Batteries International — issue 93 by hamptonhalls

Issue 93

Fall 2014

Dilemmas of direction as critical power embraces latest technology advances Regulating the regulators Love ‘em or leave ‘em, we can’t ship batteries without ‘em Shades of battery veteran Exploring the lives of Boris Monahov, Allan Cooper

ALABC the roadmap Challenges hallenges and opportunities for or the lead battery business

SID Energy nergy storage, why bother? K AR D Global lobal implications from THE the he latest UK TSO report M O

Bringing the industry try together www.batteriesinternational.com national.com

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CONTENTS COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

The relentless pursuit of greater productivity and lower cost continues to be the driving force behind making uninterruptible power in data centres ever more sophisticated. It’s also leading to a rapidly growing sophistication in its use that is providing the possibility of maximizing of doing more than critical power. Most is still theory but others are trying to convert ideas into something more bankable. Efﬁciency deﬁnes next generation of UPS systems

UPS and battery demand trends

The next big thing: UPS ﬁnds an extra purpose — challenges, opportunities

Big is beautiful too

EDITORIAL

It’s time to change the image of lead. But how?

PEOPLE NEWS

Sadly departed, John Searle, 1954-2014 • EnerSys reshuffles as Shaffer promoted • Ovan becomes president of Navitas • Energizer names new job titles as battery business spin-off proceeds • Ballard appoints former Solar Integrated president MacEwen as new chief exec • A123 Systems makes Hurley new CTO • • EnerDel names Michael Canada as chief executive officer • • International Lead Award given to Dick Amistadi and Michael Mayer

NEWS

Exide Chapter 11 runs on but aims for resolution by spring • Advanced lead-carbon Axion wins solar storage and frequency contract • Panasonic signs JV with Uno Minda to make lead acid batteries in India • Cost of lithium ion batteries unlikely to fall below 200MWh300MWh • Imergy cuts costs of flow battery power to $300 per kWh • Hitachi Maxell makes lithium ion cull • Energy storage to the fore as large scale electricity generation set to fade, claims bank report to investors • Further moves afoot to shutdown Exide battery recycling plant • Lead prices to fall near term with strengthening probable in 2015 • EPRI tests integration of plug-in vehicles to utilities’ power needs

INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT: ALABC MAPS THE ROAD AHEAD

Saft’s John Searle: fondly missed driver of European snergy storage scene 8

ALABC maps the road ahead, converting theory into strat 16

Tim Ellis, chairman of the ALABC and Boris Monahov, its program manager, outline their plans for the lead acid battery research organization.

INTERVIEW: THE ENERGY ATTORNEY

David Robert, the former CEO of EnerDel talks about restructuring the firm and how new business models could recharge the industry.

ANALYSIS Unpicking the true cost of batteries on the grid. Surprising data from the UK’s National Grid that should resonate worldwide with battery manufacturers and TSOs alike.

www.batteriesinternational.com

30 Boris Monahov: profile of the ALABC prgram manager 21

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 1

CONTENTS OPINION

Terry Murphy from Hammond argues that the way ahead for the industry is collaboration not competition

PRODUCT NEWS

EnerSys launches Ironclad range into Europe • New Vyon materials safeguard from battery explosions • Maxwell reveals new supercap • Exide releases new range of stopstart batteries • Dreamweaver International launches line of nanofiber separators for supercapacitors • Mastervolt launches new marine battery Meet the Energy Attorney! David Roberts, former head of EnerDel 25

SPECIAL REPORT: PACKING AND TRANSPORT REGULATION

The tangled joys of compliance It’s been a long time coming but the new ruling by the PHMSA will finally solve some of the regulations that have plagued battery packaging and transportation.

Why compliant packaging matters

What the battery industry needs to know about HM-224 F Bob Richard, a long-time US government expert discusses what the industry

needs to know to package and transport batteries safely. The tangled joys of compliance with transport regulation and packaging 49

How to manage the hazards of managing the hazardous Interview with US firm CL Smith which has adapted their hazardous materials business to packaging and shipping for batteries. The long and sometimes heavy arm of the law

The basic rules for air shipment 86 An overview of the regulations for shipping lithium-based batteries by air and the latest changes to the procedures.

NT CONFERENCE IN PRINT

Welding embraces new generation of techniques

EVENT REVIEWS & EVENT SECTION Allan Cooper: still battling for better batteries in better cars 121

Our comprehensive listing of the must-attend conferences and exhibitions (and others) around the world • The thrills and spills of ELBC recalled • 6th China Battery Fair • The Battery Show, Detroit

ADVERTISING DIRECTORY

120

BATTERY HEROES

121

In 2008 Allan Cooper was awarded the International Lead Medal for his exceptional contributions to the lead industry in the fields of metallurgy, production, and battery development, particularly in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. But the best is yet to come.

THE LAST WORD ELBC Edinburgh: heavy disguises couldn’t mask these eminences 126

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Are you me mate Mate (what’s in a name?) • Hole in one at the Battery Show • ELBC and sporrans • Fine dining with Abertax in Edinburgh • Romeo, Romeo wheerfore art thou and 2 feet tall too?

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EDITORIAL Mike Halls • editor@batteriesinternational.com

Time to change the image of lead Thomas Midgley Junior isn’t so well known now. But, until his death in 1944, he was reckoned to be one of the most brilliant men of his day. Midgley’s fame rests on his two great contributions to mankind — dichlorodifluoromethane (better known to us as a CFC, the chemical that destroys the ozone layer) and tetra-ethyl-lead, the anti-knocking additive to petrol that was universally accepted as poisonous some 50 years after its discovery. To be fair, Midgley’s immediate contribution to the planet was, at first, a beneficent one. The first CFCs were a boon to air cooling systems and saved many lives. The alternatives, such as propane or chloromethane were toxic, explosive or highly flammable. Oddly enough in the 1920s and 30s every year people died at the hands of their fridges. And tetra-ethyllead provided the automotive industry the push that made the internal combustion engine the workhorse of the planet and the troubled dream of an entire nation. But — 70 years after his death — with CFCs phased out and TEL only found in the poorest nations of the world, Midgley’s legacy lingers on. And in a totally unexpected way. By putting TEL into our cars, he put lead into the air. Or rather General Motors did (which to its shame knew early on that it was dangerous folloing cases of madness and hallucinations in its workforce).

ber frame houses in the US. For the very poor in America, their cheap wood-built houses could be spruced up nicely with the judicious use of paint — whose principal pigment within it was lead oxide. And the mix of cheap wood and cheap paint? The result: flakes of peeling lead which entered people’s lungs. The resulting US (and then later worldwide) legislation turned attention to finding lead anywhere and everywhere else. So in the 1960s and early 1970s a seemingly powerful case for getting rid of the lead in petrol emerged. News that the high levels of lead in US and European inner city children caused by petrol fumes created a ripple effect — from the world of the tabloid to seats of government. In the event, legislation to enforce a ban of lead in petrol was inevitable. At this point, Robert Merton’s Law of Unforeseen Consequences kicked in. In the public mind by the end of the 1970s lead had now become as dangerous as, say, arsenic or strychnine. Probably even looking at the metal would make you blind or send you into fits. The fact that it was not just fit for purpose — and maybe the only thing that would easily and cheaply work within a car, or a UPS system — was left by the door neatly sitting next to the open-toed sandals.

Rather like the anti-smoking campaign, public awareness of TEL took a long time to build up.

Even congressmen and MPs are human and jump with the lemmings. The result? We now have a generation of misinformed politicians who, with admirable thoroughness, are trying to legislate lead out of existence.

The trigger for it becoming an issue came from an unexpected direction. Cheap paint and tim-

The lead community have been fighting back for a generation and more. But with little impact on a

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EDITORIAL

media that doesn’t want to hear a good news story. So, for example, arguments about the recyclability of lead continue to have little impact on a general public that believes recycling of, say, tins or wine bottles is worthwhile but not inherently interesting. But the recycling story is an important one to remember — even if the arguments aren’t compelling. It shows a responsible,mature industry that can point with ample justification to a defence that it’s core product is safe. And can be proven so. The trouble is that changing public perceptions only seems to work best when sensationalism occurs. In Europe, for example, a thoroughly worthwhile book ‘E’ is for Additives, written in 1987, persuaded an entire continent of people who didn’t read the book that an ‘E’ number (the European food code for food additives) was not just a bad thing but a terrible one. (Forgetting of course that E948, for example, is the code for oxygen or that herbs such as oregano would nowadays be coded as too dangerous to be assigned an ‘E’ number.) Organizations such as the International Lead Association, EUROBAT, BCI and various others continue to try and fight back. But they have an enormous challenge on their hands. And, being respectable bodies rightly enough would not stoop to underhand media trickery. Events such as this year’s ELBC are important meetings of the great and the good of the lead acid battery community to meet and discuss their www.batteriesinternational.com

future. High on the agenda, once again, was looking at ways to promote a sensible conversation — outside the industry — of the merits and safety of lead. “It’s hard to get political people, let alone ordinary ones, to understand what an inconsistent view they have on lead. They want to ban it from the European Union but still drive cars,” one battery veteran told Batteries International recently. “They worry about infinitesimal levels of lead in the blood while the battery itself powers the most remorseless killing machine on the planet.” But there are sensational stories afoot which while they are not positive about lead, are distinctly dismissive about lithium. The raising of recent fears of cabin fires in passenger aircraft — caused by short-circuiting laptops and mobile phones — is a story that is about to run and run. The Dreamliner scare of a year and a half ago might soon become a sideline given that some people are suggesting that there could be as many as one laptop fire in a plane each month. If that’s the case it’ll be another unexpected consequence of the kind poor Tom Midgley suffered. In his instance, he was unlucky to the end — “the man who had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth’s history” according to one historian — met a sorry fate. Crippled by polio in his 50s he invented an elaborate system of pulleys to make himself mobile. He died from strangulation in his own network of strings. Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 5

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PEOPLE NEWS Bernes new Faradion chief executive For the record, Faradion the sodium-ion battery company appointed Lawrence Bernes as its new chief executive in June. Bernes was most recently the chief executive of Axeon, a European lithium-ion battery system company. He took the business from receivership to its sale to Johnson Matthey, the specialty chemicals company, in 2012.

John Edward Searle 1954-2014

Cadex Electronics appoints new COO For the record, Cadex Electronics appointed Markus Pauli as chief operating officer in August. Pauli has 20 years of experience in managing international technology companies in the fields of electrical systems, medical equipment, telecommunication and fleet management. He was previously chief operations officer at Advanced Cyclotron Systems and he has also held senior positions with Digital Wireless, Coe Newnes/McGehee, Romaco AG and Alcatel.

New CEO at LAP For the record, Uwe Bernhard Wache took over as chief executive of LAP Laser Applikationen in June. This follows the retirement of its previous head, Guido Jung. “Wache is an internationally experienced manager with over 20 years of expertise in consulting as well as managing midtier enterprises,” the firm announced.

8 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

It is with sadness that Batteries International has to report that John Searle, chairman of Saft’s management board, died suddenly of a heart attack on September 24. For the past decade John had been the charismatic and much respected face of SAFT. He was also one of the masterminds behind the successful management buy-out of the company from Alcatel in 2003 and responsible for the firm’s steady growth since then. Alfons Westgeest, secretary general of EUROBAT, the Association of European Automotive and Industrial Battery Manufacturers, told Batteries International: “all our board members recognize his commitment to the company, his employees as well as EUROBAT where he served many years as vice president. His eloquence, insight and wit shown at board meetings, dinners and in chairing our forum will be very much missed by all.” Yann Duchesne, president of the supervisory board, said: “John Searle transformed Saft and made it into an undisputed leader in its markets. He was both a visionary and a great industry leader. Throughout his career within the group, John constantly shared his passion, his professionalism, and his values with the teams at Saft.” However, the tributes to John from his staff were more personal. “He was not just a decent man but a fair and kind man who retained both those qualities

while still energetically leading Saft through some difficult times,” said one senior manager. Another said: “His French was fluent. Easily enough to be persuasive — or amusing — in both languages but always with a strong, and to my ears charming, English accent.” After graduating with an engineering degree from Cambridge University, John traded his technical abilities to making things happen. John joined SAFT in 1990 as a commercial director, first in the UK and then later he steadily rose through the ranks as he moved to France. In 1999 he was appointed head of the SBG division and in 2002 became in charge of SAFT group’s operational activities. He became president and chief executive office of Saft in March 2005 and also chairman of the management board of Saft Groupe. “Under his management, the group made significant developments, notably becoming a listed company, accelerating its international expansion, and by successfully developing and deploying lithium-ion technology,” said the firm. Perhaps his most successful moment was his role in the management buyout of SAFT Batteries in 2003 when the Alcatel subsidiary was bought by private equity firm Doughty Hanson. Andy Lynch, head of Schroders European Dynamic Growth Fund, later said that he had admired the way that SAFT had coped with the post-buy out environment. “Saft faced enormous challenges after floating. It had a contract for night goggles with the US military, which suddenly turned the taps off. Then the price of nickel for SAFT’s batteries went from $10,000 per tonne to $50,000 per tonne; Yet the management throughout delivered good results and gave investors clear guidance on the impact of the cost of the raw material changes.” His successor is Bruno Dathis who has been chief financial officer of the group since 2008. Dathis becomes interim chairman of the management board. He leaves behind his wife of many years Jane, and two daughters. He was just 60.

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PEOPLE NEWS

International Lead Award given to Dick Amistadi and Michael Mayer

Dick Amistadi (in the middle of left hand picture) and Michael Mayer were jointly honoured with the International Lead Award for a lifetime of service to the lead industry.

Two lead acid battery veterans — Dick Amistadi and Michael Mayer — were honoured at the European Lead Battery Conference conference in September with the International Lead Award for a lifetime of service to the lead industry. This was the first time there were two winners for the award. Both Amistadi and Mayer are popular and well known members of the lead acid battery community. Each year the award is presented to someone who has made a significant contribution to science and practice in areas such as lead production and recycling, lead alloy development, or battery design and performance. Dick Amistadi is the principal of Amistadi Associates, a battery and materials consultancy firm and has spent more than 36 years in sales, marketing and strategic planning at Doe Run. He was chairman of the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium from 1992 until 2005, where he was a passionate advocate of its work and continues to follow all types of battery development as it relates to hybrid and electric vehicles. Since 2012 he has been chairman and president of the Association of Battery

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Recyclers in the US. Michael Mayer has worked for the lead acid battery industry for most of his workilife. In 1988, he launched the European Lead Battery Conference which has grown from small beginnings to a regu-

lar attendance of the order of 700 delegates, together with 100 exhibitors. He spent many years with battery companies in the UK and the US and joined the Lead Development Association (now the International Lead Association) in 1979.

He formed the Electric Boat Association in 1985. Accepting the award Mayer said: I am very happy to accept this award and I would like to thank all of the good friends I have made in the industry over the years.

EnerDel names Michael Canada as chief executive ofﬁcer EnerDel, the lithium ion battery firm formally appointed Michael Canada as its chief executive officer in September. Canada joined as chief operating officer in January and has worked as interim CEO since April when David Roberts — see interview elsewhere in the magazine — stepped down. Canada has over 15 years’ experience in engineering, operations and project management and strategic planning across the automotive, aerospace and clean energy industries, according to an EnerDel statement. He has held roles of increasing responsibility with global companies such as DaimlerChrysler, Goodrich Aerospace, Harman/Becker Automotive Systems and Praxair. Before EnerDel, Canada was global vice president of engineering and operations and general manager of Altairnano. There he was involved in commercialization initiatives delivering multiple large-scale grid and micro-grid systems for renewable integration. Canada launched expansion initiatives in Asia, establishing more than one million square feet of manufacturing space

to serve the transportation and stationary markets, said EnerDel. At Praxair, he was in charge of the global engineering group with project P&L responsibilities for 38 facilities worldwide. He oversaw $70 million of capital assets for an equipment fleet serving aerospace, automotive, and industrial industries.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 9

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PEOPLE NEWS

A123 Systems makes Hurley new CTO A123 Systems, the lithiumion battery manufacturer, has appointed Patrick Hurley as its new chief technology officer. Hurley also becomes in charge of A123 Venture Technologies, the company’s research and development unit which focuses on a collaborative business model for innovation in lithium-ion battery technology. Hurley brings to A123 both academic and industry experience in transportation applications of advanced batteries, according to the company. Hurley earned his doctorate in inorganic chemistry from Purdue University in Indiana and then did 2-1/2

Corvus, Scandlines win awards for efﬁciency Corvus Energy and Scandlines were declared award winners in this year’s Ship Efficiency Awards for the retrofit of Scandlines’ M/V Prinsesse Benedikte to hybrid propulsion. The ferry has the world’s largest ever hybrid propulsion marine battery pack can propel the 6,600 tonne lightweight ferry for about 30 minutes without diesel fuel and at a speed of 14 knots.

years of post-doctoral research at the California Institute of Technology. While at CalTech he focused on multiple cleantech innovations including projects on energy storage materials. Hurley left academia in 2006 and then worked at Air Products and Chemicals as a senior research chemist. In 2011 he joined Johnson Controls as a senior strategic technology planner where he was responsible for the identification of new business opportunities for energy storage systems. The following year he was made a director of research and development and xEV segment lead. In 2013 he won two inhouse Johnson Merit awards for micro-hybrid vehicle platform development team and for a lab project at the University of Wisconsin known as the Energy Advancement Centre. The centre provides an R&D environment in which scientists, students and faculty have a dedicated space to conduct research, as well

New A123 CTO Hurley: has explored collaborative business models

as helping Johnson Controls’ exploration and development of new chemistry and technologies for energy storage. Later that year he won a Gold Edison Award for the same project. Most recently he was executive director of global core engineering in the power solutions division at Johnson Controls. While at Johnson Controls, Hurley developed a solid network of relationships with academia and

Ballard appoints former Solar Integrated president MacEwen as new chief exec Randall MacEwen took over as chief executive and president of fuel cell firm, Ballard Power Systems, on October 6. MacEwen has spent most of his career in and around clean energy — and particularly the solar sector — as well as an extensive experi-

ence in high-end corporate finance. Before setting up his consultancy NextClean Tech in 2010, he spent five years at Solar Integrated Technologies, lastly, from December 2006, as president and chief executive. Solar Integrated is a manufacturer and in-

M/V Prinsesse Benedikte, the ﬁrst of four hybrid ferries in the Scandlines ﬂeet, demonstrated that large scale battery hybrid ferries are possible.

MacEwen: from solar to fuel cells

12 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

government research organizations, says A123. The firm says his role as the industrial liaison for the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research helped him form collaborative relationships with the US Department of Energy. “As A123 builds upon its R&D work in Massachusetts under Hurley’s leadership, the company will continue to strengthen its standing as one of the industry’s most accomplished researchers of battery technology,” says A123. Hurley will have to integrate the company’s battery development activities in Hangzhou, China. The development organization in China was originally part of the Wanxiang Group’s battery investments before its acquisition of A123 Systems in early 2013. Through this initiative A123 says it is also further expanding the battery chemistry alternatives in its global portfolio by complementing the established nanophosphate product family.

staller of commercial photovoltaic systems. MacEwen was made company secretary and general counsel of the Los Angeles based firm in September 2005. Before that he was executive vice president corporate development and general counsel of Stuart Energy Systems Corporation. Solar Integrated Technologies, was bought by Energy Conversion Devices in 2009 but was sold off by its parent following the PV industry down-turn in 2012. MacEwen replaces John Sheridan at Ballard who is retiring. Sheridan will advise MacEwen during the transition before leaving the board of directors on December 31.

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PEOPLE NEWS

EnerSys reshufﬂes as Shaffer promoted John Craig — the face of EnerSys and its predecessor Yuasa for almost two decades — stepped down as president of the company in November but remains as chairman and chief executive officer.

David Shaffer, who was president of EnerSys’ EMEA and Asia operations has been appointed to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer at the parent. Shaffer is widely known

and respected in the European energy storage scene and is an active member of EUROBAT. Shaffer, who has over 24 years’ experience in the battery industry, joined EnerSys in 2005.

Ovan becomes president of Navitas Navitas, the US energy storage and electronics firm, has appointed Mil Ovan as president. Ovan has over 30 years of experience in bringing new products to global markets, with the most recent 12 years as a founder and CEO of energy storage and renewable energy companies. “Over the past three years, Ovan has been instrumental in the formation and growth of our company” said Navitas Systems’ founder Alan ElShafei. “His leadership in the last 18 months as chief marketing officer has continued to positively impact all areas of our products, business

divisions, and served markets. Ovan becomes responsible for overseeing all functional areas of the company. Before Navitas, Ovan was a principal of Nova Associates, providing marketing and business development consulting to renewable energy and advanced materials companies. Ovan was previously senior vice president and cofounder of Firefly Energy, an advanced lead acid battery start-up. Separately, David VanAssche is joining the company as a vice president of operations and strategic programs.

