is going to be crucially linked to price The issue of US national security
— and that could well be a function was also another undercurrent in the
of the race to produce a lithium car show. What one delegate called “the
battery at around a fifth of the present elephant in the room that nobody
cost — the more pessimistic again would admit to seeing” was the role of Community energy storage chest
reckoned that the present timetable China in infringing intellectual prop-
was too optimistic. erty rights. munity energy storage (CES)” says
“If you start to look away from, McShane. “Energy storage of around
say, the Californians and New York- Conference snapshots 27kWh to 150kWh in size is con-
ers who are eager to embrace change Away from the activities in the main nected between the local transformer
and are environmentally aware, you conference halls, there were two halls and the residential service (typically
won’t find Middle America willing to full of exhibitors and a third hall that four to 10 homes).
pay even a couple of thousand dollars offered a kind of poster display. Cer- “The CES can support local com-
extra for a car that could conceivably tainly the poster exhibition proved munities in the event of disruptions to
be looked at as green,” said another an unusual take on a whole variety supply and provide a range of other
exhibitor. “I mean three-quarters of us of battery market issues. Some two utility support benefits such as power
in the States choose not to believe in dozen poster exhibitors were given quality improvements and even offer
global warming!” the equivalent of just 2m3 of space to utility infrastructure investment defer-
And this remark was echoed, in vari- make their relevant points. ral options — all of which provide
ous forms, by the many international Next door to the poster display hall economic benefit to the utility and
delegates. “Till we get a price point to were two further rooms manned by a improved service to end customers."
know what we’re selling the batter- small army of exhibitors. AEP contracted S&C Electric as
ies for, we haven’t any real indication Although the focus of the main con- the system integrator which in turn
of what our sales can be,” said one ference was, by definition, on automo- selected International Battery as the
speaker. tive batteries, that wasn’t to say that energy storage system supplier of
A similar point was made by oth- other uses of lithium batteries weren’t choice.
ers when talking about performance. talked about or discussed in the coffee AEP expects to include 2MWh of
“One of the really encouraging points rooms between breaks. CES for the pilot project as part of
about this conference,” said one del- The creation of smart grids was the Ohio gridSMART programme.
egate, “is how we’re seeing — both a hot topic from a slightly different
from the ultracapacitor viewpoint as point of view from the conventional Opportunities, challenges
well as the lithium ion battery view — ones where electric cars are being McShane says that V2G is a great
steady advances in performance. And plugged into these grids. opportunity, but there are also chal-
these of course are also being matched Although there’s been much talk lenges faced in setting up a larger grid
by general improvements elsewhere, recently about using the batteries for electric vehicles as an energy pool
for example, in the BMS.” within electric vehicles as a kind of to provide the same benefits — there
But if the timing for the arrival of the energy pool (the “vehicle to grid”, will be simple practical details of
next generation of cars proves elusive, or “V2G” concept) where plugged-in whether, for example, people want
there were many that saw the political vehicles sit on the grid and that can their vehicles to be connected into
such a grid and charged and dis-
charged by others. There are other “We’ve managed to reduce our MCV production
practical problems associated with a formation system to around half the size but
connected vehicular energy pool —
what happens, for example, when offer increased performance and we’ve radically
you plug in your car at a neighbour’s expanded our FTF product which supports
house? What kind of identification
system needs to be put into place when complex pack test development to give both the
that happens?
Under the CES scheme”, the energy
capability of using one or two circuit systems and
storage asset belongs to the utility and testing up to 1.2MW”
so there is no question as to whether
or not it can be deployed.
Another, interesting application for has been the increased collaboration
International Battery’s large-format between firms that previously would
prismatic Li-Ion batteries is working have regarded each other as rivals or
with the US military on its Silent- near rivals. The overall impression,
Watch programme. In this application, talking to delegates at the conference,
the battery storage system, or NPS was that business barriers were being
(Non-primary power source) supplies brushed aside in the rush to get the
the energy needs for radio and sur- new battery technology in place.
veillance equipment. This allows the And, most particularly on the road.
military to gather intelligence without Bitrode has been collaborating with
the need for engine generator power A&D in one such joint venture in pro-
(which produces detectable heat and ducing a fully automated battery test
noise signatures). system for General Motors’ Global
The military is interested in investi- Battery Lab in Michigan. “It consists
gating further uses of energy storage of A&D’s iTest, iCentral and Lab-
such as in combination with renew- Minder and our own test equipment,”
able sources (photovoltaics or wind) says Canova. “It’s a major advance-
to provide a stable electrical supply in ment in world class battery laboratory
remote areas. Canova: raising the technology bar management. We think we’re well
One of the more challenging num- positioned for it to become the indus-
bers of keeping the coalition of armies around half the size but offer increased try standard.”
in the field in Afghanistan is that it performance and we’ve radically John Leppek, senior account man-
takes seven million gallons of fuel to expanded our FTF product which sup- ager, at A&D also spoke about the
provide the military with one million ports complex pack test development partnership in glowing terms. “By
for operational use. to give both the capability of using one working together we’ve created an
Any forms of energy saving are or two circuit systems and testing up unparalleled system for testing today’s
important for the military. “They find to 1.2MW.” advances in battery chemistry and
the combination interesting in two The price tags for the new MCV and operations.”
ways,” says McShane. “The immedi- FTF testers are unchanged in terms of
ate one is that the renewable energy price per kilowatt hour. Anode, cathode binders
sources with light-weight, energy- One of the striking features of the Zeon was another such firm provid-
dense storage cuts supply-chain costs. growing lithium battery industry ing upgrades to its existing product
But the second one is that it gives
greater operational efficiencies such as Conference organizer Menahem Anderman at the opening sessions
enhanced mobility.”
Pushing testing technology out

Looking around the exhibitors one
was struck by the sense that lithium
battery technology was continuing to
innovate and advance at breakneck
speed.
For example, Bitrode Corporation, a
designer and manufacturer of testing
equipment for formation in all types
of battery chemistry, revealed two new
products at the conference.
“Basically, these are next generation
products rather than merely upgrades
as we continue to add greater func-
tionality and power, Paolo Canova,
the firm’s chief executive told Batteries
International.
“We’ve managed to reduce our
MCV production formation system to
lines — in this case its anode and
CONFERENCE CONCLUSIONS, TAKE 1 — HOW cathode binders for Li-ion batteries.
“They offer higher capacity, longer life
ELECTRIC WILL ELECTRIC VEHICLES GO? and have several other improvements
over conventional polyvinylidene fluo-
The popular media as ever is over (20 km at best and probably 12 km ride binders,” says Brian Cail, general
hyping the marketing of HEVs, in many practical circumstances) that manager for new battery development
PHEVs and EVs. The Li-ion batteries their risk is minuscule. The Toyota who was exhibiting at the stand.
are not ready for prime time EVs and vehicle is really an HEV with a slightly “The binders provide a higher capac-
all the main players admit it; their bigger battery (≈5 kWh) but at 32 ity retention increase of about 10%
visible strategy supports this view. Wh/kg it is not a serious traction bat- using the new cathode binder as well
Nissan appear to be out in front tery. However its emissions are quite as a discharge capacity improvement
but they are unlikely to step too good at around 90g of CO2/km. of about the same percentage, at 10C
far out of line. All the majors have Ford like Toyota is focusing on and 20C discharge rates.
test fleets of the various types of fewer emissions/km. Ford has Zeon says that its in-house testing
electric drive (eg HEV, PHEV, ReEV, HEVs, with plans for EVs later and at -20°C shows that the new anode
and EV); Nissan are just conduct- excellent small diesels are about to binders improve capacity at cold tem-
ing their EV test fleets more in be launched. The end results are peratures by two times over BM-400B.
the public eye than the others. similar in the short term to Toyota. Safety is improved over PVDF due to
In the early 1990s Ford clearly Ford is relatively quiet on its EV the higher decomposition temperature
identified the ECOSTAR NaS fleet plans but has stated that it does not of Zeon’s binders than PVDF. Cath-
as a test fleet as did Toyota with intend to launch a ReEV. It has plans ode and anode binders from Zeon are
the NiMH RAV4. “GM appeared to for an EV version of the Connect van available in aqueous and NMP-based
go further with the EV1 but pulled (with Johnson Controls and Saft) and solvent forms.
back when the realities became also the new focus where Magna
clear,” said one delegate to Batteries appears to have responsibility (bat- Decontamination
International. “The EV1 was really a tery details not yet clear). GM (and One of the companies exhibiting for the
technology demonstrator and in that the media) however is making a lot first time was Entegris —a well known
role it was very successful. Many of noise about a little zero emission company in dealing with chemical
people liked the EV1 and resisted driving (e.g. “up to 40 miles range” contaminants in the semi-conductor
its withdrawal from the field even which in many practical circum- industry — but which only recently
when GM insisted that it was only stances will be nearer to 25 miles). realised that its existing products can
ever intended as a learning vehicle “Almost all of the majors will be also prove highly useful to lithium ion
for future ventures. They blamed relying on their ICE drives for some battery manufacturers.
the lead acid battery (although time to come,” says a delegate. “As we all know at this event some
they also had a NiMH version) and “Nissan appear to be leading the highly volatile and very dangerous
they did gain useful experience. risk game by not having an ICE on chemicals are used in lithium ion bat-
“GM got even more PR expo- the “Leaf” but I suspect their risk tery formation and we have to find
sure by cooperating with the management will be to keep the ways to deal with these in a cost-effec-
book The Car that Could: The EV fleet quite small and spread tive way,” says Kevin Golden, business
Inside Story of GM's Revolution- over wide geography, eg CA etc, development manager for the firm.
ary Electric Vehicle and of course UK, France and Japan. This is an “Because of our experience in other
they played a passive role in the expensive strategy but controls industries where the same issues at
film, Who killed the Electric Car? risk visible to the public while yield- stake we have a broad range of con-
GM thus played a clever game ing valuable wide experience. tamination control solutions that are
without taking big risks. Nissan may already proven in the field.”
be doing something similar now.” Exhibitors awaiting the onslaught of Purification and filtration systems
Indeed it’s worth remembering delegates ahead of the coffee break
the lessons of history. In the early
1990s the majors all ended up
blaming the battery of the day for
not continuing with EVs and they
were of course correct, the bat-
teries did not have sufficient Wh/
kg but they knew that at the outset
as they do now. The arithmetic is
simple and inescapable. The situa-
tion has not changed very much.
Today’s best batteries strug-
gle to match ECOSTAR’s 110 Wh/
kg battery system which is a pity
after 20 more years of R&D: 110
Wh/kg is not good enough for a
really good EV and the Leaf and
Mitsubishi do not even have that.
Toyota has launched a limited fleet
of PHEVs but the range is so small