Energizer names new job titles as battery business spin-off proceeds Energizer Holdings intends to spin off by summer 2015 its household products business, which includes Energizer and Eveready batteries. Energizer continues to release details of what it calls its “leadership transition plan”. Upon completion of the split next year — probably by the end of June — Ward Klein, Energizer CEO will become as executive chairman of the stand-alone personal care company, while president and CEO of Energizer Personal Care David Hatfield becomes CEO of the new stand-alone personal care company. Energizer chairman Patrick Mulcahy becomes executive chairman of the standalone household products

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company, while Alan Hoskins, president and CEO of Energizer Household Products, is likely to become CEO of the separate household products company. Dan Sescleifer, who has been Energizer’s chief financial officer since 2001, intends to leave following completion of the separation. However, Sescleifer will continue as Energizer’s CFO through the completion of the split, which is expected to occur by July 1, 2015. Sandy Sheldon, the company’s vice president, finance, has been named chief financial officer of the Personal Care business. Brian Hamm, who is the company’s controller and chief accounting officer, has been named chief financial officer of the

Household Products business. These appointments become effective upon completion of the planned separation. Sheldon has been the vice president, finance of the company since 2006 and in positions of increasing responsibility within Energizer before date. He was previously manager, Internal Audit of Ralston Purina from 1986 to 1993 and as an auditor with PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Hamm has been the chief accounting officer, vice president and controller of the company since 2013. He was previously a vice president for global business transformation from 2012 to 2013. He joined Energizer in 2008.

Craig said the reshuffle was a further element in the company’s goal of reaching $4 billion in revenue by 2018. “This new position is one more element that will help ensure we achieve this objective,” he said.

Ador Digatron hire Singha for Pune ofﬁce Ador Powertron and Digatron Power Electronics has hired Somnath Singha as director of their joint venture, Ador Digatron Private Limited, based in Pune, India. He has over 20 years’ experience in increasingly responsible roles, ranging from strategy formulation, change management to product management and finance management in the power electronics industry, says the firm. He was most recently head of Adino Telecom and was instrumental in restructuring the organization and pushing the firm into profit. Singha will report to the chairman of APL, Ravin Mirchandani.

East Penn launches new mobile website For the record, East Penn Manufacturing has launched a new mobile version of its online application guide at dekacatalog.com. “This new mobile site will place the same high quality information from the desktop at the user’s fingertips, freshly formatted to fit a mobile device,” said a statement from the firm.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 13

INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT: ALABC Tim Ellis, chairman of the ALABC and Boris Monahov, its program manager, outline their plans for the lead acid battery research organization. It goes beyond a statement of purpose, to a roadmap for an entire industry.

ALABC maps the road ahead The success of the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) program over the years is evidenced by the fact that most of the results from its R&D projects are used today by lead-acid battery manufacturers all over the world. The performance of advanced leadacid batteries and its major compo-

nents have been improved so much over this period that today’s advanced products match well to the requirements in virtually all main energy storage market segments. But despite its continued success in bringing the technology to this point, a lot of work still needs to be done to ensure that lead-acid batteries remain

SWOT ﬁgure 1: Details of the current opportunities and threats to the leadacid battery industry

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a viable choice for both current and future energy storage applications. Today’s market demands batteries with more and more energy and longer life. In addition, the hegemony of lead-acid batteries in automotive, energy storage and emergency systems no longer exists — advanced batteries of various chemistries can now match the higher requirements. The emergence of these newer batteries, which are moving faster than ever from the research stage to the market, is not only challenging to the lead-acid industry, but also stimulating it to be highly innovative. Details of the current opportunities and threats to the lead-acid battery industry are shown in the SWOT figure 1 (left). It is clear that the industry must continue to innovate and do so with a clear strategic roadmap of how to get where the market wants the technology to be. ALABC leadership is beginning to position the consortium for a new direction for continued research and

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INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT: ALABC development, and the first glimpses of this plan were displayed recently at the group’s Members & Contractors Conference at ELBC in Edinburgh in September. The following is a brief overview and discussion of this proposed technological roadmap and its prospects for continuation of the ALABC program over the next 20-25 years.

Setting the technology stage After the major issues observed during high-rate cycling at partial state of charge in new applications like hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), renewable energy storage systems, grid quality support storage and smart storage systems, ALABC members and sponsors agree advanced lead-acid batteries need further enhancement and optimization to keep their strong market positions and well-established infrastructure in the coming decades. To define the values for the ALABC roadmap we need to compare the present battery technology to forecasted market requirements, e.g. power, energy, weight, service life, etc. The roadmap is based upon three major assumptions for the future: • Advanced lead-acid batteries — and especially the new generation of lead-carbon batteries — are clearly able to support start/stop, micro and mild hybrid electric vehicles, and possibly some in the range between mild and full hybrids. • The technology will proceed under the strong competition from and first-mover advantage of other chemistries such as NiMH and Liion batteries • Continuous data updates are needed for a robust technical roadmap. The technical roadmap shown here is designed using the format suggested recently by the USABC. From the ALABC view, this is a living document and is regularly updated to reflect the current state of affairs in the industry and its drivers. The table compares the USABC battery requirements for 12V and 48V start/stop vehicles to historical, current and future ALABC targeted values. Due to differences in test procedures, not all the values are directly comparable. However, it is clear that lead-acid batteries are fully capable of powering start/stop vehicles, and will match closer to the requirements in the future. (It should be mentioned that although industry is working diligently

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Figure 2: Cost beneﬁt and related comparisons: USABC, ALABC

to increase the specific energy and the energy density of the batteries, the limit of 50% of the theoretical value is still a reality. However, in HEVs powered by 1kWh-5 kWh batteries, the weight difference and especially the extra weight to car weight ratio is moderate, given the substantial battery cost benefit makes the weight factor even less important. See figure 2 above.)

The updated Ragone plot One way to compare the technical parameters of different battery chemistries is to compare their specific energy and power. A general idea about this is provided by the Ragone plot where log (Esp in W/kg) will be plot versus (Esp in Wh/kg). At high rate discharge when the battery provides

more power, only a fraction of the available energy can be discharged from the battery. This is why the plots have their specific curved shape. The data in these plots are rather general. Usually, one battery design doesn’t cover the entire range of its chemistry — high power and high energy designs match better to the application, each with its own spot on the plot. (That is why batteries of same chemistry but different designs will have a stripe on the Ragone plot.) Battery age, prehistory, temperature, even battery producer name are other factors for these plots. The low and high temperature plots for different chemistries show significant differences. The specific energy and specific power of a cell are higher than of an

Figure 3. Lead-acid batteries are advancing rapidly and are getting closer to the other widely-used chemistries

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 17

INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT: ALABC assembled and fully equipped with controllers and coolers battery. The difference depends first of all on battery chemistry. This is why only cells-to-cells or battery-to-battery comparisons can be made. The Ragone plot shown in the Encyclopedia of Electrochemical Power Sources offers two stripes for leadacid batteries placed in the low energy and low power areas. The values used for this plot describe relatively old battery designs. A look at the performance of the best battery designs developed by ALABC members shows that lead-acid batteries are advancing rapidly and are getting closer to the other widelyused chemistries (see figure 3 on previous page).

Future technical areas for ALABC To meet HEV requirements and maintain a position as the battery of choice, lead-acid batteries need to achieve higher values of their parameters, and the ALABC program is designed to support and accelerate this advancement. The key target parameters are: • Increasing charge acceptance and dynamic charge acceptance. Achieving this requires fundamental studies of crystal growth and mass transport within the active material; • Lowering cost and weight. This can be achieved by increasing the utilization efficiency of the active materials (lead, lead dioxide and sulfuric acid); • Migrating advanced HEV battery

Figure 4. Battery DCA, life and energy throughput in HEVs

Technology to industrial/storage/ non-automotive. These are high growth areas for rechargeable energy storage; and, • Rationalizing the demonstration projects. This means, joint development programs, trimming the fleet and moving to non-automotive

Major technical advancement targets: DCA and cycle life The electric energy used (discharge) in hybrids increases from 1 kWh in startstops to 10 and more kWh in plug-ins (average size vehicles). More brake energy needs to be used for recharge in more electrified vehicles, accordingly. The amount of energy flowing through the battery is also higher. (see figure 4). Advanced lead-acid batteries need to reach higher values of the DCA (up to 10 Ah/A and TET (up to 9,000 times Cn) till 2030 when start-stops and strong micro hybrids (full hybrids) will still have strong or dominating market positions until EVs and PHEVs take over. If the above values are not reached soon, lead-acid batteries could be pushed out by other chemistries. Once this happens, it will be very difficult to come back to this position. If lead-acid batteries reach these values, they will be able to minimize today’s performance gaps with competing chemistries (see plot below). In recent years, the ALABC program has shown that: • The UltraBattery can meet the needs of mild HEV duty (Civic Hybrid) for more than 150,000 miles. • Lead-carbon batteries are more than adequate for the 48V/12V operation in the LC SuperHybrid projects. • Further improvements to leadcarbon batteries may allow for use in full HEVs (the next targets may be in a Prius or possibly a low-end plug-in). • Based upon today’s DCA stability values of about 0.5 A/Ah (we already have members with up to 1.2 A/Ah, and we consider the limit of 1 A/Ah as a mass production possible value) and once the theory is ready and supported by matured technology, it will be possible to target 5 A/Ah by 2020 and 10 A/Ah by 2030. • The enhanced parameters will provide durable and lighter-weight batteries to the consumer.

Cost: What is the product designer trading-off? Figure 5. Energy throughtput and dynamic charge acceptance

18 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Lead-acid batteries have four major

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INDUSTRY VIEWPOINT: ALABC benefits to other chemistries. They are safe, they are environmentally friendly because they are fully recyclable, and they have an established and efficient national and international infrastructure. The fourth benefit is cost. At the moment, they have the lowest cost among energy storage technologies — by several times compared to NiMH and lithium ion. It is possible that the cost of lithium ion batteries may decrease if they move to mass production, but even then they still cannot match the level of cost-effectiveness of advanced lead-acid and lead-carbon batteries (see figure 6). By contrast, lead-acid technology has space for adopting innovations that can increase production costs. Maintaining this benefit requires managing the costs of production, lifecycle, adoption, opportunity and the system. With regard to power/energy/ weight parameters, advanced lead acid cells need rapid improvement. New designs can cost significantly more. To keep the cost benefit, leadacid batteries can afford only limited extra costs. Only lithium ion batteries are shown here; however, other chemistries abound — such as NiMH, NaS, NiZn) that have higher costs but are steadily advancing. Besides increases in active mass utilization, there is another way to reduce weight: reducing heavy battery components with lighter ones. Let us first see an example of the weight contribution of battery components to the weight of the entire battery. The analysis in figure 7 is based on the description of a regular, average advanced SLI battery shown in Detchko Pavlov’s 2011 book (LeadAcid Batteries. Science and Technology, Elsevier, 2011, p. 106): • The maximum specific energy of lead-acid batteries is: 172 Wh/kg theoretically, SLI and HEV: 34Wh/ kg-40Wh/kg, deep cycling (EV): 28Wh/kg-34Wh/kg (more massive current paths to resist corrosion) • Higher Wh/kg values can be achieved by component weight reduction of (see graph) in active materials: PAM /NAM: 34.8%, electrolyte: 32.4% as well as metallic Pb (grids, top lead): 24%; and inert materials (box, lid, separator): 9% Clearly such an approach can provide only limited weight benefits. Optimizing active mass utilization offers much more.

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Figure 6. Present and forecast battery pack cost Sources: Christophe Pillot, AABC, Atlanta, February 2014; and ALABC data bank

Figure 7. SLI battery components in terms of weight

ALABC PRECOMPETITIVE RESEARCH The ALABC program is based on pre-competitive research performed by member companies or established partnering institutions. The basic principles of this form of collaboration are: • Transferability to others — documentation of the recipes and technology and dull disclosure not just data reports • Use of the ALABC demonstration

HEVs ﬂeet or lose it — combining programs on to our chassis and a survey group for the additional use of ﬂeet • Build consortia of those looking for funding — meaning a sharing of capability, a sharing of techniques, building larger interaction groups and to leverage resources developed for other chemistries (Li-ion)

ALABC NEW TARGET INITIATIVES Increase partnerships with other industries which means looking at alternative fuels, joint development programs, ride other waves Increase membership from non-

traditional sources such as other industries, traders, venture capital/ private equity, extension of PAM funding to other inputs to extend reach.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 19

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PROFILE: BORIS MONAHOV

“I would like to enable more ALABC customers and partners to ﬁnd out about the beneﬁts of modern leadacid batteries and the potential they bring to us to a brighter and better future.”

New summits yet to climb Whether one believes that the life scientific is a pilgrimage or just a journey, it is rarely a clearly marked out route with a fixed start and set destination. As such, so has been the life of Boris Monahov, now finding further acclaim for his work at the ALABC, writes Kevin Desmond.

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The scene. A packed auditorium this June. The event: an award ceremony at the internationally famous LABAT conference held every three years in Albena, Bulgaria. As the two winners of the Gaston Planté medal — perhaps the most respected accolade in the lead acid battery industry — are announced, the joint winners, the ALABC’s Boris Monahov and Eberhard Meissner from JCI head to the stage as the auditorium bursts into applause. For the 60-year-old Monahov, his life had come full circle. He had been born literally a handful of miles down the road in the cosmopolitan

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 21

PROFILE: BORIS MONAHOV

Studying the microstructure of lead-carbon foam negative plates at the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, the Frederick Seitz Materials research Lab of the University of Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, using a scanning/transmission electron microscope with EDS microprobe.

Monahov interests: of mountains and mysteries. Stepping on the ruins of the ancient fortuneteller place Perperikon at the feet of Rhodopa mountain to the south-east of the city of Plovdiv (ancient name Phillipopolis — the capital of Phillip II, the father of Alexander the Great), Bulgaria.

22 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

seaport of Varna, nestled tight to the Black Sea coast. But this is more than the story of a local boy making good. Rather it was one of a journey that began on March 24, 1954 and a final destination, as he himself will candidly confess, which is as yet not known. Boris Ivanov Monahov will also be the first to admit that he had a lucky childhood in terms of preparing him for a career in electrochemistry — both his parents were highly respected scientists. Indeed for half a century, Boris’s father Ivan was one of Bulgaria’s most active research geologists, and one of the founders of the country’s oil and gas industry. He was involved in field work and academic research at the Institute of minerals of the Council of Ministers and in teaching as an associate professor at the State University of Sofia known as St Kliment Ohridski. His contributions were published in over 130 articles, three monographs and couple of general reviews. Boris’s mother Liljana was an associate professor in geochemistry at the Institute of Minerals of the Council of Ministers and managed a specialized lab for studying the composition of underground waters as an indicator of the probability of finding oil or gas in the drilling where the samples come from. She had over 50 articles published. If his home background was a scientific one, his school friends were also interested in these things — in the 1970s, in Bulgaria, physics and physicists were considered for the elite of the educated. “Attending the high school, I had three friends who shared my love of mathematics and physics,” says Monahov. “Now they are all prominent physicists, two of them in Bulgaria and one in Florida. “In the upper high school I attended physics seminars, organized by the University of Sofia for interested high school students. There we had lectures presented by leading professors and were made familiar with the base of the mathematical methods used in theoretical physics.” Between 1975 and 1980, Monahov read solid state physics at the St Kliment Ohridski university in Sofia eventually obtaining a masters. Towards the end of his studies he had an internship at the Institute of Metal Science of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. It was fortuitous moment for the young Monahov and a turning point

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PROFILE: BORIS MONAHOV in his life. It was then he met his lifetime mentor, friend — and eventual colleague — professor Detchko Pavlov, even then regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on lead acid battery chemistry. “Meeting professor Pavlov proved to be a critical stage in my education,” he says. “He and his team were conducting electrochemical studies on lead electrodes. It was all highly interesting but importantly I regard the 25 years I spent with the professor and his team as key to improving my understanding of how research should be tackled.”

Marriage Meanwhile, other things were brewing. His courtship of his neighbour, a mechanical engineer and scientist called Natasha Arsova, resulted in their marriage in 1981. From 1980 until 2004, Monahov carried out fundamental and applied electrochemical research on model lead electrodes, model lead-acid cells and advanced lead-acid batteries. He also specialized in lead-acid battery electrochemistry with professors Margaret Maya and Paolo Spinelli at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy in 1982, and with professor ZA Rotenberg at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow from 1986 to 1987. His linguistic skills — Monahov is a polyglot speaking Bulgarian, German, Russian and English and has smatterings of other languages — have enabled him to move seamlessly among the scientific community. In 1994, he obtained his PhD in electrochemistry and electrochemical power sources from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in Sofia. He became an associate professor at the academy in 1996. During this last decade in Bulgaria his academic researches and contributions were intensive. These include exploring what we know about the electrochemical models and understanding about the influence alloy additives of antimony, tin, silver and calcium on the properties of the corrosion layer and of the positive active mass. He equally helped to demonstrate the importance of the microstructure, phase composition and hydration of the corrosion layer and the layers formed between it and the positive active mass for the performance of the positive plate. As well as this, he researched the processes of oxygen evolution in the positive plate and their dependence on

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potential, temperature and alloy additives; about the effects of the concentration of the sulphuric acid solution (the electrolyte) on the properties of the corrosion layer and the positive active material, about the way oxygen recombines at the negative plate, about the way thermal runaway develops in lead-acid batteries and how can it be suppressed and avoided.

Published papers Of the 60 papers Monahov has published, he says these three are the most important for him. • D Pavlov, B Monahov, M Maja and N Penazzi, Mechanism of Action of Sn on the Passivation Phenomena in the Lead-Acid Battery Positive Plate (the Sn-free Effect), Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 136, (1989). • D Pavlov and B Monahov, Mecha-

nism of the Elementary Electrochemical Processes Taking Place During Oxygen Evolution on the Lead Dioxide Electrode, Journal of the Electrochemical Society. 143 (1996). • B Monahov, D Pavlov, A Kirchev and S Vasilev, Influence of the pH of the H2SO4 solution on the phase composition of the PbO2 active mass and of the PbO2 anodic layer formed during cycling of lead electrodes, Journal of Power Sources, 113/2, (2003). What is perhaps less well known after any catalogue of his research contributions is his modest approach to quite formidable achievements. If you ask him what breakthroughs he has made since the 1980s in the improvement of lead-acid battery technology, he’ll be disparaging. “I didn’t make any breakthroughs,” he says. “If you

Three distinguished Monahovs — Boris with parents Liljana and Ivan

Boris and son Alex in the Rhodopa mountains, Bulgaria

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 23

PROFILE: BORIS MONAHOV want to read about that kind of thing — and those who make them— you’d be better off reading the Nobel committee press releases, or Forbes magazine! “That said under the scientific guidance of professor Pavlov I was able to contribute to the new and deeper understanding of some important processes involved in the operation of lead-acid batteries.” Monahov might well have stayed on in Sofia — Bulgaria then, as now, remains a world centre for lead acid battery research. But after the Monahov’s son Alex, a high school junior, was diagnosed with diabetes, they sought better medical care. Since, arguably, one of the best places in the world for medical treatment is the US, they started to see what was available. And here good fortune stepped in. The US runs a government lottery that allows those that want to live and work in America to win a US green card. The aim is to inject diversity into the immigrant population. Natasha, undaunted by the odds stacked against them, applied for the right to enter the lottery. Random selection by the computer did the rest. By the fall of 2004 the family had obtained a green card. They emigrated to Peoria, Illinois — full US citizenship came six years later. That November Monahov began as a senior electrochemist in the start-up firm, Firefly Energy.

Research at Fireﬂy Working with Kurtis Kelley, the founder of the firm, he became involved in helping design the negative and positive carbon-graphite foam based plates of Firefly’s 3D and 3D2 battery plates; creating new cell designs and paste recipes; developing new formation, charge and test profiles; as well as in research on the properties of lead, carbon and lead dioxide electrodes in sulphuric acid solution. Monahov holds three patents related to this work. In one of them, the Firefly researchers wrote with the keen technical fervour that enthused their mission: “We, the authors of this patent believe, that one day this method will help battery producers to get higher capacity and longer cycle life of their products in a very inexpensive way, and without changing much the elaborated production technology.” Unfortunately it was not to happen. Or not then, although the technology may happen in the future. In March 2010, Firefly Energy filed

24 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Professor Detchko Pavlov, long-time friend, colleague and mentor

for bankruptcy. The multi-million dollar funding required to perfect the technology in the start-up company was extensive. And although a small assembly line — and battery sales to a local bus company — proved that the company had made the leap from the laboratory bench to the factory floor, this was unable to provide the revenues needed to sustain it. The firm’s cash crunch came on the heels of the global financial crisis which finally pushed the firm over. Although a phoenix company emerged that October, called Firefly International Energy, and took over some of the assets and the bankruptcy estate, it was too late. Laid off, Boris and Natasha Monahov moved from Peoria to Durham, North Carolina where he took up the post of program manager of the Advanced Lead-Acid Battery Consortium, part of the International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO). And here his tireless work for the ALABC has helped push the consortium’s already considerable achievements, particularly its involvement in the development of the UltraBattery, into a wider sphere of operations. The ALABC is a non-profit international organization with 75 members worldwide from lead metal and leadacid battery producing companies and industry suppliers. It is the only large international R&D institution whose studies are focused specifically on enhancing the performance of lead-acid batteries in potentially new markets such as hybrid electric vehicles, energy storage and grid support systems, where the requirements of the batteries are

high and regular batteries have issues with performance and durability. The ALABC program aims for the enhancement and design optimization of lead-carbon batteries and so increase their market position in traditional and new markets. When asked about his plans for the future, Monahov, just turned 60, characteristically remains focused on his work. “I would like to enable more ALABC customers and partners to find out about the benefits of modern lead-acid batteries and the potential they bring to us to a brighter and better future.” For relaxation, his early passion for Europe’s mountains remains. “I like to visit and spend time on them, and particularly to take photos of the highest peaks of Europe,” he says.