“As we all know at this event some highly volatile and very dangerous
chemicals are used in lithium ion battery formation and we have to find ways
to deal with these in a cost-effective way”
Entegris can offer neutralize these
dangerous chemicals.
Perhaps showing how much of the
industry was represented at the show
were some more unusual players.
Barton Malow would be one such
firm with its ability to produce cus-
tomized construction-ready designs to
build a lithium battery factory and the
project management expertise, so the
firm says, to ensure that what might
otherwise be a two or three year proc-
ess — from talking to the customer
until the turn-key completion of the
factory — can be reduced to around
nine months.
Turn-key lithium battery factories

“We’re unusual says Lee Sellenraad,
director of project development at
Barton Malow, in that we’ll even offer
a performance guarantee for the proc-
CONFERENCE ANALYSIS , TAKE 2 — HOW CLOSE ARE WE TO HAVING LI-ION

TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT MAJOR GLOBAL ELECTRIC VEHICLE PROGRAMMES?
An industry veteran comments: The tive feedback situation and events any safety problems. The amount
fact that Li-ion is the best technology progress quickly possibly with explo- of stored energy is low (eg 2kWh
out there at present does not pro- sive rates depending on the cell, compared to 40kWh for a good EV)
vide an automatic ‘yes’ to the ques- the conditions and the constraints. and the actual energy exchange
tion of whether it is good enough As Li-ion progresses to larger is very low compared to an EV.
for major global EV programmes. pack levels (eg 30kWh-50kWh) Addressing the safety issues
Good EVs need a high Wh/kg, where it is used for all vehicle func- for pure EVs is thus not easy, it
probably >300Wh/kg although some tions including traction, active adds cost and complexity and
acceptable niche products are pos- safety systems can be expected reduces Wh/kg but the issues
sible at figures <100Wh/kg which is to evolve whereby problem areas can not be ignored if there is to
where Li-ion seems destined to remain are isolated from operation and be a serious move to EVs.
at the system level for some time. The early warning systems flashed into At present the Li-ion chemistries
Leaf is such a vehicle and its success place to allow plenty of time for with the fewest safety concerns
is likely to depend on early adopters. people to safely leave the vehicle. have the lowest Wh/kg. Phos-
The National US labs and Nissan As the final session on Friday phate chemistry has the fewest
are more than aware of this issue. morning showed, battery-related safety issues and China seems
Safety remains a serious concern fires may be accompanied by happy to standardize on this. Also
to which there are no easy answers. hot toxic emissions or projectiles. the IP situation for this chemistry
There are similarities to the NaS To improve the safety of Li-ion is difficult to enforce in China.
automotive batteries of the early packs it may be necessary to add It is difficult to imagine small cylin-
1990s. Both had thermal runaway thermal inertia to reduce thermal drical cells satisfying a global shift
mechanisms that could lead to hot propagation from cell to cell. to use EVs., whatever the chemistry
fires (≈1,000C). Furthermore the onset The obvious way to do this is and there is strong interest to try
of thermal runaway in both cases is in with metal barriers but this will to use larger pouch cells or similar.
the region of 50C to 100C above nor- further reduce Wh/kg and pos- However moving up from “a few
mally possible operating temperatures. sibly also increase the incidence Ah” to >50 Ah (or even higher) bring
Short circuits possibly caused of pack short circuits. It may be greater safety concerns and greater
by defects or penetration with that there will be an increased use reliance will have to be placed on
conducting metals, or other heat of ceramic materials to improve active system safety strategies.
generating circumstances such as this situation. Extensive DV test- Adding safety packaging (eg Inter-
overcharge can add sufficient ther- ing will be needed to verify the national Batteries) or active systems
mal energy to raise the temperature effectiveness of such measures. even for phosphate chemistry is
to the critical point of no return. The OEMs are progressing pru- likely to further reduce the Wh/
The thermal runaway is a posi- dently and HEVs have not created kg achievable at the pack level.

of unusual firms with non-technology
offerings on display. “The only precondition
European temptations
is that the applicant firm
One such stand in the exhibitor’s provides at least 25% of
hall gave details of an initiative to set
up manufacturing operations in the
the set-up fee from its
German state of Sachsen-Anhalt. The own resources”
region, which used to be in the Com-
munist former East Germany has been
designated by the European Union to be self-sustaining and which, part-
as a target one priority zone and is nered with the local university of
therefore eligible for funds from three Magdeburg draw yet further compa-
sources — the German government, nies in.
the state of Sachsen-Anhalt itself and The German state of North Rhine
the EU (which effectively match funds Westphalia was also exhibiting at
the German contribution). the AABC. Although there was some
In practice a small firm, defined as financial assistance possible for any
having a turn-over of less than Eu10 relocation, part of the appeal of the
million ($12 million) and employing region was the existing proximity to
up to 50 staff, could receive 50% of well established car firms and R&D
The poster display: 2m3 to make a point the cost of the set up. At the top end of and testing centres. For manufactur-
the scale a large firm with a turnover ers some of its appeal would come
ess. Because we understand both the of Eu50m and with more than 250 from the fact that it is just one day’s
basic and the special requirements of employees could receive 30%. truck ride away from two-thirds of the
such a plant — everything from the “The only precondition is that the European Union.
clean and dry rooms to the kind of applicant firm provides at least 25% of Sweden was also at AABC promot-
factory layout a company might want the set-up fee from its own resources,” ing its Invest Sweden programme. ■
— we can offer an integrated product. says Oliver Köhn, a senior manager
So-called ‘lean innovation’ in fact.” for the regional development agency.
The firm has already been involved “Some of that other 25% funding, for The 11th International Advanced
in construction work for A122Sys- example, for the smallest firm could Automotive Battery Conference
tems, Johnson Controls-Saft, Nissan come from either of our two state- & Symposium will be held in
and Chrysler’s new electric vehicle lab administered venture capital firms, Pasadena, California from January
on its Arizona proving grounds. Goodvent or MBG.” The grant money 24-28. The next European AABC
But it was not just the nitty-gritty of is non-refundable. event will be held in Mainz, Ger-
battery manufacturing that was repre- The aim of the state is to incubate many between June 6-10.
sented at the show. There were plenty technological .hot areas which tend

LITHIUM BATTERY PRODUCTION
Spray drying is an increasingly important part of successful lithium ion
battery manufacture. Anders Bo Jensen from GEA Group runs through the
operational framework and the latest advances.
Spray drying by rotary

atomization of lithium
ion battery materials
Spray drying has been applied for spray dryers to the rapidly changing For the subject type of materials,
many years for production of fine market demands. a spray dryer with high-speed rotary
powders of high quality for various atomization can produce a powder
types of batteries. And this will con- Rotary atomization with nice spherical particles with low
tinue to be the case for the new gen- Several types of atomization are residual moisture content, a narrow
erations of Lithium ion batteries being employed in spray drying systems, particle size distribution with no over-
developed with ever-more superior including rotary atomization with size material and a typical mean par-
performance characteristics. wheels utilizing centrifugal forces, ticle size of 5-20µm (figure 2). These
This includes development and pressure nozzle and pneumatic atomi- are some of the critical characteristics
proper manufacture of cathode mate- zation. For industrial size spray dry- to be engineered into the powders in
rials, such as lithium iron phosphate ers for lithium materials for Li-ion order to make them ideal for further
(LiFePO4), and spray drying will play batteries, rotary atomization (figure processing.
a leading role in realizing the full 1) is preferred due to its greater flex-
industrial potential of these materials. ibility and ease of operation. Two-
fluid pneumatic atomization is nor-
Powder engineering mally considered feasible only for
There is a large variation between small capacity plants due to the higher
different manufacturers with respect energy consumption. Two-fluid noz-
to types and characteristics of lithium zles are also giving a wider particle
material powders applied or being size distribution and potentially more
developed for proprietary Li-ion bat- oversize material. In comparison, the
teries. Consequently, the design of the rotary atomizer has a number of dis-
spray dryer must be tailored to the spe- tinct advantages, as:
cific application and material in order • it handles high feed rates without Figure 2: SEM photo of lithium iron
to provide the customized and very need for atomizer duplication phosphate particles spray dried by rotary
atomization.
precise powder specifications required. • it handles abrasive feed stocks with-
A standard off-the-shelf spray dryer out wear problems
design is simply insufficient if the tar- • it has negligible blockage or clog- Solutions for abrasive materials
get is to maximize the powder quality ging tendencies due to the large flow Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) and
and battery performance. ports in the atomizer wheel its precursors, for example LiH2PO4/
The tailor-making of the spray dryer • droplet size control is through sim- Fe2O3, lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2),
design takes place in close collabora- ple adjustment to wheel speed lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4)
tion with an experienced and compe- • particle size is not affected by feed and other cathode materials applied in
tent spray drying technology supplier rate fluctuations Li-ion batteries are generally abrasive,
and involves pilot plant testing both which calls for specialized solutions to
for early stage feasibility studies of avoid rapid wear of surfaces exposed
different nano feed formulations for to very high feed stream velocities.
spray drying and larger scale pilot For handling of such materials, spe-
plant tests for optimization of the cial abrasive resistant rotary atomizer
process design. wheels have been developed (figures
This allows for an optimum spray 3 and 4). They are of the bushing
dryer performance with production wheel type and when equipped with
of powders in a consistent superior exchangeable bushings made of very
quality in the most energy- and cost- hard materials, like silicon carbide
efficient way. Large know-how and or alumina, the wheels are resisting
experience in spray drying will also be the hard wear they are exposed to
required for continuously supporting when atomizing abrasive feed materi-
manufacturers in optimizing existing Figure 1: Atomization by rotary atomizer. als down to the very small particle
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LITHIUM BATTERY PRODUCTION
One can avoid frequent maintenance interruptions