Tribute Perhaps the last words should come from his long-term colleague, friend and guide Detchko Pavlov who paid tribute to Monahov for the Batteries International article. “Boris is talented and a highly intelligent person. He’s an open-minded, hard-working researcher who always maintains a mature and responsible approach to his tasks and manages and carries out in-depth investigations at a variety of levels. “His friendly manner and contagious enthusiasm belies his leadership skills which are based on the unique combination of flexibility, consistency in the pursuit of goals and natural empathy.” With an extensive program of research and development ahead of Monahov and the ALABC, the final achievements — the peaks in his career — are still in front of him.

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INTERVIEW: THE ENERGY ATTORNEY David Roberts, the ex-chief executive of EnerDel, spoke to Batteries International about his time at the once troubled ﬁrm and his switch back to his ﬁrst love — corporate law. But corporate law with a difference.

Former EnerDel CEO recalls recovery strategy and how industry focus is changing also began to realize how limited engineers are in their ability to affect the larger strategy of a business. I wanted to do something that would have more impact on a business, and possibly even an industry, and law seemed a great way to parlay both my interests and technical knowledge into new opportunities.

What drew you, as an engineer, to intellectual property law?

David Roberts joined EnerDel early in 2011, just months before parent company Ener1 — recipient of a $118.5 million grant from the US government in 2009 — filed for bankruptcy. After joining the battery maker to work as in-house intellectual property counsel, he was perhaps as surprised as anyone to find himself appointed chief executive 15 months later, charged with leading the troubled company through some very difficult times. That the company survived restructuring, new investors, and repositioning for new business opportunities was due in no small part to his understanding — backed by a leadership team that he helped assemble — of the company’s strengths. Having pulled off what some regarded as a minor miracle in a dire situation, Roberts surprised the industry this April when he left EnerDel to join

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Gutwein Law, a firm specializing in strategic business counsel.

You started with a degree in engineering but after a few years in business, you went back to school. Why did you switch to law? My parents were not college graduates, so there were no strong personalities in my early life that could give me much guidance in the matter of career choices. So I made a simple calculation about what degree would generate the greatest return on investment after four years of study. I was intrigued by the automotive industry, so an engineering degree seemed just the ticket. After graduation, I was able to work for Lockheed Martin in its controls division, a business unit later sold to BAE. While I enjoyed my time there and gained invaluable experience, I

My first job after law school was with Senniger Powers, a boutique intellectual property law firm in St Louis, Missouri where I worked with companies dealing in things like special metals, mining and manufacturing. It was a great learning experience with some very skilled professionals, but as with engineering, it seemed as if most outside counsel were limited in the scope and depth of influence they could provide to their clients. A little over four years later I moved to an in-house position for Caterpillar, where I was drawn to practical business applications of the law. A great benefit of going in-house is the ability to fully understand the vision behind the company’s decisions.

“The board asked me to lead the company to rebuild strategic relationships and execute a responsible business plan, rather than going out and trying to ﬁnd some highly touted outside executive unfamiliar with the company’s culture and challenges.” Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 25

INTERVIEW: THE ENERGY ATTORNEY

MIRACLE INGREDIENT ‘X’: IP SHARING What new kinds of business models do you see evolving as the energy revolution goes forward, particularly as utilities begin to incorporate energy storage?

A key business model will hinge on sharing intellectual property rights and patents

Given the opportunity to become a trusted counselor and colleague, you can bring an aerial view of the issues that others on the team cannot always provide.

So how does a patent attorney become a CEO? Well, that scenario wasn’t necessarily part of any script you can write! Actually, I joined EnerDel at a particularly euphoric time, when the stock was at a several-year high. The company had contracts with car manufacturers Think and Volvo. We had a contract to provide stationary backup power for the Sochi Winter Olympics, and just after I arrived, we announced a substantial joint venture with Wanxiang. However, three months later, Think announced bankruptcy and the entire publicly traded storyline began to unravel. Ultimately, regulatory and associated funding issues forced EnerDel to initiate a pre-packaged restructuring in January of 2012. The investors who came together to take the company private wanted to return the corporate strategy to core business fundamentals — like making sure we’re bringing in more money than we’re spending — that had been too easily obscured by grand but flawed plans for growth. With that imperative, the board asked me to lead the company to rebuild

strategic relationships and execute a responsible business plan, rather than go-ing out and trying to find find utside some highly touted outside executive unfamiliar with the company’s culture and challenges. Moreover, the board understood that a key to saving the company was returning leadership to long time internal leaders who, having earned the trust of their coworkers, helped create a cohesive, effective local management team. Immediately after assuming the position of CEO in April 2012, we were working by just those fundamentals. Essentially, we were executing the sort of strategic plan a small business would execute every week to rebuild important customer, vendor, and employee relationships. In the end, we were able to create a team that could achieve things the industry thought were impossible. But the statistic I am most proud of from my time with EnerDel was that our annualized voluntary attrition went from over 60% — that was in November 2011 — to under 3% after our team took over.

Does the battery industry need more shopkeepers and fewer MBAs? What you’re asking is whether we need more leaders who exercise basic

There is a pervasive assumption that everything is going to turn out okay despite the decade of evidence that we are facing serious technical and ﬁnancial challenges. 26 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

A key business model will hinge on sharing intellectual property rights and patents. What’s happening in energy storage e e gy sto a is that companies are not companie enforcing their enforc patents because pate they know the the cost co of litigation to t do so is prohibitive. p The result is almost a cold a war, w with mutual destruction de the outcome if someone someo decides to push the th litigation button. I strongly button strong advocate for setting up structures, such as a patent pool, where the major players can come together and negotiate an ecosystem that is beneﬁcial to all the participants. What such a pool might do is increase the speed at which we achieve the broader goals that have been set out, like higher energy density ratios or a particular cost target. That sort of collaborative, as opposed to insular or combative approach, would reduce legal costs to the industry overall while increasing the pace of innovation. This is one reason you’ve seen Tesla open up their patent portfolio recently; Elon Musk understands the necessity to innovate more quickly and not be hampered by exceedingly high costs of something as inefﬁcient as traditional legal strategies. I predict that we will see more collaborative strategic alliances in energy storage than you typically see in other industries. We are approaching the point where the companies that have made it through the recent restructuring and consolidation phase are not only here to stay, but here to thrive.

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Bringing the industry together

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Meet the team

Mike Halls, editor Mike, a former journalist with the UK newspaper the Financial Times, has been involved in journalism, publishing and print for three decades. “I’m particularly fond of writing about the batteries industry,” he says. “It’s an unusual mixture of being fast-paced but slow to change — and friendly too. What’s more there’s always something more to learn.”

Claire Ronnie, ofﬁce manager and subscriptions Claire’s our unflappable person — she’s the go-to girl for subscriptions or account enquiries. Go ahead and challenge her!

Karen Hampton, publisher In her recent years of working within the battery business Karen has become a well known figure at conferences — not least as our social butterfly. “My job,” she says, “is to get the maximum benefit for our advertisers to make sure their name and brand is out there, while maintaining the integrity, fairness and excellence our publication is renowned for.”

Antony Parselle, page designer Better known in the office as ‘Ant’ he’s been working in magazine design and layout since the early 1990s. Not so good on showing his best side however

June Moutrie, business development manager She’s our accounting Wunderkind who deals with all things financial — a kind of mini Warren Buffett.

John Petersen, columnist John, a securities lawyer with over 30 years’ commercial experience, is not a cynic by nature — more a realist who sees the absurdity in many of our endeavours — especially some of our more corporate ones!

Wyn Jenkins, Supplements editor Don’t let the boyish charm deceive, Wyn’s been a journalist and respected editor on leading financial titles for some 20 years. When not heading his own publications firm, Seren Global Media, he looks after our supplements.

Jan Darasz, cartoonist Jan has an international reputation as a cartoonist able to making anything — including an electrolyte! — funny. And as for LiCFePO4 ...

Kevin Desmond, batteries historian Actually more than just a historian on batteries as he’s written about many things. He’s the inspiration behind our Batteries Hero section.

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INTERVIEW: THE ENERGY ATTORNEY common sense business principles, and avoid falling into a trap of complicated financial gymnastics with a flashy PR sheen. This is a sensitive topic for leaders in the industry, in part fuelled by the pressure to show results in the face of extremely slow consumer adoption. But the short and simple answer is “Yes, I do.” I also think it’s somewhat natural for leadership in our industry to become defined by a sense of entitlement and overconfidence born of some of our experiences in large corporate settings with bottomless budgets. Maybe it’s time to consider that some of the industry’s problems derive at least in part from hubris that is encouraged by publicity and reliance on bestcase projections. There is a pervasive and uncomfortable assumption that everything is going to turn out okay despite the past decade of evidence that the industry is facing serious technical and financial challenges. Toward that point, the leaders in this industry need to get back to business basics and key leadership traits, chiefly integrity, commitment, energy, and trust. When you are driven by those four core characteristics, it becomes much easier to run an organization, for example, managing teams, and nurturing talent and new ideas. Doing that leads to an actively engaged team, and when you have that, you’re well on your way to what everyone really wants from a results-oriented perspective: healthy cashflow and profits.

Why did you decide to leave EnerDel in particular and corporate management in general? There were many reasons, both personal and professional, but what became clear to me was that it was time for someone else to take the helm and see things with fresh eyes. When you lead a company for a few years, especially through the challenging years EnerDel experienced, you need to realize when it’s time to step away. The decision to leave was also rooted, in part, in my firm belief in this industry’s capacity to have a huge economic and social impact on our world. I felt strongly that I could have more impact as a business consultant and legal counsel serving multiple companies within the broader industry, than I could as an executive working inside a single company. I’ve also seen a lot of stagnation

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I joined EnerDel at a particularly euphoric time, when the stock was at a several-year high. The company had contracts with Think and Volvo. We had a contract to provide stationary backup power for the Sochi Winter Olympics. However, three months later, Think announced bankruptcy and the entire publicly traded storyline began to unravel.

across the industrial spectrum, from OEMs to research to governments, utilities and venture capitalists. I began to realize that if people are unwilling to act, it may be because traditional models of both business and legal counsel are no longer relevant to the way global business in the 21st century needs to be done, which is through partnerships and collaborative ventures. I want to help make those happen.

What attracted you to Gutwein Law? I joined Gutwein primarily because I trusted them. The firm is also expanding into new industrial segments, such as high tech manufacturing and energy. I have the skill set and experiences they wanted, and the firm has the vision I was looking for. Our team is entrepreneurial at heart. Because the partners all have other interests outside of the law, they’re not afraid to approach an industry differently than is considered usual for a law practice. Specifically, the legal industry is ripe for a fresh perspective. We believe clients want lawyers to be their business partners, not just expensive mercenaries. While the traditional legal approach is adversarial

and transactional, ours is a collaborative, relational approach. And that fundamentally changes the kind of advice and encouragement you provide the client.

THE CV: IN BRIEF Business and IP counsel, Gutwein Law

2014 –

CEO, EnerDel

2012 – 2014

President, general counsel, Ener1

2012 – 2014

Director, observer, Zhejiang Wanxiang Ener1 Power Systems

2012 – 2013

Deputy general counsel; chief IP counsel, Ener1

2011– 2012

Corporate counsel. patent attorney, Caterpillar

2007 – 2010

Associate, Senniger Powers

2002 – 2007

Indiana University School of Law

2000 – 2003

Failure analyst, Lockheed Martin Control Systems (BAE)

1998 – 2000

Failure Analyst, Lucent Technologies

1997 – 1998

Lehigh University, BS Materials Science & Eng

1994 – 1998

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 29

ANALYSIS: ENERGY STORAGE FOR THE GRID According to a recent study by the UK’s National Grid, most electrochemical energy storage systems don’t pay for themselves over their lifetime. So why all the interest? Sara Verbruggen reports.

Unpicking the true cost of batteries on the grid It may seems a basic question — but it’s a good one all the same. (And arguably has more relevance than ever. ) Is an energy storage system value for money, particularly one that uses advanced batteries such as lithium ion? In the past 18 months — from January 2013 to September 2014 — out of an estimated 363MW of grid storage projects being built around the world lithium ion batteries are supplying 169MW of this, according to Navigant Research. This is equivalent to a market share of 46%, followed by sodium sulphur batteries with 35%. But, according to the National Grid, the UK’s transmission system operator (TSO), an electrochemical energy storage system based on either of these

battery technologies does not pay for itself over its lifetime, when used to supply an ancillary grid service. The grid operator conducted a case study, published in its 2014 future energy scenarios report, to investigate the potential for electricity storage to become a viable, cost competitive tool, by taking four different grid storage technologies; lithium ion batteries, sodium sulphur batteries, pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage (CAES). All the technologies are relatively mature and they are all deployed in the UK, mainly in trials. Lifetimes of 15 years for sodium sulphur and lithium ion batteries, 60 years for pumped hydro and 40 years for both above- and

In their 15 year lifetimes neither sodium sulphur or lithium ion batteries recover their costs from providing either reserve service. For lithium ion batteries, the cost reduction for fast reserve and for STOR would have to be in excess of 99% while for sodium sulphur cost the reduction would have to be 85% for STOR and 58% for fast reserve. 225 200 175 Millions (£)

150

below-ground CAES were assumed. The analysis investigated the number of years that it would take to recover the cost of these electricity storage technologies through revenue from individual reserve services alone — either short term operating reserve (STOR) of say 3MW or fast reserve, 50MW — and the decrease in total plant costs that would be necessary in order to recover costs. For fast reserve, which emphasises the value of the fast response times of electricity storage, CAES was the only technology expected to recover costs within the asset’s lifetime for both small and large capacity cases. For pumped hydro, only the small capacity asset recovers its cost within its lifetime. In their 15 year lifetimes neither sodium sulphur or lithium ion batteries recover their costs from providing either reserve service. For lithium ion batteries cost reduction for fast reserve and for STOR would have to be in excess of 99% while for sodium sulphur cost reduction would have to be 85% for STOR and 58% for fast reserve. The cost of lithium ion batteries, which make up about half of the cost of an energy storage system, is already falling and more investment in largescale manufacturing will keep driving down costs, by around 30% many are predicting. But, it is not enough.

125

Batteries for other purposes

100

The other way to make expensive battery storage value for money is to exploit the technology’s ability to be flexible, in other words devise ways and means for a block of batteries on the grid to provide as many different services and functions as possible, some of which generate revenues or which reduce costs in other ways, such as saving money on network upgrades. There is a lot of information from

75 50

Total Cost Over Lifetime Revenue Over Lifetime

25 0 Small Capacity

Large Capacity STOR

Small Large Capacity Capacity Fast Reserve

NaS battery: comparison of total costs against revenue over 15-year lifetime Source:UK Future Energy Scenarios 2014

30 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

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ANALYSIS: ENERGY STORAGE FOR THE GRID 400 350 300 Millions (£)

storage pilots, around the world, about how well battery storage systems on the grid perform in terms of different tasks or services, but comparatively little on business cases for these types of assets. (See chart for conventional and once proven successful calculations.) A 6MW/10MWh lithium battery storage system in the town of Leighton Buzzard, about 70km outside of London, is trying to prove the value of storage over a 10 year period. Primarily the battery system, operated by distribution network operator (DNO) UK Power Networks, will defer conventional network reinforcements. Like many urban areas outside of big cities like London, Leighton Buzzard’s energy demand among the local homes, services and businesses are rising, albeit gradually and steadily.

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200 150 100

Total Cost Over Lifetime Revenue Over Lifetime

50 0 Small Capacity

Large Capacity STOR

Small Large Capacity Capacity Fast Reserve

Li-ion battery: comparison of total costs against revenue over 15-year lifetime • Source:UK Future Energy Scenarios 2014

3,500 3,000

Costing projects

2,500 Millions (£)

Before the storage project began, there were plans for the construction of a 20km cable to ensure the network could handle local peak demand in the coming winters. Works would have had to have started about 18 months from now. The cost of doing the cable work is about £6 million ($10 million), though the analysis used by the DNO is based on net present value pricing — what it would be if works had begun in 2016 — so this cost is calculated at £5.1 million. Again, based on net value pricing, the energy storage project cost is £16.8 million. Over two thirds of the funding has come from Ofgem through its Low Carbon Network Fund scheme. The project is a first of its kind. If the system were to be built as a real, commercial grid investment, in 18 months from now, with all the necessary software and other development work completed and without the various associated research and dissemination aspects UK Power Networks estimates the project cost to be £11.5 million. However the analysis also factors in further cost reductions of £3 million related to technology that are expected to occur between doing the installation in 2014, versus carrying out the installation in at the latest point in time when intervention would be needed. Still, building the storage system solely for works deferral is a more costly alternative to building a 20km cable. To help pay for itself the asset has to be able to generate revenues from grid services. Over the course of a typical year, in the winter months more of

250

2,000 1,500 1,000

Total Cost Over Lifetime Revenue Over Lifetime

500 0 Small Capacity

Large Capacity STOR

Small Large Capacity Capacity Fast Reserve

PHES: comparison of total costs against revenue over 60-year lifetime Source:UK Future Energy Scenarios 2014

the battery bank’s capacity is used for peak shaving. However, during other parts of the year more of the batteries’ capacity is freed up for providing grid services. These are primarily frequency control demand management, fast response and STOR. UK Power Networks has compared costs of doing these different services and also fast reserve only, where revenues are expected to be higher, in the region of £3.6 million for the 10 year period. For providing the mix of services equally the revenues are calculated at £2 million. The risk of providing one type of service is the likelihood of missing contracts. Part of the project is to understand how the batteries have to be operated to be able to move between supplying these different services. Estimates of the revenues are conservative and they may well be higher over the next decade. Over the course of the project, which ends in 2016, it is expected that the value of different services will change, which can give

a more accurate sense of what they will be over the 10 year period. These changes will be reflected in progress reports published every six months, with the next one due in December. If the system can be used to play a part in supporting transmission system-related activities such as helping to manage frequency stability with voltage control, further system cost savings in the region of £2.5 million are also possible. The system can also provide other services, collectively known as tolling, where the energy supplier in the project, Smartest Energy, provides UK Power Networks, the storage system operator, with an operating profile over a time period and the storage asset follows the profile for a fixed fee. The tolling package can include, for instance, arbitrage and triad – demand — charges by the National Grid to customers. These are not as significant as the revenues from ancillary grid services so are not included in the analysis but further show how storage systems can have multiple revenue

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 31

ANALYSIS: ENERGY STORAGE FOR THE GRID

Conventional and once proven successful cost assessments • Source:UK Future Energy Scenarios 2014

streams and customers or beneficiaries of the services they provide. UK Power Networks’ project manager Nick Heyward, is careful to avoid making any big proclamations at this stage in the project about how much the system can save and believes there is still scope for cost reduction by the energy storage industry.

How to extract value According to Andrew Jones, at the project’s contractor S&C Electric, the National Grid’s analysis, while not inaccurate, fails to acknowledge the full potential of battery storage systems, or acknowledge that prices for market services fluctuate and change and that the cost of battery storage is coming down. Depending on the demand requirements of Leighton Buzzard, by 2017 a decision will be made on whether to extend the storage system. If lithium ion technology was to be selected, battery costs will likely be a third of what they were when the system was procured. He says: “A year ago,

lithium ion cost £1100 per kWh, today, the cost is £600 per kWh and by 2017 they could be £400 per kWh. These batteries also come with a performance guarantee of 20 years. The technology is more proven so the industry can provide more assurances in this respect and that means that system payback terms are longer.” There are also intangible benefits to consider too. Storage increases the options available to utilities. “Any potential intervention in the network depends on how quickly demand evolves locally and we’ll know by 2017 if more storage is required for covering that peak or if conventional works are needed. We have that option,” says Heyward. Also, if the storage project had not have happened and the only option was to install a 20km cable, this would have crossed many boundaries requiring several years of planning and involving various different departments and agencies even before construction. In comparison storage systems can be developed and installed in less

time and entail less disruption. But, to extract maximum value from storage the different business cases and revenue streams have to be considered. “A very simplistic analogy is a timeshare. One person builds a holiday home that they only intend to use for the summer months and another person builds a holiday home that they only want to use over Christmas. This is an expensive way to go about it, when building one property and having a timeshare agreement would halve the cost.” The Leighton Buzzard battery bank is a first, because it is putting to rigorous test the often cited claims that batteries on the grid are flexible and provide multiple benefits and services. “As well as utilities in the UK, we’ve had interest and visits from all over the world, from utilities in Australia, Japan and Europe. “Lately, the enquiries suggest more concrete plans at some of these are underway because we are being asked about things like how to approach planning,” says Heyward.

Device

Cost reduction required for STOR

Cost reduction required for Fast Reserve

NaS Li-ion PHES CAES below ground CAES above ground

80%–85% >99% 15%–17% 67%–71% 51%–53%

52%–58% >99% 0%–41% No reduction required No reduction required

In order to recover costs during the lifespan of each technology, assuming revenue and cost of electricity remains ﬁxed, this table shows the required reductions in total plant costs. Source:UK Future Energy Scenarios 2014

32 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

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NEWS

Exide Chapter 11 runs on but aims for resolution by spring Exide Technologies, the US battery giant which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2013 for its US operations, said in November it had entered into a plan support agreement with holders of a majority of the principal amount of Exide’s senior secured notes.