caused by rapid wear of atomizer nozzles or a
rotary atomizer wheel and the associated and
undesirable, but inevitable, gradual decrease in
powder quality.
sizes needed. In this way, one can Aqueous feed materials Figure 5: Open-cycle spray dryer
avoid frequent maintenance interrup- Spray drying plants with rotary atomi- process configuration with single-point
tions caused by rapid wear of atomizer zation and co-current spray-air flow powder discharge for aqueous feed
materials
nozzles or a rotary atomizer wheel and configuration are applied for the sub-
the associated and undesirable, but ject materials in either open- or closed-
inevitable, gradual decrease in powder cycle process layouts. An open-cycle ing chamber is conveyed to a highly
quality. configuration is applied for aqueous efficient bag filter for collection of
Instead, the manufacturer can obtain feed materials. the produced powder. The exhaust
prolonged periods of operation of the The open-cycle layout (figure 5) gas containing the evaporated solvent
spray dryer with production of pow- involves intake of drying air from is recycled to a scrubber/condenser
der of a consistent high quality despite the atmosphere and discharge of the system where the solvent is condensed
the abrasive nature of the materials exhaust air to the atmosphere. The out of the gas flow and recovered as a
being processed. drying air is heated by means of a continuous purge from the system.
Another prerequisite for such long direct-fired air heater and flows co- The recycled gas is then reheated via
service intervals is that the rotary atom- currently with the atomized feed mate- an indirect heating system prior to recy-
izer technology has long proven itself rial in the drying chamber where the cling to the drying chamber. Closed-cycle
as a stable and reliable technology. fine droplets are quickly dried to indi- plants operate at a slight overpressure to
This is also true for advanced rotary vidual powder particles. Separation prevent possible inward leakage of air.
atomization technology which involves of the dried product from the drying The control of the process also involves
very high peripheral velocities of the air and exhaust air cleaning typically a continuous monitoring and control of
rotary atomizer wheel as required for takes place in a bag filter. the oxygen level in the system. ■
making very fine powders The design of the gas disperser in the
top of the spray drying chamber is cru- Anders Bo Jensen is area sales man-
cial for ensuring a proper functioning ager for GEA Process Engineering,
of the spray dryer. GEA Niro: www.geagroup.com
Non-aqueous feed materials

A closed-cycle layout is used for non-
aqueous (organic solvent) feeds. Nitro-
gen is used as inert drying medium to
eliminate any risk of fire or explosion
due to the presence of solvent vapour
in the dryer. The solvent evaporated
from the spray during the drying proc-
Figure 3: GEA Niro abrasive resistant ess is fully recovered.
Figure 6: Closed-cycle spray dryer
rotary atomizer wheel, type AX (patented). The process is carried out as a nor- process layout with single-point
mal spray drying operation (figure 6). powder discharge for non-aqueous feed
The outlet drying gas from the dry- materials.
A CONSTANTLY DEVELOPING FIELD

Spray dryers based on rotary formulations as well as selecting the
atomization offer a number of optimal dryer concept and design.
advantages to manufactur- The field of spray drying is con-
ers of lithium material powders stantly developing, and only those
for Li-ion battery applications. continuously increasing their level
Tailor-made spray dryer lay- and accuracy of knowledge about
outs must be developed for each the spray drying process and its
specific application in close col- dynamics will be able to provide
laboration with knowledgeable proper support, design and tech-
spray drying technology suppliers nology for cost-efficient produc-
having the experience to real- tion of superior lithium material
ize the full industrial potential of powders for Li-ion battery applica-
the lithium material powders. tions — a field which in itself is in
Figure 4: High capacity GEA Niro rotary This involves pilot plant testing also continuous development and with
atomizer with atomizer wheel, type AX for optimization of customized feed constantly changing demands.
(patented) being mounted in workshop.