Procter & Gamble plan to sell of Duracell Procter & Gamble announced at the end of September that it was planning to sell of its Duracell power business, the battery brand that came with the Gillette acquisition in 2005. The firm said it did not know what form the exit would take — a split off, a divestiture or a spin off are all likely options — but it would notify its shareholders in advance of the event.

Chaowei recycling ready to go Chaowei Power announced at the end of September its lead -acid battery recycling project was getting ready to go live, according to local media. The project, located in the recycling economic park in Xinhe County of Hebei Province, China anticipates recycling 150,000 tonnes of lead from scrap batteries annually. Chaowei Power built the park in 2012, with a total investment of 2.2 billion yuan ($369 million). A total of 45 million newenergy batteries will be produced once all projects come online.

34 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

The agreement includes a detailed term sheet which describes a reorganization plan. Exide says its goal is to emerge from the Chapter 11 restructuring of its US operations by March 31, 2015. The noteholders, who hold a majority of Exide’s estimated $360 million DIP credit facility’s term loan, have agreed to support the plan which would deleverage the company by more than $600 million. Perhaps most importantly

it would enable Exide to emerge from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy substantially in its current form — operating across all of its existing business segments. Some of the noteholders have agreed to convert at least $100 million of their DIP facility claims into new second lien convertible debt and roll the balance of their DIP loans into a new exit term loan. “The plan support agreement and related term sheet are conditioned upon the

negotiation of, and agreement to, definitive documents (including a plan of reorganization, disclosure statement, backstop commitment agreement, and other related documents and agreements),” said Exide. The plan also contemplates a new $175 million capital commitment to be raised in a rights offering made available to eligible holders of the debtor’s prepetition 8.625% senior secured notes. Exide said it continues to negotiate the terms of such an agreement with the hopes of finalizing it before the end of the year.

Advanced lead-carbon Axion wins solar storage and frequency contract Axion Power International, a developer of advanced lead-carbon PbC batteries, was designated at the end of October as the supplier of energy storage and frequency regulation for a solar farm that, when finished, will be the largest in Pennsylvania in the US. Axion Power PbC PowerCube technology has been admitted to connect with the 13-state PJM power grid, and brings that certification to the Coatesville

Solar Initiative project. Phase I & II of the multi-phased project consists of two 2.4MW DC solar facilities, generating approximately kWh6.3 million from the 48 acre site which CSI has contractually agreed to sell to the Coatesville Area School District through a 25-year solar power purchase agreement According to CSI, when completed, the 9.1MW megawatt solar farm will be the largest solar park facility

in Pennsylvania. Axion CEO David DiGiacinto said: “The Coatesville Solar Initiative is a major milestone in industry acceptance. A solar farm that will generate more than 9MW of electricity is an important step for the renewable energy industry in Pennsylvania. Axion has spent nearly a decade developing PbC batteries and technology, and we have 13 patents protecting our nearly 100% recyclable batteries.”

Panasonic signs JV with Uno Minda to make lead acid batteries in India Japanese multi-national Panasonic expects to form a joint venture in November with car parts manufacturer Minda Industries to make lead acid car batteries in India. The 60:40 joint venture between the two, which is subject to regulatory approval, will also be an aftermarket supplier for two-wheeler and passenger vehicles. “The new joint venture will address the growing market of lead acid storage batteries for two and four wheeler vehicles and

UPS in India with leveraging know how and technology owned by Panasonic as well as customer bases of both parties,” said Minda Industries, which is part of the Uno Minda Group. The new joint venture, requires an investment of Rs1.6 billion ($28 million) and will be located at the Minda Industries’ Pant Nagar plant. The new venture will also produce lithium ion batteries, according to Minda. “The demand for lithium ion batteries expected to go up with new

electric mobility plan envisaged by the central government.” The Indian car battery is reckoned to be worth around $300 million annually, according to analyst firm Frost & Sullivan. The overall consumption of automotive batteries could rise to around 6.3 million units with the OE segment comprising around 1.2 to 1.3 million units a year. The replacement automotive battery market is also expected to grow at a healthy rate in the coming years.

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NEWS

Cost of lithium ion batteries unlikely to fall below 200MWh-300MWh

Carnegie Mellon University researchers revealed in October that the cost savings associated with manufacturing a high volume of batteries for electric vehicles may be nearly exhausted. Mass production lowers cost, say the researchers — but only up to a point. Moreover, government subsidies have only disguised the reality behind the production prices/ “Electric vehicle batteries are expensive,” says Jeremy Michalek, a professor of engineering and public policy and lead researcher. “Federal and state governments have been subsidizing and mandating electric vehicle sales for years with the idea that increasing production volume will reduce costs and make these vehicles viable for mainstream consumers. “But we found that battery economies of scale are exhausted quickly, at around MWh200-MWh300 of annual production. That’s comparable to the amount of batteries produced for the Nissan Leaf or the Chevy Volt last year,” Michalek said. “Past this point, higher volume alone won’t do much to cut cost.” The research findings, if true, have huge implications for some of the potential electric vehicle manufacturers in the years to come — and most particularly Tesla’s so-called ‘gigafactory’ where the business model is predicated on producing cheaper lithium ion batteries via economies of scale and, as yet, only anticipated advancements in battery chemistry. “Our results raise questions about whether increasing vehicle sales is the best way to continue to spend limited resources — as opposed to, say, more research on battery technology,” says Jay Whitacre, researcher and associate professor of engi-

36 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

neering and public policy and materials. But it is not all gloom for the industry’s nascent electric vehicle manufacturers. “For example, we estimate that finding a way to make batteries with thicker electrodes could lower the cost of longrange electric vehicle batteries by as much as 8%,” says Whitacre, “while increasing production beyond current levels may only cut costs by less than 3%.” Whitacre reckons that other cost-cutting factors could be indirectly aided by higher production volumes, such as

the firm’s learning and experience with battery manufacturing, increased incentives for corporate research on electric vehicle technologies, and potential for increased control over suppliers that provide raw materials. The study also notes that battery cost varies for different vehicle applications. “Vehicle batteries aren’t commodities,” says Apurba Sakti, a postdoctoral research associate at MIT and contributor. “Different battery designs are best for different types of vehicles. A battery designed for one

application can cost more than twice as much per unit energy as one designed for another application.” The researchers’ final conclusion is basic but blunt. “At the end of the day, economics will determine the degree to which electric vehicles are adopted by mainstream consumers,” says Michalek. “Battery cost is the single largest economic barrier for mainstream adoption of electric vehicles, and large factories alone aren’t likely to solve the battery cost problem.”

Imergy cuts costs of ﬂow battery power to $300 per kWh

sents an exponential step forward in vanadium flow battery technology,” says Bill Watkins, CEO of Imergy Power Systems. “The additional power capability and capacity of the new ESP30 series makes this battery one of the lowest cost storage options for solar arrays, wind turbines, and behind-themeter grid applications. “In addition, the minimum 20-year cycle life of the electrolyte and the residual value of the vanadium deliver a phenomenal value for the customer.”

Imergy Power Systems, the US flow battery firm, has introduced the ESP30 series, a new generation of vanadium flow batteries that it claims lowers their cost from the “industry benchmark of $500 per kWh to under $300 per kWh. The increases the performance and flexibility of energy storage systems for utilities, renewable energy projects, microgrids, and commercial and industrial

customers. The ESP30 series has a power capability of up to 50kW and can store up to 200 kWh of electricity. It is the first battery from Imergy to use secondary sources of vanadium like mining slag, fly ash, and other environmental waste. Customer deliveries of the ESP30 will begin in November in the US and India for microgrid applications. “This new model repre-

Hitachi Maxell to cull parts of lithium ion battery business Hitachi Maxell cut its annual operating profit forecast by 40% to 5.1 billion yen ($48 million) in mid-October and said it would reduce its headcount in its lithium ion battery business after high-end

smartphone sales sagged. The Japanese electronics maker, which supplies lithium ion batteries for Samsung Electronics smartphones, said it would offer voluntary retirement packages to 130

Panasonic in energy storage/charging station venture Panasonic announced in October that it is providing engineering, construction and procurement services to Powertree Services to build 68 electric vehicle charging stations at multiunit residential properties

in San Francisco. Construction has already begun. The units are powered by solar energy and incorporate a battery storage component. When complete, the 68 stations will result in a

staff over 40-years old at the end of February next year and outsource an increased proportion of batteries after that. Samsung’s sales are being hurt by Chinese smartphone manufacturers working at the low end of the market and squeezed at the high end by Apple. total installed capacity of 6.1MW of power and 2.5MW of EV charging capacity. Each station is configured to support up to 70 amps or 18 kilowatts. This is roughly equivalent to 60 to 70 miles of range for every hour of charging. The exact rate of charging depends on vehicle models.

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Energy storage to the fore as large scale electricity generation set to fade, claims bank report to investors UBS, the multinational banking giant, reckons that a tipping point in energy storage and generation could arrive as early as 2020. At this point largescale, centralized power stations could start to become a thing of the past. The bank’s analysts, in a report to their professional investors, say they expect photovoltaic technologies, cheaper energy storage and the rise in electric vehicles to signal the end of power stations with the transition likely to be complete within 20 years. “Solar is at the edge of being a competitive power generation technology,” said the report. “The biggest drawback has been its intermittency. This is where batteries and electric vehicles come into play. Battery costs have declined rapidly, and we expect a further decline of more than 50% by 2020.” Centralized power stations, the briefing said, are too big and inflexible to continue to service the power needs of future generations. The authors of the report instead suggest that households and businesses will increasingly find it cheaper and easier to generate and store their own. The report said: “By 2025, everybody will be able to produce and store power. And it will be green and cost-competitive, ie, not more expensive or even cheaper than buying power from utilities.” The report urged UBS’ financial clients “to join the revolution”, identifying solar as the technology that will be the most disruptive to the status quo. The combination of cheaper energy

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storage — irrespective of the chemistry used to store that energy — caused by greater PV efficiencies as well as mass produced electric vehicles suggest that a financial return on a home solar PV system could be as little as six years. It suggested too that this

return on investment could be made without the need for government subsidies. Separately, a recent report by the International Energy Agency predicts that worldwide renewable power generation will exceed that from gas and be twice that of nuclear by

2016. It will make up almost a quarter of the global power mix by 2018. Developing countries, with China at the forefront, are expected to account for two-thirds of the global increase in renewable power generation by 2018.

Further moves afoot to shutdown Exide battery recycling plant Californian governor Jerry Brown signed a bill in September that requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to either issue a permanent permit or shut Exide’s recycling plant down by the end of 2015. The facility has been closed since mid-March while it attempts to upgrade pollution controls and meet the necessary regulatory environmental requirements. When operational the plant

can recycle around 25,000 batteries per day. In early November Californian regulators announced an enforcement order that requires Exide to spend $9 million to clean up contamination close to the plant in Vernon on the outskirts of Los Angeles and set aside some $38 million to cover the cost of a clean-up if the plant is closed. In July an independent hearing board with

the South Coast Air Quality Management District approved two orders that impose conditions on Exide to control arsenic emissions from smelting and lead-dust emissions from construction work. Exide will have to install more air pollution control devices designed to reduce arsenic and lead emissions. It will also have to implement dust-control measures.

Lead prices to fall near term with strengthening probable in 2015 Lead fundamentals, which remain bullish in the medium term thanks to its key industrial uses, are set to continue to improve. In the short term, however, the market has returned to a supply surplus and is expected to end the year flat following its inability to hold price gains, according to Lead Analysis and Forecast for Q4, a report produced by Basemetals. com It outpaced fundamentals, following speculation of a supply squeeze next year when several large zinc/lead mines

reach the end of their productive lives. With lower mine production growth expected next year and organic growth likely to continue to fuel consumption, the lead market is seen moving into a deficit of around 130,000 tonnes in 2015. “Global demand has continued to fall this year, down 58,000 tonnes on the first seven months of the year, according to the World Bureau of Metal Statistics. This is an interesting trend — with the major economies returning to strength, we would have

expected lead demand to rise. “The market swung to a surplus of 11,000 tonnes in the first seven months of the year from a 12,000-tonne deficit in the first quarter. LME lead inventories continue to rise after strong gains in July - they are now around 225,250 tonnes, gaining momentum from the Qingdao probe. But in the context of the total market, stocks are not high, reflecting the potential for the market to swing into a deficit in 2015.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 37

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NEWS

EPRI tests integration of plug-in vehicles to utilities’ power needs

Eight international car manufacturing firms and 15 US utilities took part in the first demonstration of an open software platform in October, to allow the batteries in plug-in electric vehicles to respond to the grid’s supply and demand needs. The test, which was held in California, is a part of a project, led by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Sumitomo Electric Industries, to develop a central software platform that will allow PEVs to collectively respond to requests from utilities to help manage the high demand on power grids at peak times. This demonstration represents a major milestone toward implementing a common interface communications architecture that meets the needs of utilities and equipment manufacturers while simultaneously benefiting electric vehicle owners and electricity users, says Dan Bowermaster, manager of EPRI’s Electric Transportation Program. Seven different plug-in vehicles — a Ford Focus Electric, a GM Cadillac ELR, a BMW i3, a Mercedes-Benz Smart ED, a Toyota Prius Plug-In, a Honda Fit EV and a Chrysler RAM PHEV — took part in the demo,

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which lasted one hour, to show the cars’ ability to accept a grid signal from a single utility for a demand response exercise. Each car simultaneously took a signal from the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, to stop and then resume charging. The vehicles at the demonstration reflect the range of communications technologies that can be used to connect electric cars with the smart grid, such as wired communications through the charging plug and telematics/wireless communications through a cellular modem in the vehicle. The OEM central server architecture has been designed to accommodate the different communications, to allow for the widest participation between vehicles and the grid. The ability to integrate charging with the nextgeneration grid is a key challenge we need to meet, says Doug Kim, director of Advanced Technology at Southern California Edison, which was one of the project’s utility participants. The adoption of standardized interfaces could provide maximum ease and flexibility for PEV owners. Some vehicles required additional software controls for communication, but the hope is, if the pilot is successful, these controls will be built in to future models. The secret sauce to the OEM central server is that it is able to act as a single gateway interface to both the wired and wireless connections to the vehicles. Some of the demo vehicles are in production today, some are near-production prototypes, says Ford’s Dave McCreadie who is leading the car maker’s collaboration in the project.

The successful rollout of the EPRI’s open software EV-to-grid platform depends on consumers seeing the benefit financially. Many of our PEV customers are environmentally conscious, so the idea of being able to support the grid in a way that will create less waste will be a selling point to some, but others may need a different incentive. “Our first challenge is to continue to expand the use of PEVs — we are on a good path with more than 250,000 being driven in the US, “ says McCreadie. The project was launched in mid-2014. The car makers are: BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi and Toyota. The utilities were Austin Energy, CenterPoint Energy, Commonwealth Edison, Con Edison, CPS Energy, DTE Energy, Duke Energy, Manitoba Hydro, Northeast Utilities, Pacific Gas & Electric, PJM Interconnection, Sacramento Municipal, San Diego Gas & Electric, Southern Company, Southern California Edison, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Scaling up the demonstration will require new elements to be considered that are not part of the initial technical proof-of-concept shown this October. They include geographic diversity of vehicles and the utilities that serve these areas, as not all utilities have the communications capability to interface with the OEM central server. When this is rolled out to electric car customers, there will need to be systems in place for billing, or settlements, and exchange of information. Data privacy and security will also be of importance. For Ford, the next steps

are testing the programme to ensure it is robust and expand the rollout with willing plug-in car owners, while adding more functionality and capability to the basic platform architecture. In 2015 other use cases that will potentially be added include real-time pricing, renewable energy signals, aggregation and facility energy management system integration. The EPRI-led programme, at this stage, is only for the automakers and utilities that have agreed to take part, though all PEV automakers can join. Vehicles from manufacturers that are not participating in the OEM central server project may still have the ability to interact with the smart grid, depending on their communication method and the utility territory they are in. Some forms of smart charging can be accomplished through special charging stations. The process for managing PEV charging will be transparent to the vehicle owner. Vehicle owners maintain ultimate control and would have the option to participate in a demand response and load management programme managed either by the utility or by a third party, or opt out altogether. In the next development phase, the EPRI team will be integrating the PEV communications platform with residential, fleet, and commercial facility energy management systems. This will enable testing of its ability to manage local control scenarios such as demand management for commercial and industrial consumers. Additionally, it will enable interface communications for charging stations and commercial demand response facilitators.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 39

NEWS IN BRIEF Panasonic, Tesla sign-up agreed

For the record, Panasonic Corporation and Tesla Motors signed an agreement at the end of July that lays out their cooperation on the construction of a large-scale battery manufacturing plant in the US, known as the gigafactory. Tesla will provide the land, buildings and utilities. Panasonic will supply cylindrical lithium-ion cells and invest in the associated equipment, machinery, and other manufacturing tools based on their mutual approval. The gigafactory is being created to enable a continuous reduction in the cost of long range battery packs in parallel with manufacturing at the volumes required to enable Tesla to meet its goal of advancing mass market electric vehicles, the firm said. The gigafactory will be managed by Tesla with Panasonic joining as the principal partner responsible for lithium-ion battery cells and occupying about half of the planned manufacturing space.

LG Chem develops batteries for Hyundai

For the record, LG Chem has developed a 48-volt lithium-ion battery, according to Korean media reports in July and the batteries that will be used for electric vehicles made by Hyundai Motors in its new range of sport utility vehicles due for roll-out in 2017. It will no longer use the existing 12-volt, lead-acid starter/stop-start batteries, The higher voltage is needed to handle a growing number of electrical systems that save fuel but need more volts, such as stop-start, electric power steering, regenerative breaks and other energy-efficient electrical systems. We see a huge demand for 48-volt lithium-ion batteries amid growing demands for budget EVs with enhancements in energy consumption and lower costs. LG already completed development of the batteries and shipments will start from 2016, accordi9ng to LG Chem chief financial officer Cho Seok-jae.

Computer software accelerates design of next generation EV batteries

For the record, CD-adapco announced at the end of July completion of its development project targeting the automotive and lithium ion battery industries, enabling faster design and development of advanced electric drive vehicle power systems.

40 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

This project, which began in August 2011, is co-funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office in the US Department of Energy and managed by its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This project is part of the competitive Computer Aided Engineering of electric drive Batteries (CAEBAT) activity launched by DOE in 2010. The project team included CD-adapco, Battery Design, Johnson Controls and A123. The methods developed within this program provide seamless integration between electrochemists and thermal engineers within the battery design process.

PNNL team develops hybrid Mg-Li battery

For the record, researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced at the end of July that they had created workable hybrid batteries using a magnesium metal anode; a Li+ ion intercalation cathode (Mo6S8), and a dual-salt electrolyte containing Mg2+ and Li+ ions. The objective was to combine the advantages of lithium and magnesium electrochemistries. They reported that such hybrid batteries delivered strong rate performance (105 mAh g-1 at 15 C) and superior cycling stability (B5% capacity drop for 3000 cycles at 10 C), along with reasonable output voltages. The researchers suggested that the inherent safety and stability features of such devices make them promising for many applications, especially for large-scale static energy storage.

UL battery safety standards are now FDA recognized

Underwriters Laboratories officials announced in August that the US Food and Drug Administration has recognized two UL battery safety standards as consensus standards for medical devices incorporating lithium or nickelbased batteries. The two standards are UL 2054 — Standard for Household and Commercial Batteries, and UL 1642 — Standard for Lithium Batteries (Cells). Consensus standards are standards recognized by the FDA for use in evaluating medical devices before they are approved for market entry.

China BAK Battery and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics link up on next-gen batteries

For the record, China BAK Battery announced in July it planned to work with the Dalian Institute of Chemical

Physics in the research and development of next-generation battery manufacturing technologies with new battery materials, from lab scale tests, pilot scale tests to industrial tests, and related special preparation techniques. CBAK and DICP will also cooperate in training graduate and post-doctoral students and co-build a graduate practice base, which will provide talent and technical support towards enhancing China’s international competitiveness in the power battery industry.

Ideal Power signs agreement with Sharp Electronics

For the record, Ideal Power, the power conversion technology firm, signed a multi-year purchase agreement with Sharp Electronics Corporation in July whereby Sharp will use Ideal Power’s 30kW battery converter in its SmartStorage systems. Ideal Power has received an initial order from Sharp under this agreement. The firm says it expects order volumes to scale along with Sharp’s SmartStorage business. Sharp’s SmartStorage systems use onsite battery energy storage that can reduce monthly utility demand charges for commercial and industrial building owners. Demand charges are the fastest growing part of utility bills for commercial customers and in some cases can reach half of a company’s monthly utility bill.

BYD to begin production of lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries

BYD Auto announced in August it will begin production of a new lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries for electric vehicles in 2015, according to board secretary Wu Jing-sheng as reported in local media. BYD says the addition of manganese to its lithium iron phosphate cathode material should improve the range of electric vehicles and reduce costs. Dow Energy Materials already offers a lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate cathode material which provides a 10% to 15% increase in energy density in battery cells compared to standard lithium iron phosphate cathode material.