UNSUNG HEROES: WALDMAR JUNGNER
It was not a long life but it burned brightly. By the time the inventor of the
nickel cadmium battery, Waldmar Jungner, died aged 55 he had provoked
a complete rethink of many of the ways we look at battery chemistry.
Jungner and the

unchangeable
electrolyte
Uppsala, Sweden: 1880, and a young
college student, Waldmar Jungner,
thinks he may have created one of the
first fire alarms.
When a series of thermocouples
was connected with every second sol-
dered joint thermally insulated, a relay
device and an alarm became activated
when heated. A worthy invention for
a country where the main source of
heating was paraffin and fires were
common and frequently fatal.
But there was one snag. And that
was the batteries to keep the sig-
nal working. The dry batteries were
unsatisfactory as was the standard
lead accumulator of the time.
Surely, thought the young Jungner,
it must be possible to devise a bet-
ter, more reliable battery? So, after
graduating from Uppsala University
and completing further studies at
the Stockholm College of Technol-
ogy, Jungner started systematically to
investigate the possibilities of con-
structing a storage battery with better
properties than the lead acid system.
Some time during the 1880s inspi-
ration struck — though it was not
till almost the new century that his
researches bore practical fruit — in
what he called “the unchangeable
electrolyte”.
He became convinced that an elec-
trolyte which did not change its com-
position during charge and discharge
would offer greater advantage than an
electrolyte that took part in the elec-
trochemical reactions (with a change
As a man, Waldmar Jungner was modest and very unobtrusive. He avoided public
of its concentration) as does the sul-
appearances, parties and banquets and preferred to be surrounded only by his
phuric acid in lead acid cells.
closest friends. His working habits were strange: he preferred to work at night,
especially when his inventions were in critical phases. Despite this, with a fine Among other things, the amount
baritone voice, he was also a member of the famous O.D. choir and travelled with of electrolyte could in this way be
them for concerts in various European towns. kept to a minimum — this was an
and he intended that the zinc electrode,
after discharge, should be replaced by
a new one in a simple way. To turn this
idea to profitable account the Aktie-
bolaget Torrackumulator (Dry Accu-
mulator Company) was formed. A
battery of this construction, propelling
a boat, was shown at the Stockholm
Exhibition in 1897. However, owing
to difficulties with the zinc electrode,
the activity of the company was soon
discontinued.
An important element still needed by
Jungner was the inactive metal sup-
port for the positive electrode.
Jungner had already noticed that
none of the metals tested was resist-
ant to anodic oxidation in an alkaline
electrolyte. This detail nearly put a
definite stop to the progress of his
work on the alkaline storage battery.
Jungner decided, however, to make a
The label says it all ... comprehensive investigation including
every available material, and during
the winter of 1897-1898 he started
tests involving the influence of anodic
oxidation of metals in alkaline solu-
tion.
He found that three months of
anodic polarization caused a more or
less severe attack on platinum as well
as silver, bismuth, cadmium, and iron.
Nickel alone retrained its smooth sur-
face and its weight. Jungner extended
his experiments also to nickel-plated
metals and found that even a very thin
layer of nickel was sufficient to protect
every metal with a smooth surface
from electrolytic attack.
In nickel, Jungner thus found his
supporting metal. It was the spring-
board to what we now know as the
nickel cadmium battery.
During his search for the ideal alka-
line storage battery, Jungner also made
Part of Jungner's research team in the early 1900s experiments with couples of silver
oxide-iron and silver oxide-copper.
A silver oxide-copper prototype
advantage from the point of view of was pressed between two perforated was tested in the summer of 1899
weight. metal sheets of wire mesh, which were with Svante Arrhenius, an academic,
As early as 1893 he was aware that sewn together. He patented this, aged which produced energy of not less
an alkaline electrolyte would make it just 28, in 1897. than 40 Wh/kg from this system; the
possible to introduce inactive support- While investigating the metals or potential, however, was low, only
ing materials with considerably better metal compounds that might be used 0.6V-0.8V. Even before these experi-
mechanical properties than the lead in the alkaline accumulator-to-be, ments, Jungner had worked with cad-
used up to that time. Jungner made extensive experiments. mium as an active material in nega-
In his preliminary experiments He tested every conceivable combina- tive electrodes, but that work had not
Jungner mixed different metal oxides tion and established, as the experi- been encouraging.
with graphite, added dilute potassium ments wore on, an increasing rise in In these preliminary experiments he
hydroxide, and pressed the mass in electromotive power. had used a mixture of cadmium and
cloth bags. The cloth bags shrank in graphite but such electrodes were inef-
the alkali and exerted a certain pres- First commercial ventures ficient. After unremitting experimental
sure on the active material. As conduc- As a sideline to this, Jungner devised a work, he succeeded, however, in pro-
tors, Jungner used rods of copper or modification of the Lalande-Chaperon ducing a porous cadmium metal with
graphite Subsequently the bags were cell in which the positive plate was acceptable mechanical and electrical
replaced by narrow folded pockets of made of copper oxide in the usual properties by a chemical electrolytic
thin perforated copper sheet, and in a manner and the negative plate of zinc. method.
modification of this design the mass Jungner used a gelatinized electrolyte, Success! This material, in combina-
tion with silver oxide, gave a cell with
an energy content of about 40Wh/kg
and a voltage of about 1.1V. The silver
systems were thus capable of storing
large amounts of energy per unit of
weight.
Electric vehicles, 1900 style