EV Lite project closes with lighter weight, cheaper batteries

A two-year UK project known as EV-Lite on sustainable lightweight low cost battery systems for extended life cycles closed this summer. Among its achievements was a 41% weight reduction and 63% cost reduction in

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NEWS IN BRIEF the non-cell components was attained during the project. At the battery pack level, this comes to a saving of 45kg. Co-funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the consortium involves Cenex, Unipart Manufacturing, Manufacturing Technology Centre, RDVS, Electrovaya, Bluebird Innovation Group, Loughborough University, CRR, and Cenex. The EV-Lite design differs from a benchmarked battery in terms of parts count. Its parts count is 196 compared to 807 of a benchmarked battery, considering a 4kWh-sized module. The project developed a novel safety feature that isolates cells in case of an accident. It also includes a new battery interface system. Five patents have already been filed.

MIIT to shut 39 lead acid battery ﬁrms

For the record, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced in July that it plans to close 39 lead acid battery manufacturing firms as part of its 2014 Inefficient Capacity Elimination Plan. The intention is to eliminate 356,000 tonnes of lead from the industry, according to the Shanghai

Metal Market which said that this would remove 8.48 million kVAh of lead-acid battery polar plate capacity, and 5.31 million kVAh of lead-acid battery assembling capacity

NASA shortlists four for deep space

NASA announced in July it had shortlisted four proposals for advanced energy storage technologies that may be used to power the agency’s future space missions. New energy storage technology will be critical to our future exploration of deep space, says a NASA official, whether missions to an asteroid, Mars or beyond. That’s why we’re investing in this critical mission technology area. The four proposals are: • High energy density and long-life lithium sulphur batteries for aerospace applications, submitted by the California Institute of Technology. • Advanced high energy rechargeable lithium-sulphur batteries, submitted by Indiana University. • Garnet electrolyte based safe, lithium-sulfur energy storage, submitted by the University of Maryland, College Park • Silicon anode based cells for high

specific energy systems submitted by Amprius. Phase I awards are approximately $250,000 and provide funding to conduct an eight-month component test and analysis phase. Phase II is an engineering development unit hardware phase that provides as much as $1 million per award for one year, while Phase III consists of the prototype hardware development, as much as $2 million per award for 18 months.

Oxis and Multi Source Power look to marine battery development

Oxis, the lithium sulphur battery developer, and Multi Source Power announced in August that they plan to launch a new battery in the spring of 2015. This development will be part of the Ghost Power Brand. The battery system will be scalable from 20 kWh to 50 kWh upwards and will provide multiple configurable voltage outputs to power electric motor boats, but can also be used to power air conditioning systems, navigation systems, says an Oxis official. MSP designs and makes battery packs and hybrid power and propulsion systems for the marine industry.

US DoE announces further funding for life beyond lithium The US department of energy announced in August more than $55 million for 31 new projects to accelerate research and development of critical vehicle technologies that will improve fuel efﬁciency and reduce costs. Applicant

Location

Description

Federal Cost Share

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI

This project will demonstrate polycrystalline membranes in LiCmetal and LiCsulfur batteries that support current densities approaching that of defectCfree crystals.

$1,233,555

Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

Palo Alto, CA

This project will use nanomaterials to improve the interface between lithium metal anodes and the electrolytes to improve the cycle life of lithium metal batteries.

$1,350,000

University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA

This project will develop and scale up synthesis of high capacity cathodes by highCthroughput costC effective approaches.

$1,250,061 (jointly funded)

The Research Foundation for State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton University

Binghamton, NY

This project will replace the carbon anode with a SnCFeCC composite with twice the volumetric energy density of carbon, and provide a high energy cathode.

$1,221,125

Liox Power, Inc.

Pasadena, CA

This project will develop high speciﬁc energy, high power and highly reversible LiCair batteries that are based on the concept of replacing traditional electrolytes in the air electrode with a stable inorganic molten salt electrolyte.

$1,500,000

University of Maryland

College Park, MD

This project will utilize a multifaceted and integrated (experimental and computational) approach to solve the key issue in solidCstate LiCion batteries, interfacial impedance, with a focus on GarnetCbased solidCstate electrolytes.

$1,212,877 (jointly funded)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Oak Ridge, TN

This project will utilize nanoindentation to determine mechanical properties and identify the causes of premature failures at the protected lithium interface.

$1,000,000 (jointly funded)

Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station

College Station, TX

This project will improve the design of the electrolyte chemistry and cathode architecture of LiCsulfur batteries based on the development of the internal shuttle effect obtained from ﬁrstC principles atomistic and mesoscopic modeling.

$990,000

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Upton, NY

This project will develop a lowCcost, anodeless LiC sulfur battery technology utilizing the Dual Functional Cathode Additives concept and able to deliver energy densities relevant for PEV applications.

$1,500,000 (jointly funded)

42 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

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NEWS IN BRIEF Mexico City International Airport chooses ﬂywheels

Vycon, the manufacturer of energy storage flywheel systems, announced in August that the Benito Juárez International Airport in Mexico City, had bought three of its flywheel systems. These backup systems will increase power protection to the airport’s vital runway lighting and other critical navigation systems. AICM says it chose Vycon, in part because unlike other flywheel systems, Vycon’s flywheels do not require expensive bearing replacement. Being in a tropical location with a high elevation, Mexico City is subject to unpredictable weather, but also to high-heat conditions meaning flywheels can protect the airport from costly battery maintenance and disposal of toxic materials.

Nexcon Technology buys Panasonic subsidiary

Nexcon Technology a Korean manufacturer of rechargeable battery components, has acquired a subsidiary of Sanyo Electric — which became part of Japan’s Panasonic in 2010 — specializing in rechargeable battery protection circuit boards for W20 billion ($18.3 million). Nexcon will then manufacture protection circuit boards for lithium-ion batteries and printed circuit boards of chargers for and Panasonic. Nexcon already supplies these boards to LG Chem and Samsung SDI, meaning it will supply components to all top-three companies in rechargeable batteries in the world.

LG Chem wins unspeciﬁed Audi order

South Korea’s LG Chem said in August it had won an order from Audi to supply batteries for its plug-in hybrid and micro hybrid electric vehicles. LG Chem said the deal was worth hundreds of millions of dollars but declined to give further details, according to Reuters, It said it expected to win more such orders from Audi parent Volkswagen in the future.

Valence wins further Segway contract

Valence Technology, the lithium ion battery firm, announced in August that it had been chosen by existing customer Segway for its recently released Segway SE-3 Patroller. The SE-3 Patroller is a three-wheel device designed for police and security markets. The SE-3 Patroller is powered

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by Valence rechargeable lithium ion batteries that can be charged at any standard electrical outlet. The Valence U-Charge series provides energy storage in standard Battery Council International lead-acid battery module sizes for a wide variety of applications. It is available in multiple configurations and incorporates a built-in battery management system. The battery series is scalable and provides twice the run time and up to 10 times the cycle life of lead acid batteries,

Network Rail starts testing battery-powered train

Network Rail, the UK track operator, has begun to test a battery-powered train in trials on a Greater Anglia class 379 train at Bombardier’s plant in Derby, UK. The train will be adapted by Bombardier and fitted with two different forms of batteries: lithium iron magnesium phosphate and hot sodium nickel salt. This project is an important part of our strategy of increasing the electrification of the railway, says a Network Rail official. If we can create an energy storage capability for trains, electric traction can be introduced to more parts of the railway without the need to necessarily extend the electrification infrastructure. A battery-powered train could use non-electrified and diesel lines, and recharge their batteries at terminal stations. The trial of the two battery chemistries will finish by the end of the year. The UK department for transport and the Enabling Innovation Team are also partners in the project.

ABB launches ﬁrst general type of DC charger compliant with China

ABB, the power and automation group, in August launched the Terra 53 Z, its first general type of high power DC fast charger that complies with China GB standard. The new chargers will be manufactured in Shenzhen at ABB’s recently established base for electric vehicle chargers. Terra 53 Z can be widely used at public charging stations, EV fleet parking lots and highway service stations to charge personal e-vehicles as well as some minibuses and EVs used for logistics. With this high power DC fast charger compliant with GB standard, of which the rated power is up to 50kW, a 20-minutes charging could give a normal electric vehicle enough

power to drive another 100km. This is the world’s first DC fast charging solution to offer specific types complying with the three main stream charging standards: SAE Combo, CHAdeMo and China GB, says ABB. Earlier this year, ABB and Shenzhen BYD Daimler New Technology signed a strategic cooperation to supply DC fast charging wall boxes over the next six years. The wall boxes are customized for the DENZA electric vehicle and will be sold through DENZA’s distribution network.

Samsung SDI, China’s Sungrow plan ESS venture

South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co has signed a preliminary deal with China’s Sungrow Power Supply Co to form a joint venture to make energy storage systems in China. The companies plan to build a production facility by next year, the statement said. Samsung SDI, a maker of electronics components, did not disclose how large the joint investment would be and said the location has not been decided.

Andalay Solar partners Highpower for ESS

Andalay Solar, a manufacturer of integrated solar power systems, announced a collaboration with Highpower International, a manufacturer, of lithium and nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries, to launch a pilot project that will provide energy storage systems for Andalay Solar customers. Highpower’s energy storage system has six 2.4KWh lithium-ion battery modules and an output inverter that allows for expandability. For the hybrid system, when combined with Andalay’s integrated solar system, energy will be generated both by the solar system as well as by the utility grid network.

GKN to supply 500 electric ﬂywheel hybrid drive systems to Go-Ahead Group for buses

Go-Ahead Group, the UK transport operator, announced in July it had ordered 500 electric flywheel Gyrodrive systems from GKN Hybrid Power for use in buses. The Gyrodrive Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) system harvests braking energy normally lost as heat. The GKN Hybrid Power Mk4 eFES is an electrically driven flywheel energy storage system.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 43

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OPINION Terry Murphy, chief executive of the Hammond Group reveals how his early background working with NASA has informed the approach that he believes the lead acid battery industry should take in the future.

Finding the right mix between collaboration and competition Murphy’s background in lead batteries goes back to his college days when he worked at the Hammond Group, packing 50lb bags of lead oxide, during the summers to pay for tuition. His first major job after graduation was working on the space shuttle main engines which brought him into indirect contact with lead batteries — but not as most of us at ELBC would recognize them. It was lead telluride — which used as a thermo-electric couple converts temperature differences into voltage, a system recently launched on the Mars Curiosity Rover, which is rolling on Mars today. But if his first professional connections with lead and energy storage verge on the arcane, that’s not the case any longer. In October last year Murphy took over as president of the Hammond Group — a company that is very much at the cutting edge of the lead acid battery business. What does prove fascinating, however, are the parallels Murphy makes between his far-off days with Rocketdyne a Californian company that built the propulsion and power systems for NASA— he spent 25+ years there — and the modern lead acid battery community. NASA forged a technology that eventually changed the way that we look at space. Similarly too, advances in lead battery design, will change the world’s energy storage picture completely, he believes. “We’re facing a new frontier and only just glimpsing the potential of advanced lead acid batteries,” he says. “A perfect example of this is the introduction of 48V lead acid batteries and a new generation of stop-start cars for all needs and climates could emerge with lead as the standard.” The ability to choose battery types will become increasingly evident. “Five years ago, if you wanted a battery, it was very much a commoditized product,” he says. “Nowadays, we’re ambitiously looking for an 80% increase in performance for

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20% of the cost of a lithium ion battery. “Products such as our K2 expander, for example, opens up a new world of business of offering tailored solutions which, as we did years ago, looked at producing the best for the whole system and not just one part of it. Like many in the lead acid community, Murphy is puzzled by the continued fascination with lithium as its rival. “When I worked for Boeing Rocketdyne Energy Systems part of my remit was to look across the whole organization and see how could leverage aerospace into a cleaner and greener fashion. “One underlying principle was a simple one — working out the total cost of ownership. This seems to be ignored by the admittedly clever people developing lithium batteries. “This situation can’t last forever. I believe we’re already seeing a turn-

around in automotive companies’ perceptions of non-lead batteries. We should soon be seeing that in greater research and development work, particularly in partial state of charge which is where the greatest benefits can be found. Hammond itself has recently repurposed one of its own facilities in an increase of its own R&D spend. Murphy believes that its research in expanders — he calls the arrival of its K2 product as a “complete gamechanger” — is just one step along a much more complex path for the firm. “We’re going beyond highly engineered expanders,” he says. “Traditional expanders used to have three components to them but now they have six. But we’re looking at better grid metals, greater varieties of additives, new lead alloys, additive manufacturing techniques and new battery geometries.” Part of the key to this is some kind of competitive/collaborative mix as an industry standard. “For the space shuttle to move ahead in the early years, we needed the whole aerospace industry — internationally and commercially — to participate. The challenges were too great for NASA alone. “We’re in a similar situation with pioneering the next generation of lead acid batteries — and that’s why we belong to an organization like ALABC.” A glance through Murphy’s CV shows that he has a long history of developing start-up projects and commercializing them. Initially this work was for large firms such as Boeing but until recently he’s been the driving force behind a variety of energy related start-up firms.

“Five years ago, if you wanted a battery, it was very much a commoditized product. Nowadays, we’re ambitiously looking for an 80% increase in performance for 20% of the cost of a lithium ion battery. Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 45

PRODUCT NEWS

EnerSys launches Ironclad range into Europe EnerSys has released its heavy-duty Ironclad range of motive power batteries for Europe. Ironclad offers more power, extended running times and longer life than comparable designs to support intensive lift truck operations and other demanding materials handling applications. The range is particularly suited to situations where longer truck run times are needed to minimize the use of spare batteries. Materials handling equipment will run for up to one hour longer on each charge, reducing the need for timeconsuming battery changes and maximizing productivity. Models rated from 276Ah to 1032Ah are available in standard sizes for small pallet trucks up to large reach and counterbalance trucks. The batteries were previously available in the US. The Ironclad batteries have a number of features that deliver performance advantages over conventional lead-acid designs, says EnerSys. The positive electrodes in the battery’s cells incorporate a unique square Cladex tube technology that results in around 18% more surface area than the round tubes or flat plates used in conventional lead-acid batteries. This maximizes the contact area between the electrodes’ active material and the electrolyte which enables higher sustained voltages throughout the discharge cycle. The batteries are also used with an electrolyte with a higher-than-average specific gravity. The batteries have high ampere-hour capacity ratings, outperforming conventional designs with up to 15% more power, which is ideal for the higher discharge rates demanded by modern ACdrive lift trucks.

46 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

To maintain a lift truck’s constant drive and lift performance throughout a shift, the motor must offset a battery’s normal voltage drop during discharge by drawing more and more amps. The Ironclad battery’s ability to sustain higher voltages, combined with, says EnerSys, industry-leading capacity ratings, extends its run time when compared with conventional lead-acid models. The greater surface area of square tube technology and electrolytes with higher specific gravities also help the battery achieve a longer service life. This is because the batteries experience active mass stress levels around 10% lower than conventional designs. Reliability and service life is further enhanced by the use of sleeved electrode separators which prevent misalignment and shorting.

Fully insulated flexible inter-cell connectors add extra protection and the dust-proof, single-point filling system reduces toppingup time and cuts down on battery maintenance. All of these features combine to ensure the Ironclad batteries have a design c life of 1,800 cycless w which tra year equates to an extra ns. This in many applications. ensive is ideal for intensive plong-term rental operations where customers are demanding longer contracts. Ironclad batteries are available in eight different configurations in a choice of two cell heights (600mm and 750mm) and h four cell sizes (with 3, 4, 5 or 6 positivee plates) with ratingss Ah in from 276 to 1032Ah

standard sizes to fit vehicles from small pallet trucks to large forklift trucks. When supplied with the EnerSys BFS filling system and the Hawker Wi-IQ battery charging monitor the batteries have a two year plus two pro rata warranty.

New Vyon materials safeguard from battery explosions Porvair Filtration Group has developed hydrophobic Vyon flame arrestor vents to its product range for use by battery manufacturers to safeguard them from potential explosions in lead acid batteries. Vyon sintered porous plastic materials offer excellent chemical compatibility, exceptional strength and are resistant to most acids, said a company offi-

cial. The new super hydrophobic material means that it will not wet out, preventing gas venting. Versatile, strong, and efficient, it will also reduce the likelihood of acid spillage, Vyon says. Porvair’s battery vents have been used to release excess gas from lead acid batteries during operating cycles and prevent flame ingress into the battery. The creation of a flow path,

by which gases released through the valve element can escape from the battery, prevent propagation of any potential flames. Porvair, which has supplied the process industry with filtration equipment for over 25 years, manufactures in both the US and the UK and has a network of sales offices and distribution channels throughout the world.

Maxwell reveals new supercap Maxwell Technologies has released the newest member of its K2 family of ultracapacitors, the 2.85-Volt, 3,400-Farad cell. It expands the power range of the K2 family by 17% and the energy range by 23%, making it, Maxwell says, the most powerful cell available in the industry-

standard 60-mm cylindrical form factor. It is the first cell to incorporate Maxwell’s DuraBlue Advanced Shock and Vibration technology. DuraBlue technology is tested to demanding environmental requirements for transportation, increasing vibrational resistance by about 300%

and shock immunity by 400% when compared to ultracapacitor-based competitive offerings. Features and benefits include: up to 1,000,000 duty cycles or 10 years of life, up to 18 kW/kg of specific power, up to 4.00Wh of stored energy, threaded terminals or laser-weldable posts.

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CONTINENTAL DESIGNERS DIDN’T SET OUT TO WIN A COVETED AWARD for one of Europe’s leading auto manufacturer’s start-stop modules. Instead, their sights were set on increasing fuel efﬁciency, reducing emissions, and extending vehicle battery life. Yet, Maxwell ultracapacitors enabled them to achieve it all, leading Autobild Magazine to hail the leaner, greener system – now standard in over 1 million vehicles worldwide and growing – as 2012’s “Best Performer.” Maxwell ultracapacitors. For consumers, automakers and the environment, they’re the right choice for the road ahead.

maxwell.com

PRODUCT NEWS

Exide releases new range of stop-start batteries Exide Technologies launched a new range of stop-start batteries in October offering, the firm says, performance gains, faster recharging and a sleek new design. Exide says the batteries were developed in its original-equipment business, and are coming to the aftermarket for the first time. Exide’s new absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery delivers four times the cycle life, 20% more power and three times greater charge acceptance than a standard battery. “This is achieved through high-performance materials and state-of-the-art technology, including advanced lead-tin alloys, high-surface glass mat separators and unique carbon additives,” the firm says. “The new Exide EFB battery shows similarly impressive gains.” Stop-start vehicles already make up 15% of European cars and this is forecast to rise to 50% by 2020. Exide says it has been investing in its own plants to compete in this market for a considerable period of time. “We invented the first stop-start AGM battery in 2004 and the first EFB battery in 2008,” says a company official. “There are also major performance gains in Exide’s line-up of conventional batteries. The new premium carbon boost recharges up to 1.5 times faster and delivers 30% more starting power. When a standard battery discharges, sulphate particles build up on the negative plate, forming a non-conductive layer that inhibits recharging. Exide’s Carbon Boost dissolves these particles by incorporating proprietary carbon additives into the negative

48 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

plates, increasing conductivity. This improves charge acceptance and charging times. The performance gains come from this new Carbon Boost technology. This was first developed for Exide’s Start-Stop AGM and EFB batteries. The carbon additives lead to improved charge acceptance and a significant reduction in charging times. The battery firm says it has continued to make ambitious invest-

ments in the technology, and it will now be applied to conventional batteries for the first time. Exide has also produced a battery finder app. Potential customers can enter

their registration number, car model or VIN to see a list of matching parts, and can then narrow their search based on battery performance and typical usage scenarios.

“There are also major performance gains in Exide’s line-up of conventional batteries. The new premium carbon boost recharges up to 1.5 times faster and delivers 30% more starting power.”

Dreamweaver International launches line of nanoﬁber separators for supercapacitors Dreamweaver International is launching a line of nanofiber based separator materials for supercapacitors. The firm says it has been working with major supercapacitor manufacturers for over two years developing Silver AR. “Silver AR materials are designed to have lower internal resistance, higher capacitance and tensile strength, with lower moisture content,” says the firm. “They are now qualified for manufacture on a machine capable of making over 40 million square meters per year.” In side by side comparisons done by outside labo-

ratories comparing Dreamweaver’s Silver AR line to a leading competitor — details will be given in a white paper in the next issue of Batteries International — Dreamweaver’s separators showed 63% lower Gurley resistance, 21% higher strength, 9% higher capacitance and 27% lower internal resistance. The internal resistance will increase the round trip energy efficiency of the supercapacitors, increasing the fuel efficiency in hybrid busses. “We are pleased that several innovative supercapacitor companies have chosen to use Dreamweaver sepa-

rators in their products, and to be working with over 25 manufacturers on develop-

mental cells to be launched soon. It is a wonderful way for us to contribute to energy efficiency in many different industries,” said Brian Morin, Dreamweaver International’s president.

Mastervolt launches new marine battery Mastervolt, the Dutchbased manufacturer of off-grid electrical systems, has launched a new 12 Volt, 2.5kW lithium ion battery that is available as part of the roll-out of the Ultra series of marine batteries. The new 12V 12/2500

model is the same height and width as its 12V and 24V 5kW big sisters, but half the length. “The second generation Ultra range, the 12/2500, carries the latest developments in Mastervolt power management electron-

ics, making the already highly efficient, deepcycle 4-cell battery vastly superior to any lead-acid equivalent,” says the firm. Mastervolt was the first company to bring a full-size 24V lithium ion battery to market.

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

The relentless pursuit of greater productivity and lower cost continues to be the driving force behind making uninterruptible power in data centres ever more sophisticated. Sara Verbruggen reports.

Efﬁciency deﬁnes next generation of UPS systems It’s an old gag but still partly true. Why will the data centres of the future only need two operators — a man and a dog? The man’s job? It’s to feed the dog. And the dog? To make sure the man doesn’t touch the computers. From the beginning UPS systems have all been based on the principle that once the computers are running fine, the systems must be protected from all forms of intervention. Power loss, of course, being the most devastating of all. The result has been that with the need for greater data to be protected, the corollary has been that the demands on UPS have steadily risen. Over the last decade — although VRLA batteries have been used for a generation in a few data centres — the biggest shift in the UPS business has been the increased trend from flooded to VRLA batteries. Nowadays there are few flooded cell UPS installations in the sub-100kW range. Although the quip ‘VRLA batteries don’t die, they’re murdered’ holds true, VRLA batteries generally have a

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shorter operational lifetime than their flooded counterparts. Wet cells have a design life of around 20 years with an expected lifetime of around 15 years. VRLA batteries — again typically — have a design life of between seven and 10 years but an expected lifetime of around five years. That said they can be cheaper overall in terms of their maintenance requirements and space. Flooded cell battery systems require long range up-front planning including specialized physical space, ventilation, safety planning, and engineering. Moreover, the costs associated with a bit-by-bit approach to expanding flooded cell systems are so large that it is normally less expensive to simply build out the entire system up-front. Choosing the right backup power application for a data centre is based on calculations on its requirements — load, performance, power, space and maintenance as well as cost. Familiar parameters perhaps but still, in the case of lead acid battery requirements, the need for a safe and stable storage environment.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 49

COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS but frequently may only operate for three — are equally likely to work for 1-1/2 years unless kept at the right temperature for most of the time. Even in the case of more sophisticated batteries such as EnerSys’s PowerSafe SBS Eon product batteries that have a design life of 15 years at 20°C this can be reduced to 7-1/2 years at 30°C.

TPPL technology

“Investing in predictive maintenance technologies lets you plan remedial action, such as battery replacements, at an opportune time, minimizing the impact of corrective action and its ramiﬁcations on a data centre’s operations as opposed to having to go in and take the power system ofﬂine without warning” — Steve Vechy, EnerSys

“Data centres are being more speciﬁc in terms of what they want out of their UPS batteries and how they expect them to perform.” – Mike Nispel, C&D Technologies Heat, especially, shortens the operational lifetime. As a basic rule of thumb, if the optimum temperature environment for a VRLA battery is around 20°C then an increase of around 10°C can halve the performance life. VRLA batteries, which are expected to have a working life of five years —

50 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Manufacturers have responded to the challenge in various ways — typically by designing batteries that: are more resilient to higher temperatures; offer greater performance such as longer life or corrosion resistance; or increase power density. These considerations all figure in the single most critical element of UPS performance — battery quality. Just one bad battery can ruin an entire string and bring a system down during a power outage or other interruption. Battery failure is the number one cause of UPS load loss and system downtime. One such battery chemistry that fulfils these requirements is thin plate pure lead technology. Steve Vechy, senior director for global product portfolio management at EnerSys, puts the development of such batteries down to the greening of the data centre industry. “Drivers including higher power usage effectiveness factors, LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building certification, in the US, and a desire for more efficient systems, which involves operating in ambient temperature conditions for non-revenue equipment and functions. “This is where the demand for thin plate pure lead acid technologies is coming from,” he says. Thin plate pure lead batteries are flat plates made from 99.99% pure lead and not lead alloy. Typically TPPL grids are around 1mm thin, compared to the 2mm-4mm that is typical in traditional lead calcium VRLA batteries. TPPL plates improve power density — more punch from the same volume and mass in the same sized cell. EnerSys says that its TPPL product provides a 22% improvement in volumetric power density over conventional AGM batteries. A peripheral advantage of these batteries is that they tend to be smaller, even compared with more standard VRLA modules, meaning that less of the data centre’s space is needed for housing batteries. Because data centre power back-up typically requires large

amounts of space, this can be an important consideration when data centres are situated in prime city commercial areas. The other trend driving demand for more batteries that use pure lead chemistries is the increasing requirement from data centre managers for shorter runtimes. A decade ago, it was usual for data centres to specify 25 to 30 minutes of runtime and then have a cushion of, say, 15 minutes. As data centres have grown in size as well as processing power their energy needs have grown too. “We have increasingly seenrequests for back-up times as short as one to three minutes. This is an area where VRLA was initially not supposed to be a relevant choice, but with some thin plate designs VRLAs can offer a feasible alternative to ultracapacitors,” says Harry Lindgren, who works in global UPS system supplier Eaton’s power quality division for the EMEA market. Maintaining UPS runtime is a cost in itself, so the redundancy margin has been gradually stripped out by the data centre industry. This reduces the number of batteries needed and the associated costs, such as maintenance, but it also puts more demand on the battery, which pure lead technology is better equipped to handle. Mike Nispel, director of product management for UPS at C&D Technologies in Pennsylvania, says: “The move towards reduced transition times in a shutdown means increasingly data centres are specifying things such as I want five minutes at the end of life, which means a shift in sizing to achieve the right end-of-life capacity. “Data centres are being more specific in terms of what they want out of their UPS batteries and how they expect them to perform.”

Warranty There are also changes on the warranty side too. “It is heading towards five years from the current, which is three years, whereas it used to be one year,” says Nispel. “This matches the 10 year life of data centre equipment, so that batteries only have to be swapped once during the data centre’s operating lifetime,” he says. EnerSys’ TPPL batteries account for about 10%-20% of the company’s overall global UPS batteries market, where the company supplies the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. “Both EMEA and North America de-

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

“For optimal UPS performance, accurate battery monitoring and management technologies are the key to success. Customers prefer this technology to be integrated into the UPS equipment, and not have it as a stand-alone system” — Harry Lindgren, Eaton mand for thin plate pure lead batteries is driven by these changing operations needs of newer data centres, where reducing runtime and greening of data centres are driving the decision makers to opt for more expensive premium products, while in Asia the demand for this technology is more limited, except by the more quality conscious customers,” Vechy says. In mid-2014 C&D Technologies launched a new line of pure lead batteries, specifically targeting UPS in banking and finance, healthcare, manufacturing as well as data centre markets. “Higher temperatures, AC ripple in recharge as well as other factors can all affect the service life of lead acid batteries, so that their service life might be much less than their design life,” says Nispel. C&D Technologies uses virgin lead to make the grids themselves, which allows for the grains to be tightly controlled, reducing corrosion and extending grid life. The other development is in the paste itself. Again, virgin lead is used to make the oxide used in the paste, to keep out impurities. “Each processing step has been addressed, including the milling to make the lead oxide and how it is mixed to make the paste, for example, using a slower, cooler process. Some of the steps are proprietary,” says Nispel. Many of the processing steps have already been used to make the company’s 2V VRLA batteries with reduced float current. The pure lead added to the process had led to a battery that is targeting the UPS market, where data centres are much more cost-driven and are looking at using less cooling, for example,” he says. For many lead acid battery makers, UPS as part of stationary and reserve power industrial segments is a key enduse market. UPS accounts for about 30% of EnerSys’ reserve battery business and the entire market was worth $5.7 billion in 2012. C&D Technologies has a 30% market share for stationary batteries, which includes UPS applications above 25Ah. However, the global UPS market has grown slowly in recent years and pre-

52 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

mium lines are where the growth in UPS battery demand is likely to come from. Demand for EnerSys’ thin plate pure lead batteries is growing at a faster rate than overall UPS battery demand. “This suggests that this technology could be the norm and not the exception in future,” says Vechy. Several projects and pilots with data centres are underway. “We expect to see the market shift towards pure lead technology, especially as the increased cost of the battery over standard VRLA is modest compared to the extended service life that is possible,” he says.

Ticking over However, Heath Lockett, an analyst at IHS Research in the UK, expects negative growth in global UPS revenues in 2014. The continuing effects of the global downturn has meant investments in new facilities in the big UPS markets, especially in North America

and Asia-Pacific, are not happening (or are not as high in terms of new system replacements). The industry is turning to maintenance and servicing to try and eke out the performance lifetime of existing systems and keeping them ticking over, a trend that is likely to continue well into 2015. Slowing market growth, the relentless focus on efficiency and reducing operational costs, as well as other factors, have all squeezed the UPS batteries segment. “ The trend to rent — colocation data centres — versus buy, cloud computing, as well as system redundancy are all factors that are pushing batteries to becoming nearly a pure commodity. “Co-location developers are mainly worried about first costs to make their business models work as quickly as possible. End users are increasingly using more cloud services which spreads their applications across multiple data

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS centres,Â leaving a battery failure having much less of an impact on their business enterprise,â&#x20AC;? says Rob Neidlinger, director for business development within S&C Electricâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power quality products division. In these market conditions, emphasis on good UPS and battery O&M strategies is becoming more important, particularly in terms of preventative maintenance.

Remote monitoring â&#x20AC;&#x153;While remote monitoring technologies for enabling preventative maintenance are hardly new, they will become very established in the next five years, adding value to O&M and servicing packages for UPS systems, which are moving from ad hoc or minimum, to a more subscription-based approaches,â&#x20AC;? says Lockett. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The best maintenance strategies incorporate remote monitoring technology in combination with manual checks. Battery maintenance is written into the specifications of UPS, however, remote monitoring is becoming more commonplace in the industry though there are instances of large data centres, even, continuing to rely on manual checking,â&#x20AC;? says Daniel Baileys, chief executive of Generex in the US, which supplies UPS, facilities and battery management and remote monitoring technologies and systems. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remote monitoring technology ensures the batteries are kept at pristine flow voltage levels to avoid over or under-charging. The use of equalization, the firm says, can extend the operational lifetime of a battery by 20%â&#x20AC;&#x201C;30%. Maintenance and servicing of batteries is an operational cost that needs to be planned for. In larger data centres it can become more critical. Remote, predictive monitoring technologies allow operators to view battery behaviour in real time, even to do internal ohmic measurements (which was not always the case). This can reduce the traditional approach of sending in a crew every three to six months, says Vechy. While, more advanced maintenance technologies are more costly to implement â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sometimes costing the same as batteries themselves â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the point of investing in predictive maintenance technologies and approaches is to minimize downtime. Vechy says: â&#x20AC;&#x153;It lets you plan remedial action, such as battery replacements, at an opportune time, minimizing the impact of corrective action and its

54 â&#x20AC;˘ Batteries International â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2014

â&#x20AC;&#x153;End users are increasingly using more cloud services which spreads their applications across multiple data centres,Â leaving a battery failure having much less of an impact on their business enterpriseâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Â Rob Neidlinger, S&C ramifications on a data centreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operations as opposed to having to go in and take the power system offline without warning.â&#x20AC;? Frost & Sullivan predicts the global UPS services market, which earned revenues of $1.97 billion in 2013, will reach $2.67 billion in 2017, growing at a compound annual growth rate of between 2012â&#x20AC;&#x201C;2017 of 7.6%. The service is growing at a faster rate than the global UPS market by new installations, owing to the large installed base of existing UPS systems, mainly in IT, but also other industries, such as healthcare and manufacturing. The growth in co-location, or hosting, data centres has also contributed to the growth in UPS services, as these data centres are concerned about keeping downtime to a minimum, more so than enterprise data centres, as their core business is renting out data centre space. Typically owners/operators of UPS systems are buying service agreements for UPS systems installed in recent years, even though these are still within warranty. This services market is mainly made up of UPS manufacturers â&#x20AC;&#x201D; companies such as Emerson, Eaton and Mitsubishi â&#x20AC;&#x201D; followed by regional service firms. The service agreement will also be structured to cover batteries, which is helping to create demand for more predictive battery monitoring tech-

nologies, supplied by battery makers themselves or by specialist companies such as Generex. The level of interest in battery management systems for UPS applications has increased significantly in recent years reflected in more R&D investments by suppliers of batteries as well as battery management technology providers. As well as predictive maintenance, the focus is on other microprocessorcontrolled circuitry that boosts cycle life and efficient performance of batteries, increasing the regular maintenance activity for the electronic circuitry, batteries and charging mechanism. Harry Lindgren, at Eatonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s power quality division says that UPS servicing is a growing business for the company â&#x20AC;&#x201D; customers of critical power equipment understand that preventive maintenance is required to ensure the smooth running of the UPS, which in turn is needed to protect their critical loads. â&#x20AC;&#x153;More advanced remote monitoring and predictive methods are areas that are quickly being developed, not just for the UPS system itself but the energy storage that comes with it because batteries are not always the most reliable source,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For optimal UPS performance, accurate battery monitoring and management technologies are the key to success. Customers prefer this technology to be integrated into the UPS equipment, and not have it as a standalone system.â&#x20AC;?

UPS industry trends bypreference battery type â&#x20AC;˘ Shift in battery type Shift in battey type preference

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UPS battery trends by technology type, with ďŹ&#x201A;ooded lead acid giving way to 12V VRLA which is now used across most UPS system sizes Source: C&D Technologies

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

In the small-scale UPS market — up to 5KVA — which tends to cater to domestic demand, the Asia-Paciﬁc region, led by China, India, as well as south-east Asian countries, are driving demand.

UPS and battery demand trends For the lead acid battery industry, UPS is an important end-use market within reserve power. UPS itself can be further segmented by end-use demand, such as data centres and industrial, as well as by different UPS system sizes. In developed markets, such as the US, UK, Germany and Japan, demand for large-scale UPS, above 100KVA, is high. In the small-scale UPS market — up to 5KA — which tends to cater to domestic demand, the Asia-Pacific region, led by China, India, as well as south-east Asian countries, are driving demand. In China, end-use markets include semiconductor manufacturing, which typically takes place in large fabricating plants that use continuous production processes. These require high quality power, supplied at a constant voltage, with no dips or sags as many processes have to occur at certain high temperatures and power disturbances can lead to downtime and materials wastage that cost money. UPS and grid equipment supplier ABB recently expanded its foothold in the low voltage UPS market in China, where it supplies the semiconductor as well as other continuous process industries, which include biotech, automotive and food and drink, to launch a MV UPS system. As well as the manufacturing sector, the system has been designed with the global large-scale data centre market

56 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

where ABB is looking to increase its share. Within Asia, India is expected to contribute to the region’s UPS demand, which will grow at a rate of 11% between 2014 and 2018, according to market analyst RNCOS. Demand for larger UPS systems, up to 100KVA, as opposed to 25KVA and less, will be where the growth occurs, much of it from the data centre enduse market. AEG PS also has a substantial installed base for its UPS systems in the commercial sector and recently launched a system, Protect Blue, targeting the large data centre market. The system is seeing interest in markets where demand for data centres for multinationals is on the rise, such as central and eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific. In more developed data centre markets, such as western Europe, the system is attracting interest from endusers looking to replace their old UPS systems, with more energy efficient and modular products. As well as data centres, the food and drink industry is

also interested in a modular UPS system, says Alessandro Nalbone, an engineer at AEG PS. According to a recent market forecast by Frost & Sullivan, the global data centre UPS market is on a course for steady growth over the next four years. North America is the largest data centre UPS market, worth nearly $610 million in 2013, followed by Europe then Asia-Pacific. To 2018, North America will see the highest growth rate, followed by AsiaPacific and Europe, which will have similar rates of growth over the next four years. In the overall global UPS market, lead acid battery technology dominates with a market share in excess of 70%. Within this sealed lead acid batteries — VRLA and AGM nowadays account for about 90%. Flooded lead acid batteries used to dominate the UPS market, in the largest segments of 500KVA, 750KVA and 1000KVA. Then, 12V VRLA was the lead acid battery of choice more in the smaller UPS sizes, such as 20KVA and, to an extent, 250KVA, while 2V VRLA had small shares of the 250KVA, 500KVA and 750KVA business. This is no longer the case. 12V VRLA batteries completely dominate the 20KVA to 250KVA UPS segment and with a 60% share of the 500KVA segment versus 30% for flooded and 10% for 2V VRLA, dropping down to 25% up to 1000KVA. Now, 12V VRLA is the only battery technology with a share across the entire UPS market, from small to large-scale. In the next five years, the trend towards greener data centres, run off of renewable electricity, will have a minimal impact on the UPS industry’s dependence on lead acid. However, over the long-term, the trend will increase the use of alternative battery chemistries, predicts Frost & Sullivan.

In the overall global UPS market, lead acid battery technology dominates with a market share in excess of 70%. Within this sealed lead acid batteries — VRLA and AGM account for about 90%. www.batteriesinternational.com

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS The grid is becoming less reliable at handling ﬂuctuations caused by adding more sources of wind and solar. The latest thinking is that more sophisticated UPS systems might be used to help handle the problem. But the question is whether the time for change is yet upon us.

The next big thing: UPS ﬁnds an extra purpose — challenges, opportunities What if dumb UPS batteries could be turned into smarter than smart assets? And what if these batteries could deliver an unwavering UPS service but support the grid by providing balancing services? And — at the same time — add an income stream for the operator of a data centre? These are questions at the heart of a shake-up in the way that grid delivery is being viewed. The concept has been promoted by companies such as Ecoult, a subsidiary of East Penn Manufacturing, that is commercializing an energy storage technology based on lead carbon chemistry. “The UPS battery is a sunken cost depreciating asset sitting around waiting for the power to fail,” says Rob Neidlinger S&C’s director, business development, power quality product. “But add ancillary services to the mix and this same depreciating asset becomes a revenue generator. At the very least the dual purpose UPS lessens the financial burden on an enterprise that needs the UPS anyway.” Traditional lead-acid batteries in UPS applications sit on float waiting until a grid failure takes place. Attempting to use them to charge and discharge rapidly, as required for the dual functionality, of providing grid balancing would cause deterioration — put simply this is not what traditional lead acid batteries were designed for.

Dual functions To do the dual function would require even more investment in storage than data centre and other large users of UPS are used to paying for, but the idea is that they would be compensated for by the grid operator. Changes in regulations and initia-

58 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

“We need to look at other factors outside the data centre. As more renewables come online replacing stable nuclear/coal generation the power quality on the grid is going to weaken. Thus the ancillary services market is going to become more lucrative.” tives are already helping to facilitate storage in electricity wholesale markets in North America. The largest of these operators, PJM Interconnection, pays a good price for frequency regulation signals met by energy storage — these are able to respond more quickly to signals than gas peaking plants, which are slower to

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

“Data centres and provision of frequency regulation, these are two fundamentally different business models so it is hard to see the data centre industry wanting to get into grid services” — Daniel Baileys, Generex ABB’s power conditioning global product line says it’s a topic that is being discussed with more frequency, and may become a requirement if pushed by regulation from utilities and governments. “Features such as load levelling, using the UPS to reduce the peak loads that are seen by the grid is one of the application that could add value to the customer,” he says. But Dan Baileys, chief executive of Generex in the US, is not so sure. “Data centres and provision of frequency regulation, these are two fundamentally different business models so it is hard to see the data centre industry wanting to get into grid services.”

Time for change But, according to Neidlinger, the sector is set for change. “I see a lot of trends all heading to a convergence where it will make a dual purpose UPS a reality. First, renewables are coming down in cost, especially solar. Lithium ion battery prices are also coming down. “We need to look at other factors outside the data centre. As more renewables come online replacing stable nuclear/coal generation the power quality on the grid is going to weaken. Thus the ancillary services market is going to become more lucrative,” says Neidlinger. The idea fits in with wider ideas and debates about the future role of data centres and their potential to be at the heart of microgrids as they strive to reduce their carbon footprint with onsite generation of electricity and insulated against the increasingly frequent grid outages and disturbances that are predicted. UPS systems — targeting hyperscale data centres — are already designed to be able to integrate renewable energy sources like solar PV as well as various energy storage technologies. To create a microgrid, if the utility supply is lost, the UPS must provide power for the loads manage the power flow in the microgrid itself, ensuring that renewable generation can continue to operate. Companies like S&C are showing

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how it is possible to integrate different technologies, fuel cells, wind turbines, solar arrays, grid connection, diesel back-up, natural gas turbines, UPS, batteries, together on one site. As well as integrate renewable energy sources into a critical facility, a UPS might provide a range of grid services, not only frequency regulation but also demand response, where upon a grid signal the UPS could island a facility to reduce demand for a period of time, or provide voltage regulation services to the grid. According to Frost & Sullivan, the trend is very much in the evaluation stage for very large data centres. It could mean that batteries, which have been driven to commodity level prices, in the UPS industry come to play a more significant storage role, potentially opening up new demand for some of the advanced lead technologies as well as a variety of other advanced batteries that are finding their way into stationary storage and distributed generation applications. The contribution by data centres to Europe’s overall electricity consumption is estimated to be 2%-2.5%, but with an annual growth rate of 10%15%, this is likely to double to around 5% within the next five years. A handful of data centres have been built in recent years that are zero carbon, such as GCI’s smart bunker in the UK, which is supplied with all of its electricity by renewables and big blue chips such as Google and Apple, which have a lot of their data centres in North Carolina, pushing utilities to invest more in renewable generation. The three-year EU-funded GreenDataNet project, being led by Eaton, will demonstrate how it will be possible to achieve big efficiency gains for data centres, as well as environmental benefits. The project will demonstrate networks of data centres running on

renewable energy and help create new market opportunities for data centres that can use, store and also share renewable energy. Part of GreenDataNet will work on the integration of local PV energy in combination with a large-scale storage using second-life EV lithium ion batteries from project partner Nissan, enabling the connection of data centres to smart grids.