Jungner built batteries of the silver-
cadmium type to supply the motive
power for motor cars, and these bat-
teries were tested in Stockholm in
1900 with satisfactory results. After
each charge it was possible to drive
140km-150km. But there was one
drawback — a familiar one to those
pioneering lithium ion batteries for
EVs nowadays.
Yes, the price. Silver was too expen-
sive and cadmium too rare.
In 1899 Jungner, presented his fun-
damental ideas concerning alkaline
accumulators in a patent of March
11. Later that year he also patented a
method for producing silver electrodes
and a way to make the previously Jungner's batteries gave electric
mentioned porous cadmium electrodes
for use in alkaline cells. (In January
He became convinced vehicles a 150km range in 1900. The
problem for their adoption — a familiar
1907 Jungner took out a Swedish pat- that an electrolyte story a century later — was their price.
ent in which the reactions of the sys-
tems nickel-iron and nickel-cadmium
which did not change
were given.) its composition
The next step was commercializa-
tion. In the spring of 1900 the Ack-
during charge and
umulator Aktiebolaget Jungner was discharge would offer
formed to exploit Jungner’s storage
battery ideas. This company manu- greater advantage
factured and tested silver-copper and than an electrolyte
silver-cadmium batteries and the first
nickel-iron batteries. that took part in the
At his side Jungner had the innova- electrochemical
tive engineer KL Berg, formerly of
the Swedish General Electric Co, who reactions
worked on the mechanical design of
the cells and converted them into
hardware. German patent valid from February
This was a daunting prospect — they 6, 1901.
had very little money, oxyacetylene Undoubtedly there was a period
welding had not been invented, there of independent overlapping research.
was no reliable separator, nor was Jungner Accumulator and Edison
there reliable steel plating. Because of competed on the world market and
the inability to nickel-plate on to steel also engaged in patent suits for the
ribbon, a pure nickel ribbon had to be next few years. The patent suits took
used to enclose the positive material. a great deal of Jungner’s time and
Their first attempts to perforate this money.
ribbon were made on Mrs Berg’s sew- When his laboratory and factory
ing machine in the family kitchen! at Kneippbaden outside Norrköping
But as if the technical challenges were were destroyed by fire in the fall of
not enough, the newly founded com- 1905 — an ironic twist given where
pany was soon involved in a lengthy his researches had started from — the
patent suit against Thomas A Edison, financial difficulties were too great
who was also actively working in for him; the company had to transfer
this field. It is difficult to reconstruct its resources and debts to a new com-
the actual timetables of work leading pany, Nya Ackumulator AB Jungner,
to the alkaline battery inventions of with new shareholders.
Jungner and Edison, but briefly, Jung- At this point Jungner left the direct Jungner and Edison fought a long
ner had a Swedish patent valid from management of the company, but con- legal battle over the patent rights for
January 22, 1901 while Edison had a tinued his association as a consultant the first alkaline batteries