The green grid “For example, one day a data centre in a town or city will be able to store energy harvested from its own, or local, solar arrays and windmills for use when needed,” says Cyrille Brisson, a vice president of Eaton’s EMEA power quality business. “It will also be able to distribute this energy — and waste heat energy — to local businesses and homes using a green grid. “The energy may be stored in second-use EV batteries which, while no longer in optimal condition for vehicular use, have plenty of life left in them.” Showing how these lithium ion batteries can be recycled in data centres will also contribute to making the IT and EV supply chains more sustainable. The project, which has entered its second year, is in talks with some end users that are interested in running pilot schemes. First tests in laboratories and pilots in data centres should start in 2015.

Part of GreenDataNet will work on the integration of local PV energy in combination with a large-scale storage using second-life EV lithium ion batteries from project partner Nissan, enabling the connection of data centres to smart grids. Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 61

COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

UPS: the basics OBJECTIVES While electricity utilities try to supply clean, stable electrical power to their customers, there are times when the network may be overloaded or subject to accidents or emergencies which could give rise to the following fault conditions: Black-out This is a complete loss of power lasting for more than one cycle, often caused by an accident or serious overload to the network. Brown-outs and sags These are long duration voltage reductions often caused by excessive demand on the system. Swell This is an increase from nominal voltage lasting one or more line cycles, possibly caused by the

inability of the generating equipment to follow sudden changes in demand. Spikes and surges These are short duration increases in voltage possibly caused by transients in the system. Frequency drift: This is the inability of the generating system to maintain a stable system frequency. Apart from a prolonged power outage, many applications can tolerate some or all of these faulty conditions, however there are certain critical applications such as industrial processes or computer and communications installations, for which continuity of supply within narrow tolerances is essential. When faults occur, batteries can come to the rescue, maintaining the security of supply.

SPECIFICATIONS The following factors relating to the intended application should be taken into account when specifying a UPS.

the battery back up in case of mains failure or from battery power to mains power when normal power is restored. This time should be significantly less than the application hold up time to allow for a safety margin. For computer applications a transfer time of less than 5 ms is advisable, however, it should be noted that an oversensitive unit may make unnecessary power transfers.

Hold up time is the length of time that the power supply used in an application can still provide a viable output without an input supply. This is possible because the energy stored in capacitive and inductive elements in the power supply can continue to supply the load for a short period. For example, in switch mode power supplies, typically used in computer equipment, the hold up time can range from 10-30 ms.

Power handling is the normal power consumption of the application which the UPS must be able to supply during emergency periods.

Transfer time is the time taken by the UPS to switch from mains to

Inrush current is the momentary peak input current required by electrical

62 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

equipment when it is initially switched on due to charging up inductive and capacitive loads.This can be many times it’s normal operating current but is usually of very short duration. It can effect the sizing of UPS and the setting and timing of protection circuits. Back up time is the time period for which the UPS is required to support the load in case of mains failure. The required back up time depends on the user’s system design and objectives. It may only need to be long enough to provide power to permit the orderly shut down of the application or it could be required to power the application for the full duration of any expected power outage. Alternatively the

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS

UPS is designed to automatically provide emergency power, without delay or transients, to critical applications in case of an interruption to, or unacceptable condition of the mains/utility supply. Some UPSs also ﬁlter or regulate mains or utility power. METHODS AND OPTIONS A UPS contains three basic components, a battery, a charger and an inverter used in three alternative topologies: off-line (standby), online (no break) and line-interactive. The inverter will also include some form of filtering to eliminate noise and distortion from the output wave. Off line or standby UPS These are simple inexpensive systems providing only basic protection. In normal situations the UPS passes the mains power directly to the load. The mains power provides a single DC line which keeps the battery charged. When the UPS detects a voltage too low, it turns on the inverter to power the load from the battery. The system is relatively slow (longer than 4ms) and the delay between mains power loss and inverter start-up can be long enough to disrupt the operation of some sensitive loads. This technology does not normally provide full time power conditioning but it may use a simple filter to clip

spikes and electrical noise. On-line or no-break UPS These are designed to provide a zero transfer time, with better voltage and frequency regulation than that can be achieved by off line and line interactive UPS. In on-line systems the mains power is used to provide two DC power lines which feed both the charger and the inverter which is permanently turned on providing the AC power to the application. When the mains fails, the inverter instantaneously draws its DC supply from the battery instead of the mains. The method by which the AC load is permanently supplied by the system inverter and not the mains is called “double conversion” since the charger provides the AC-DC conversion and the inverter converts the DC back to AC again. On line systems typically provide full power conditioning, protecting

the load from all forms of power disturbances, including brownouts, blackout, transient surges or sags. In the event of a mains power failure, there is no delay or transfer time to backup power. These systems are however more costly and have both higher power consumption, and higher heat generation. Line interactive UPS These systems contain an off-line inverter but also use a transformer to supply to the load. In the event of a mains failure the inverter is started and switched to the transformer to provide the output. The transformer is used to provide line conditioning however it also maintains output on its secondary briefly when a total outage occurs increasing the hold up time of the UPS. This results in a break in the output of a few milliseconds or less and is thus faster than a simple off line UPS.

UPS may only be needed long enough to permit the connection and start up of alternative power from a high power rotary generator. The capacity of the UPS storage battery is determined by the current drawn by the load and the required back up time.

ings in a transformer. Because there is no physical connection from input to output, the effect of transient interference from the mains supply is minimised and the safety of the application is improved.

failure while maintaining power to the more critical loads thus extending the effective back up time of the UPS.

Power conditioning or line conditioning is the provision of a regulated voltage and frequency power line with a pure sine wave free from electrical noise and ripple. Isolation is the complete electrical separation of the output of the UPS from the input power line. Power is coupled from the line input to the UPS output through separate wind-

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Orderly shutdown is the process of sequentially closing down hardware and/or software processes in the application so that no corruption of data occurs and/or no safety hazards are created. The back up time should be long enough to permit orderly shut down of the application. Load shedding is the ability to selectively shut off power to less critical loads during an extended power

Load sequencing is the ability to selectively turn on or off specific loads in a preset pattern during startup and/ or shutdown. This may be for safety reasons or to minimise the initial inrush current. Recharge time is the length of time UPS takes to recharge the batteries after a discharge. Hot swapping is changing equipment while power is being supplied and used. This may be necessary for changing over battery packs.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 63

COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS The latest iteration of uninterruptible power supply systems faces a new set of challenges from ever larger and ever more complex data centres.

Big is beautiful too UPS systems are more commonplace today in a host of industries, from ecommerce and services to manufacturing, but the IT industry, with its data centres that are much bigger in size and scale than those built years ago, places challenges on UPS systems and energy storage. At the extreme end, it is not unusual for large corporations in businesses heavily reliant to the internet, such as global logistics, to operate data cen-

As data centres get larger — 10MW is a good starting point for a hyperscale data centre — the traditional model of distributing power, coming in from the mains on medium voltage lines, and distributed to the various loads along lower voltage cables, over considerable distance, becomes more complex.

tres with UPS systems that connect up to thousands of batteries and several large diesel generators. Rob Neidlinger, S&C’s director for business development, power quality products, puts the super-sizing trend down to consolidation within the industry. He reckons this is driven by both the cloud and co-location, where small to medium enterprises are opting to rent data centre space provided by hosting companies, or opt to outsource their IT storage needs to cloud services, freeing them up to focus on their core expertise, rather than operating data centres. “With this consolidation, data centre loads are getting larger so that these loads are becoming a larger percentage of overall energy consumed. This is drawing the interest of the federal government and utilities,” he says. “A few percentage points of efficiency with a 300kW load, by itself, is not that significant. A 20MW data centre, however, is a different story.” Traditional UPS systems tended to waste about 7%-10% of energy through inefficiency. These UPS systems are typically 480V devices, which limits the data centre to about 4000A, or 3x750 kVA, with commercially available switchgear. Most designs deploy multiple UPS systems with transformers upstream and PDU transformers downstream adding another 6% of inefficiency. S&C Electric provides large efficient UPS systems at medium voltage with its Purewave technology. A large 32MW data centre, for instance, would need several 3x750 kVA systems with numerous transformers. “If you used a Purewave UPS you could go with a 4x8MW system at medium voltage. The efficiency is 99% and one of the transformers is eliminated, reducing waste from 12%–15%, down to 4%,” says Neidlinger.

Traditional models to fade ABB launched the PCS100 MW UPS system to expand its share of large-scale UPS demand from industries including IT and manufacturing

64 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

As data centre needs get larger — 10MW is a good starting point for a hyperscale data centre — the traditional model of distributing power, coming in from the mains on medium voltage lines, and distributed to the various

loads along lower voltage cables, over considerable distance, becomes more complex. ABB’s new medium voltage UPS system is aimed at the data centre industry, particularly hyperscale data centres, as well as manufacturing, where the company already supplies its low voltage UPS systems, especially in Asia, for industries heavily reliant on continuous production processes, including semiconductor and automotive. “In recent years the loads have changed, so that almost all loads are switched-mode power supplies that have high levels of voltage and frequency tolerance, so the electricity supply feeding data centres needs to be highly reliable and available whereas in the past the focus was on highly voltage-regulated and frequency-stable power,” says John Penny, general manager for ABB’s power conditioning global product line. Compared with large semiconductor plants, mega-data centres have similar characteristics in terms of having highly critical loads, as well as similar electrical and environmental requirements, tending towards free air cooling. Medium levels of voltage allow the power protection equipment to be located in a centralized place, away from the factory or the data centre operations, and takes up a smaller footprint. In addition, very large data centres are now normally connected to (or have close connection to) transmission-level power where longer outages are very rare, so the primary need for protection is against voltage sags and short outages although some owners still want time to start a standby generators. Efficiency is improved with modern single conversion MV UPS systems. “For example the new PCS100 MV UPS offers around 99.5% efficiency, while the typical modern transformerless low voltage UPS systems typically operate in the 95%–96% efficiency range for normal operating mode or 98% for ecomode,” says Penny. Protect Blue, a recent UPS system offered by AEG Power Solutions, is designed to be modular, so data centres,

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The BACS™ Battery Management System

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COVER STORY: THE CHANGING FACE OF UPS or industrial end-users with similar requirements, can expand their UPS with growth of their data centres. The UPS provides up to 4MVA power with up to 16 250KVA blocks in parallel. The modular system means that a common infrastructure is in place for interconnection with the input and output electrical system as well as other blocks. The risk of malfunction is reduced by a simplified switching system. Various battery configurations, common or distributed, are possible for high levels of redundancy and availability. The system can also integrate solar power. AES describes it as being smart grid ready. These are all specifics in a much larger landscape of UPS systems that is still growing rapidly. Emerging battery technologies as alternatives to lead acid, used in the backup and UPS markets will grow six-fold from sales of $143 million in 2013 to $896 million in 2020, according to Lux Research, with recent UPS systems, including ABB’s medium voltage offering, able to work with a number of different storage technologies, including ultracapacitors, lithium ion batteries, flywheels, as well as lead acid. According to Frost & Sullivan, however, chemistries such as sodium sulphur and sodium nickel chloride are gaining momentum, while lithium ion is held back by cost in UPS markets, such as data centres, though the battery chemistry is making inroads in telecoms backup.

The rise of the supercap In terms of storage, ABB’s Penny sees some big changes taking place. In the industrial UPS segment, where short autonomies, of up to 10 seconds, are acceptable ultracapacitors have found widespread use due to their comparatively small size and competitively long design life. In the more traditional data centre UPS market, absorbed glass mat batteries still dominate, but as low impedance designs optimized for short autonomies find greater acceptance, this could result in more widespread uptake of ultracapacitors. “There is a lot of interest in lithium ion batteries for UPS protection but high capital costs and some safety concerns have slowed acceptance,” says Penny. “This could change in the future as the automotive industry adopts this technology for electric cars and resolves cost and safety issues.” ABB has incorporated lithium ion

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“VRLA has the advantage of having a wider product availability and it is also environmentally friendly as it is highly recyclable. Additionally, the power density is also good and in stationary applications, such as UPS, the low gravimetric energy density of VRLA is not a primary concern” — Lingdren, Eaton batteries on the same power converter technology as used in PCS100 MV UPS, but in grid support battery energy storage applications. Harry Lindgren, a manager within Eaton’s power quality EMEA division agrees, listing high cost of the products, plus their potential safety risks, especially for lithium-based chemistries, and the limited commercial availability of the products themselves as reasons that are holding back their uptake at present. “VRLA has the advantage of having a wider product availability and it is also environmentally friendly as it is highly recyclable. Additionally, the power density is also good and in stationary applications, like UPS, low gravimetric energy density of VRLA is not a primary concern,” he says.” However, one of the challenges with the advent of large data centres is making efficient use of the space, which means more room for servers and less for the overhead of power protection, cooling and so on. “Lithium ion batteries have a much better energy density therefore saving space. Some technologies are also able to perform at higher temperatures, allowing more free air cooling and reducing the costs of cooling,” says Penny. As lithium ion prices continue to drop, Neidlinger sees this development

pulling the technology into many more applications, including UPS. “The power density and cycle count are such positives. I see this battery replacing VRLA in many applications where space, weight, or longevity is valued,” he says.

Protect Blue, a recent UPS system offered by AEG Power Solutions

Data centre UPS market revenue forecast by region – 2013 to 2018 900

824.4

800 700

609.2 674.7

600 500

515.3 477.6

400 300

327.9

200 100

221.3

160.1

0 2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

— NA — EUROPE — APAC — ROW

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 67

BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION It’s been a long time coming but the new ruling by the PHMSA will ﬁnally solve some of the regulations that have plagued issues over battery packaging and transportation.

The tangled joys of compliance

Rulings, revisions, exceptions and memos have mounted to the point that the simple task of sending a battery from point A to point B became tantamount to mounting a moon launch. 68 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Issues related to the safe packaging and shipment of lithium-ion and other advanced chemistry batteries have frustrated national and international industry, governmental and regulatory bodies ever since their inception and subsequent widespread adoption. Over the last two decades, agencies, industries, and special interest groups have met regularly to debate and negotiate regulations that would successfully address concerns for the safe packaging and transport of these batteries — only to encounter new concerns to be balanced, advancements to be accommodated, discrepancies to be addressed. Rulings, revisions, exceptions and memos have mounted to the point that the simple task of sending a battery from point A to point B became tantamount to mounting a moon launch. As this magazine noted in our spring 2012 issue — Playing according to the rules — US regulatory agencies have been working to harmonize discrepancies in language, definitions and requirements between national and international bodies that too often resulted in confusing and unintentional noncompliance. This August, the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) handed down the longawaited ruling HM-224F, which finally resolved long standing issues related to the classification and packaging for shipment of lithium batteries and packs, many of which require specialized packaging services. And that, say industry players, dangerous goods and hazardous materials consultants and trainers, should make life a lot easier for anyone — manufacturers, re-shippers, distributors and retailers — wanting to transport lithium batteries across North America and internationally. So what changes do the new rules entail, and how do they affect the industry? And more to the point, why does DOT complaint packaging of these batteries specifically, matter more than ever? While all batteries must be evaluated and classified according to CFR49 specifications, lithium ion batteries are subject to more regulations per applicable modal packaging specifications and state-of-health considerations.

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION Initially released in January 2010, the current PHMSA ruling has been revised repeatedly over the last four years to accommodate legislative changes in the US as well as international regulations related to their transport, given that shipping modes play such an important role in determining packaging specifications. Of all the thorny issues the new HM 224F ruling addresses, its most significant relief may be in its harmonization of previously conflicting regulations, in some instances marrying discrepancies between national and international requirements that have plagued players for years. Given that batteries are not always packaged in the original factory container, problems can multiply rapidly as they ship from factory to customer to test lab to packager to loading dock, and then repeat the whole process again once they’re placed in a device or product, says Rich Byczek, global technical lead, transportation technologies at Intertek. “Packaging and labelling, inner versus outer packaging — there are a lot of nuances depending on the type of battery, the size, the number of batteries, whether or not they’re shipped inside equipment, with equipment or by themselves. An EV pack presents more issues, since normally it will be shipped from a service centre or a manufacturer to an assembly plant, rather than between consumers, retailers and distributors. “This is where regulatory vigilance is critical, and the new ruling does a lot to make compliance easier in several key areas.”

Identiﬁcation To date, regulations coming out of multiple agencies, despite continual tinkering, have remained stubbornly unwieldy to the point of confusion. Just determining content has resulted in elaborate parsing of definitive language. “A case in point is the matter of conflicting identification numbers for dangerous good between agencies,” says Tom Ferguson, director of technical services for Currie and Associates, a New York-based hazardous materials and dangerous goods training and consulting company. Though the UN updated its model regulations to identify lithium-ion batteries as UN3480 and lithium metal batteries as UN3090 some years ago, the US has continued to use one identification number — UN3090

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“In coming up with new vocabulary, the ruling harmonizes the lingua franca of international battery language so you don’t need three dictionaries to ﬁgure out how to pack and ship a battery.” — for both lithium ion and lithium metal cells and batteries. Since these numbers must be clearly stated on the package labeling for identification during transport, confusion — and non-compliance — reigned. “When carriers and test labs received a shipment from a company with a dangerous good identified as UN3480, they would look it up in the PHMSA hazardous materials table, and finding no product identified under that number could refuse shipment of these items labelled as 3480 if they so choose,” Ferguson says. “The differences here are critical because these are completely different chemistries requiring completely different emergency responses. You would want to use water on a fire involving lithium-ion but you would not use water on a fire involving lithium metal. So the distinction is very important in transport, particularly to first responders.” Regulatory agencies, recognizing the need to resolve this over time, issued an interim letter of approval identifying the confusing language and offering temporary directives while they worked out more definitive terminology. But of course, a lot of people didn’t get that letter, he says. “And not knowing that interim changes had been made, they followed the ruling as it existed in their latest PHMSA hazardous materials table,

Rich Byczek, global technical lead, transportation technologies at Intertek

Tom Ferguson, director of technical services for Currie and Associates

HM-224F — WHAT IT RESOLVES • Replaces equivalent lithium content with watt-hours for lithium ion cells and batteries, and adds a definition of watthour. • Adopts separate definitions and shipping descriptions for lithiummetal batteries and lithium-ion batteries. • Includes a definition for a shortcircuit. • Revises provisions for the transport of small and medium lithium cells and batteries, including cells and batteries

packed with, or contained inside equipment • Revises the requirements for the transport of low production and prototype lithium cells and batteries for disposal or recycling. • Harmonizes the provisions for the transport of low production and prototype lithium cells and batteries with the ICAO Technical Instructions and the IMDG Code. • Adopts new provisions for the transport of damaged, defective and recalled lithium batteries.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 69

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

Why compliant packaging matters Given that the regulatory environment is complex, its processes intense, and the consequences of failure to meet mandated packaging requirements are potentially so catastrophic — regulators, consultants, testing labs and experienced manufacturers all attest to the value of utilizing the services of an experienced hazardous materials packing consultant or package supplier. “Depending on the type of battery, the size, the number of batteries, whether or not they’re shipped inside equipment, with equipment or by themselves, compliant packaging

“When you’re focused on product design you’re focused on the product, not delivery. You really must have the foresight to understand that you need to bring someone in to do this, or you need to learn how to do this yourselves, and do it very well” — John Warner, XALT Energy

72 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

entails a lot of nuances,” says Rich Byczek, global technical lead, transportation technologies at Intertek. “And because the regulations are always in flux, and most industry people are typically too busy to keep up with them all, you are well advised to work with an outside party whose business it is to know them all and deliver the appropriate packaging for the situation.” To date, the field of suppliers capable of providing a wide range of US Department of Transportation compliant dangerous goods services remains somewhat divided by purpose and function. Consultants, always in demand, provide guidance in every aspect of the manufacturing, handling, shipping, legislation and regulation, national and international, pertaining to all dangerous goods and hazardous materials. For actual packaging, manufacturers and shippers can access the services of packaging suppliers that typically provide the actual packages, boxes, and containers, whether off-the-shelf stock items or special turnkey designs manufactured to order. Since few packagers have the capacity to test each package as the DOT requires, most shippers must send their package samples, as produced by the supplier, to a certified DOT testing laboratories specially set up to perform the mandated battery of tests required by regulation on each package, as well as provide required certification and documentation. Not all suppliers can meet every need. Some packaging suppliers lack the capacity to address the more extreme challenges that large packs often present, and few test labs are qualified to meet the more stringent UN DOT requirements for their testing and certification. Even battery manufacturers large enough to support an in-house staff capable of keeping abreast of the

regulations and designing their own compliant packaging, find they run into problems they can’t always solve without expert advice. For example, just meeting the requirements every package must meet to comply with national and international regulations crafted to meet the specific environmental challenges that a chosen transport mode — waterway, sea, land, air — can impose upon that battery can be daunting even to experienced personnel. The Saft battery plant in Jacksonville, Florida, where Richard Metcalf works as materials manager, ships over 20,000 batteries a year, many of those by ocean. “We’ve learned that sea transport presents different packaging challenges, given the risks associated with corrosion due to the humid atmospheric conditions from ocean air,” says Metcalf. “The battery has to be sealed, so we worked with our package supplier, HAZplus, in St Louis, Missouri to design packaging that seals the inside of the package, to make sure that humidity does not penetrate the package. They also print our art work, logo and shipping markings and HazMat labels right on the box, to reduce the chances that crucial information can be ripped, peeled or soaked off by various environmental factors.” Many experienced battery manufacturers who ship a lot, affirm the importance of designing the package in early stages of the process — while the battery design is still on the drafting table — not at the end. John Warner, vice president of sales and marketing for XALT Energy, recalls too many instances where no one thinks about shipping until after they’ve built the battery. “When you’re focused on product design you’re focused on the product, not delivery,” he says. “You really must have the foresight to understand that you need to bring someone in to