the storage battery company, Jungner
It was not till almost the new century that his devoted himself to other inventions.
The great problem of converting fuel
researches bore practical fruit — in what he energy directly into electric energy was
called “the unchangeable electrolyte” of special interest to him. As early as
1907 he took out patents on fuel cells
of different types in which, among
other substances, carbon, hydrogen
and sulphur dioxide were mentioned
as fuels.
In 1917 he patented a cell, for which
he had great hopes, especially for
solving the problem of lighting in
the countryside.The positive electrode
consisted of a porous body of carbon
containing a small amount of copper
oxide; the electrolyte was alkaline,
and the negative consisted of zinc. The
cell attracted considerable attention
at that time; however, the production
and distribution of electrical energy
went on along quite different lines.
Some of the workforce at the Svenksa Ackumulator AB Jungner factory Among Jungner’s other work was
his method for simultaneous produc-
tion of alkali and cement, presented
in 1912, is notable. An amusing coin-
cidence is that during a period of their
lives both Jungner and Edison, the
great names in the alkaline accumula-
tor field, were occupied with the pro-
duction of cement.
Jungner’s last research work, involv-
ing the extraction of radium from
Swedish rocks, was interrupted by ill-
ness and was never concluded.
Not until near the end of his life did
Jungner’s merits obtain public recog-
nition. He was elected a member of
the Swedish Academy of Science of
Engineering in 1922 and in 1924 he
was presented with the Oscar Carlson
Award by the Swedish Chemical Soci-
The Svenksa Ackumulator AB Jungner factory was founded in 1910 ety. He died on August 30, 1924 at the
age of 55.
on a retainer. Axel Estelle became Ackumulator AB Jungner soon found It was said of Jungner that, like so
managing director and chief chemist, itself in financial difficulties. In 1910 many geniuses, he often lost interest
with Berg continuing to look after the company was put into compulsory when the practical development stage
production. liquidation. was reached.
The company was at first entirely In the years that followed, the mate-
directed towards the manufacture of Profits at last rials for such a chemical-couple bat-
nickel-iron batteries sold primarily for That year the Svenska Ackumulator tery were expensive compared to other
traction use. Flat, vertically mounted AB Jungner was formed and under battery types available and its use
pockets of nickel-plated iron sheet the management of Robert Ameln and was limited to special applications. In
were used for both the positive and Jungner’s ideas were made profitable 1932, the active materials were depos-
the negative plates and, as separation by the introduction of several modifi- ited inside a porous nickel-plated elec-
between the electrodes, perforated cations of methods and constructions. trode and in 1947 research began on a
hard rubber sheets were used. Cells manufactured after 1910 had sealed nickel-cadmium battery.
Estelle, who had been working with flat, horizontally placed perforated These days, Ni-Cd battery produc-
Jungner earlier, patented in 1909 a pockets for both the positive and tion at Oskarshamn is in the control of
method for electrolytic co-precipitation negative electrodes. the French company SAFT which has
of iron and cadmium sponge from a sul- In 1918, Svenska Ackumulator AB retained the name NIFE as an impor-
phate solution. Jungner’s name has been Jungner started a subsidiary in the UK tant brand name. ■
associated with the nickel-cadmium under the name Batteries Ltd using the
cells although the Jungner cells from brand name NIFE, and operating at The author is grateful to the fol-
the very beginning bore the trademark Hunt End, Redditch on a site that had lowing for their invaluable help
NIFE — based on the chemical symbols been previously occupied by the Royal with this tribute: particularly Leif
for nickel (Ni) and iron (Fe). Enfield Cycle Company. Olsson (Oskarshamn) and Kjell
In spite of the technical progress Nya After he had left the management of Åkerström (Norrköping Museum
SUNLIGHT ADV 21x29.7 eng.qxd:SUNLIGHT ADV 14,8x21 eng.qxd 10/30/09 11:49 AM Page 1
energy
is what
we do
Sunlight Manufacturing Plant:

when innovation meets quality in autonomous power systems
(ISO 9001) (ISO 14001) (OHSAS 18001)
Know how with added value, high skilled personnel and a remarkably up-to-date infrastructure, have positioned
SYSTEMS SUNLIGHT S.A. among the major producers of autonomous power systems worldwide.
Developing more than 1,500 specialized products*, SYSTEMS SUNLIGHT S.A. fulfills the energy requirements
of the most demanding sectors, such as Industry,Telecommunication,Transportation, Constructions and Infrastructure,
in over 100 countries around the world.
With 5 specialized production lines following the most strict European and international standards and specifications,
the SUNLIGHT Manufacturing Plant continuously invests in Research and Development, aiming at the growth of innovative
technologies and their implementation in high quality products.
* Vented and Sealed Lead-Acid batteries, Ni-Cd batteries,Telecom Power Supply Systems, Industrial Rectifiers, Generating Sets, P.V.Applications
SYSTEMS SUNLIGHT S.A.

Headquarters: 23rd km National Road Athens – Lamia, 145 65 Ag. Stefanos, Attica Greece, Tel.: +30 210 6245400, Fax: +30 210 6245409
Manufacturing Plant: Neo Olvio, 67200 Xanthi Greece, Tel.: +30 25410 48100, Fax: +30 25410 95446
www.sunlight.gr

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