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

do this, or you need to learn how to do this yourselves, and do it very well. You don’t want to be in a position of building the proverbial sailboat in the basement: designing and producing the whole thing, and then getting it to the dock and then thinking, uh-oh, how do we ship this? It’s just not an instinctive step in the product development thought process.” He relates once working with a team developing a 15 kilowatt-hour battery pack measuring 2.5 ft. by 3 ft. and weighing 200 kilograms. At some point he knew they needed to consult a DOT packaging specialist who could give some ideas and quotes on options. “The packager we selected made a prototype, brought it Ideally, you work with a knowledgeable, experienced HazMat in and used a lift to place the packager to create what the situation requires, and includes battery into the box/crate, and make sure it would fit the way basic factors you might not consider, like the forklift model, we wanted, so we could discuss and how well it might or might not be able to reach, engage and consider. It was a matter of understanding the points at and lift the product from inside a given container. which the pack could be picked up and lifted out. We ended up rethinking the that it achieves drop test certification the customer is happy with.” entire design of the box, starting with as well. We want it to be ready to go But even when it’s all done right, the top. Rather than having the top before we even win the contract.” sometimes batteries can still be damcoming off and opening the sides, He relates that his team recently aged in transit. Warner recalls a case we inverted the design some to allow worked with their packager to design when they used steel drums and vereasier access and removal. We wanted a new package for a customer who re- miculite and shipped the products to to ensure the design allowed us to get quired that it pass a drop test where the required standards, and they arto the battery easily inside the box. it could survive it a hard drop intact, rived damaged nonetheless. Taking the extra time to do this made allowing no damage to the product “Ideally, you work with an knowlshipping much easier when we got to inside. edgeable, experienced HazMat packthat point, and eventually assembly “They also wanted it designed in ager to create what the situation reon the other end as well.” such a way that it could be picked quires, and includes basic factors you Designing the package ahead can of- up by a forklift, since a person would might not consider, like the forklift ten translate into sales too. not be able to lift it,” he says. “That model, and how well it might or might “One of the ways we get business the forklift might lift it higher than a not be able to reach, engage and lift is to ship samples in small quantities person would lift it meant any drop the product from inside a given conto customers to see if they like the de- would be harder and potentially more tainer,” he says. “Should you put a sign,” says Saft’s Metcalf. “We provide damaging — unless we could design lid on the top? Should you design it samples to HAZplus very early in the for that, which we did, to the com- so that you can disassemble the four process so they can be designing the plete satisfaction of the customer. walls, for easier handling logistics? It’s packaging around the product, even “Once we win the business, we in- often a process of trial and error until as we make it. It is important that crease the volume — saving costs be- you test the package, and even then there be no gaps inside, that all items cause we’ve already worked out the you can’t always prepare for unforefit tightly so there is no movement and packaging we’re happy with, and that seen circumstances.”

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 73

BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

Precision in packing and accurate documentation are as vital as regulatory knowledge

which doesn’t adequately distinguish the conflicting UN 3090 labels for both lithium ion and lithium metal batteries. So we found responsible, diligent clients suddenly — and quite unintentionally — non-compliant and sometimes facing fines.”

A more common lingua franca The new ruling also harmonizes conflicting language in describing what specific elements and materials actually constitute lithium ion batteries. Lithium metal batteries have long been described, domestically and internationally, by the amount of lithium content (real lithium metal) in the battery in grammes. But the US and international rules differed in language they used to define lithium ion batteries. “While international measured nominal energy in Watt-hours, the US had continued to use an outdated term — “Equivalent Lithium Content” (ELC) — for lithium ion batteries,” Ferguson says. “The ELC term required the shipper to calculate the danger posed by lithium ion batteries by looking at voltage and the number of cells contained within. The value was somehow supposed to give a measurement of how dangerous rechargeable battery was. “The ELC value was expressed in grams. The biggest problem was that if your cells were connected in series you might get one value, but if they were connected in parallel, you might get a different value — for the same battery with the same number of cells.” What HM-224F does is harmonize the small descriptive discrepancies for lithium ion cells and batteries that have frustrated shippers for years. “Now, both national and international regulations determine the nominal energy of these batteries in Watthours, which is easily calculated as the battery voltage multiplied by ampere hours,” he says. “In coming up with new vocabulary, the ruling harmonizes the lingua franca of international

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battery language so you don’t need three dictionaries to figure out how to pack and ship a battery.”

Quantity and quality Another concern the ruling addresses is the propensity of lithium-ion batteries for fire propagation. Before this there has been no limit on how many small batteries could be included inside one box. “The new ruling now gives specific directives on how many, and how they should be packed to avoid contagion, and thermal runaway,” Ferguson says. “While they do not specify any required packing and filler materials, they do mandate that they be nonconductive and non-combustible.” Issues related to the packaging and shipping of damaged or worn out batteries are also addressed in the new ruling, which consolidates special provisions with packing instructions for fully regulated, Class 9 batteries, that is batteries packed with, and batteries contained in equipment; lithium cells and batteries shipped for disposal or recycling; low production and prototype battery provisions; damaged, defective or recalled batteries, and prototype batteries. In clarifying that these units are to be shipped as fully regulated hazardous items with labels that state their true status as damaged, drained or depleted, HM-224F recognizes that the very large packs are not going to be shipped by a consumer. “They’re always going to use a large format package, says Byczek. “The new regulation recognizes these are industrial grade items, so there is more control on how those are handled than on a consumer product. An EV pack is not going to be shipped between consumers, retailers and distributors. Normally it will be shipped from a service centre or a manufacturer to an assembly plant, and that’s why getting a specialized set of hands on that package is so important.” It also means that utilizing the right

packaging, produced by a skilled packaging supplier, will be more important than ever. “Requirements are still fairly strict, in which case packagers would still have to provide the correct metal drums and other packages to DOT spec levels,” says Byczek. “But the need for this specialized service definitely narrows the range of suitable packagers down some, because only a few are qualified to ship units presenting more stringent requirements.”

Documentation Another function of the new rule is to clarify issues of content definition, packaging and documentation requirements, says Ferguson. “One notable new requirement is that manufacturers must now secure a test report and proof of certification for each battery, and keep this document on file for a certain amount of time,” he says. “They must be able to prove, in the event that regulators must investigate an incident, whether or not that testing and certification have been done. Before this, while manufacturers were expected to provide such information about their batteries; but because they classified it as proprietary, they didn’t always make it available. “This meant that clients who bought that battery and installed it had no way of knowing if the OEM had actually tested it. That shippers were nonetheless held accountable for the safety and viability of that battery was, of course, a source of constant frustration to them.” For the already compliant manufacturers, such clarifications facilitate shipping for everyone. They also, says Byczek, translate into considerable cost reductions. “By simplifying the overall rules and making it easier to know exactly what materials need to be shipped in what manner, with what certifications and what documentation — they become easier to enforce.”

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION Batteries International spoke to Bob Richard, a long-time US government expert on hazardous materials safety just weeks after PHMSA released its HM-224 F ruling to get a veteran regulator’s take on what the industry needs to know to package and transport batteries safely.

What the battery industry needs to know about the HM-224 F ruling Are the US Department of Transportation regulators and inspectors really able to enforce the DOT dangerous goods regulations as they apply to battery transport? There are always going to be those people who don’t understand the regulations and don’t prepare their packages properly. This is not always intentional but a result of overly complicated and complex regulations where even the most compliance minded shippers find it challenging to comply with the regulations. Also of concern is that carriers and governments are imposing their own rules — they can vary from airline to airline and state to state — over and above the regulations which complicates matters further. What may surprise is that during international meetings where the regulators discuss and develop regulations it is not uncommon for them to disagree on the meaning and interpretation of regulations that have been in existence for years.

How is the shipping community supposed to get it right if the regulators can’t even agree! Regulators and airlines are concerned about improperly prepared shipments, and rightly so, as a result of some disastrous incidents that have been linked to (but not substantiated) lithium batteries. Substandard packaging and batteries that are not properly designed, tested and fitted with safety devices are a real concern. Undeclared shipments are a particular worry to carriers given the chance that they could

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be carrying something potentially problematic and not know about it. When the Obama administration took over, our enforcement staff was

expanded significantly, which was fine, but I was okay with the number of inspectors we had. In 2009 the agency performed more than 300 in-

BOB RICHARD: THE BACKGROUND

Before joining Labelmaster Services, where he has been vice president for government affairs since 2010, Bob Richard was the deputy associate administrator for hazardous materials safety with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) at the US Department of Transportation. During his 25 years there, he directed the day-to-day operations of the US Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety Program, and oversaw the regulatory development and enforcement ofﬁces, as well as 150 hazardous materials transportation specialists.

Richard has also been involved in a broad range of domestic and international hazardous materials safety efforts, including working as chairman of both the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods, and the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel. In his current capacity with US ﬁrm Labelmaster, Richard provides dangerous goods regulatory assistance to customers worldwide who value his experience, including knowledge of the hazardous materials regulations and his contacts with an extensive network of dangerous goods professionals.

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

What may surprise is that during international meetings where the regulators discuss and develop regulations it is not uncommon for them to disagree on the meaning and interpretation of regulations that have been in existence for years. spections of lithium battery shippers. At the time, I believed that having inspectors identify and issue penalties to shippers that were not complying with the regulations was one of several actions that were necessary to reduce the risk that lithium batteries pose in transportation. In my time as the PHMSA deputy associate administrator, I felt regulators should focus on actually fixing problems, that’s going after the consistent violators who cause many of these incidents — and don’t forget, many more of them occur than we ever find. As it is, regulators are imposing more and more onerous and overly complicated regulations and restrictions on the shippers who are complying with the regulations, while those that cut corners and offer substandard batteries are generally left to continue to put the public at risk. The less than scrupulous shippers who consistently ship poorly packaged, often undeclared consumer items containing these batteries pose the greatest risk and should be held accountable for their actions. These folks even exist on online auction sites which is scary! In many instances these shippers

are located in countries or regions were enforcement and safety oversight is less than desirable.

How international a dimension is there to this? The major problem is shipments coming out of countries where there is little oversight over shippers. In these countries the civil aviation authority puts the regulatory burden on the air carrier rather than the shippers — as opposed to the US, where the FAA and other modal administrations such as the PHMSA, or the FMCSA, have authority over shippers and carriers alike. We should be focusing at least 50% of our attention on people who originate these shipments, because they are responsible for compliant packaging and ensuring their batteries are properly designed and manufactured. Our approach when I worked as a regulator was to follow the bread crumbs! I used to tell my agents, when you find a non-compliant situation, don’t just issue a fine or a warning to the offending party. Follow the trail back to the person or company responsible for the error in packaging and transportation in the first place.

Enforcement resources should be focused on the root causes of incidents and changing the behaviours of those individuals that put us all at risk. Enforcement personnel should be allowed to use a multitude of tools and behaviour changing tactics to reduce risk.

Many complain about the seemingly arcane nature of some of the exemptions to DOT regulations. Can you explain why they’re needed? I recall a time when, while my agency was testifying in a hearing before a congressional committee, a congressman asked why the agency would issue an approval authorizing the shipment of a 100kg Li-ion battery from California to the east coast by air. Why not ship it by truck? Unfortunately the testifying official failed to explain that the battery was a one-of-a-kind lithium battery that, fitted with highly specialized control electronics, was destined for a weather satellite about to be launched into space. There, it would spot and forewarn of severe weather conditions, and in effect protect the lives of millions of people. Given the urgency and the high stakes, the situation was unusual. Shipping such a complex, sophisticated and costly unit by truck would have, given the higher rate of serious trucking/road accidents, presented far greater risk than shipping by air. And that’s why certain situations require exceptions to standard rules. Currently the International Civil

IS BATTERY TECHNOLOGY OUTPACING THE REGULATOR OR VICE VERSA We often hear the industry complain of overregulation, or needlessly cumbersome regulation. Are the current regulations really achieving the desired result? If the present focus continues, we’ll see more of the burden shifted on to the airlines and the airlines are going to say we can’t take this, it’s not economical. This also results in pushing and incentivizing unscrupulous shippers to offer undeclared cargo. What we need is a simpliﬁcation of

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the regulations and to include more industry experts in the regulatory development process with appropriate time for comment and consideration of the most practical alternatives and approaches to reducing risk. Battery technology is outpacing the regulations, so perhaps it’s time for a major overhaul with a focus on simplification. Some high profile prosecutions of violators, greater public vilification, and then shutting down unscrupulous shippers is needed. Unfortunately the US regulators have minimal authority over foreign violators.

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION Aviation Organization is in particular focused on ramping up regulations and restrictions on the transport of lithium batteries. ICAO’s regulatory development process does not optimally involve industry participation. Regulators need to ensure that by focusing on lithium batteries safety requirements applicable to air transport that they don’t overlook the consequences of their actions in other sectors of society. Regulators should focus on a multifaceted approach to reducing risk and incidents not just imposing more regulations and restrictions. Consultation with industry representatives can result in regulations that are clear, effective and appropriate. It is critical that the regulations are developed through a process that allows input from all industry sectors so that appropriate alternatives can be implemented, enforced and understood by shippers and carriers alike. These decisions should take into account the implications to supply chains and on other segments of society including issues related to the preservation of human life and preventing injuries and fatalities outside of the aviation community. Restrictions that are implemented without appropriate consideration of the implications outside of aviation safety could have serious and adverse impacts to public safety and health. For instance, lithium batteries are used in medical devices, weather monitoring and warning systems, surveillance, disaster relief, emergency response and security equipment among other applications. A regulation reducing a target risk for one area of focus may increase

Some regulators and industry trade associations have indicated that imposing more regulation may not improve compliance of those shippers who intentionally violate current regulations. Compliant shippers are burdened with new regulations resulting in the expenditure of signiﬁcant resources while noncompliant shippers continue to ignore the law. Shippers that continue to offer noncompliant shipments to air carriers need to be held accountable for their actions and penalized as appropriate as a means of changing behaviour

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The major problem is shipments coming out of countries where there is little oversight over shippers. In these countries the civil aviation authority puts the regulatory burden on the air carrier rather than the shippers. other risks ultimately resulting in greater loss of life, harm to the environment and the economy. All of these issues must ultimately be balanced. Safety agencies must be careful to avoid overlooking countervailing risks and examine potential risk trade-offs.

What advice do you give your clients, now that you’re a dangerous and hazardous goods regulation consultant? My clients range in size from small companies to large global corporations. Generally, I advise them on how to comply with the regulations and transport their dangerous goods safely and efficiently. I inform them about what any good inspector is going to look for and ensure that they’re prepared should they be visited by an enforcement officer. Most companies want to comply but have difficulty interpreting the regulations, tailoring their operations and training employees. Let’s say you have dangerous goods that you want to ship. That means the person who offers the package to a carrier has responsibilities to ensure that the shipment is compliant with the regulations — that it’s properly marked, labelled, packaged and documented. If there is an incident in trans-

that result in placing the public at risk. Understanding that even with the best safety oversight efforts aircraft may have undeclared shipments of lithium batteries is reason to ramp up the efforts to implement mitigation strategies that focus on enhancing ﬁre suppression and detection systems. As it is, regulators are imposing tighter and tighter rules on US manufacturers who are largely compliant anyway, effectively burdening them with additional regulations, restrictions and higher costs without much risk reduction or safety enhancement.

portation, the carrier is obliged to report it to the DOT. Once an incident is reported, there is a high probability that the shipper will be visited and inspected. One day the inspector will show up and you will have no choice but to let him in. It is always best to be prepared for inspections and to have a robust compliance program and safety culture that encourages employees to identify deficiencies and is not punitive. I tell them what any given violation could cost. Some of the FAA’s fines are steep, but some aren’t tough enough. And yes, some shippers decide to fly under the radar screen, take their chances and if caught just pay the fine. I also recommend, especially if they’re new to shipping, and unfamiliar with all the DOT regulations, to find and work with a hazardous materials professional that can advise them accordingly.

Enforcement resources should be focused on the root causes of incidents and changing the behaviours of those individuals that put us all at risk. To stay solvent these companies often end up pushing manufacturing overseas but then some of the overseas companies that are not properly policed and audited send substandard products back to the US via the same non-compliant operators and shippers that no one is monitoring anyway, and jeopardizing consumer and public safety. Thus US regulators, lacking enough boots on the ground to inspect all those port-of-entry situations, just can’t protect consumers from faulty, poorly manufactured products and batteries.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 79

BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION The enormous growth in the lithium battery industry has its counterpart in the need to deliver the product worldwide. In the last few years ﬁrms such as CL Smith have adapted their hazardous materials business to packaging and shipping to the world of batteries. Lynnda Greene proﬁles the company from its St Louis base in the US.

How to manage the hazards of managing the hazardous Every new technology provides both opportunities and risks. And no more so than the huge arrival of lithium batteries as the power source — and occasionally a dangerous one at that — for laptops and phones and, of late, larger devices. CL Smith, the US packaging company, set up a division called HAZPlus 15 years ago to handle the packaging and transport of hazardous materials — and, realizing the business opportunities from the new wave of lithium battery emerging, later adapted it for battery materials. “We entered battery packaging about seven years ago,” says Lynn Bowman, strategic account executive for CL Smith. “But it was the proliferation of regulatory requirements for lithium batteries that prompted us to expand our services specifically to that sector. Because there is so little standardization in lithium batteries, few package suppliers can meet the need for US Department of Transportation (DOT) compliant battery packaging.” The majority of packaging suppliers offer stock items. However, a few others, such as CL Smith with HAZPlus, can offer a variety of custom design and production services to meet special needs. Because every package

must undergo US DOT package testing and certification in a United Nations/International Safe Transit Association certified package compliance lab before it can ship, customers seek the services of packaging manufacturer and test lab. “To be on top of all the regulatory changes, we needed to build our own certified test lab on site,” says Patrick Edwards, director of operations. “Setting up as a one-stop shop means the customer doesn’t have to take the package somewhere else for testing. We design, produce, test and certify every package.”

Different rules Anyone shipping these regulated batteries must apply all the UN DOT regulations over making packaging, markings and documentation compliant with the rules. And the rules change whether the batteries are to moved by ground, air, rail, waterway or sea — and change again whether they are being shipping in-country or internationally. Though the typical first-time customer, depending on their experience and regulatory understanding, may not always know that, says Edwards. “Usually the new customer comes

“Initially we have to understand what type of battery it is, what stage of the process it is in; whether it is a prototype or a fully UN tested battery. We then look at things such as mode of transport, size, weight, energy density and the like”

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in telling us not what they want, but what they have. They’ll say, ‘We have this battery and we need something to ship it in to Any Town, USA.’ Though much depends upon their level of experience and regulatory understanding, we generally have to start there, where they are, and proceed by asking standard questions about the battery’s materials, components, weight, measurements and other characteristics, as well as their preferred transport mode, destination and so on. “Initially we have to understand what type of battery it is, what stage of the process it is in; whether it is a prototype or a fully UN tested battery. We then look at things such as mode of transport, size, weight, energy density and the like. “Our goal is to determine what they need, rather than what they think they need.” How packages are shipped affects the regulations. If packages are to be shipped by ocean cargo, they have to comply with maritime shipment regulations, and likewise for air or ground shipments. If the unit is large, requiring packaging over 450 cubic litres capacity or 40 kg of mass, the packaging requirements are different than if the packaging is smaller. Rules over filling materials and how many batteries can fit or be adapted to more standard shipment sizes apply. Once all the parameters have been determined, the design process begins. HAZPlus has a range of stock inner and outer packaging options but can custom design as needed. “Not infrequently the customer has an in-house engineering department

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

Because there is so little standardization in lithium batteries, few package suppliers can meet the need for US Department of Transportation compliant battery packaging” that’s already designed both the product and a package prototype, and they want to get the design tested,” says Edwards. “In most cases we’re able to optimize some characteristics of their design from a cost perspective, and come up with something better to meet a component of the regulation. “Sometimes we have to create protection of some expensive component or battery that supersedes the UN requirement. For example packaging that would otherwise pass UN requirements for a hazardous material might need additional packaging because it’s a $50,000 aircraft battery that absolutely cannot be damaged in transport.” Once technicians design the packaging a test programme can kicks in “At this point we conduct the appropriate tests on each package” says Edwards. “All tests — which include a drop test, a vibration test, a stacking test and a hydrostatic pressure test, where required — are outlined very specifically in the DOT regulations, per the type of package.” He says the firm can also perform component specification testing, a required capability in UN certifying labs for situations requiring that specific components be measured, weighed and otherwise examined and evaluated. Rather than test with a client’s actual battery, HAZPlus uses either a battery shell technicians can weight up or a kind of prototype that would not add to testing time, since normally they will do five sets for the drop test, three sets for the vibration, three sets for the stack test and sometimes more. Regulations set down certain mandated conditions of closure, which include the fine points of inner as well as outer packaging. For example fiberboard boxes are almost always sealed with tape, but regulations specify that only the specific tape that was used in testing can be used to close the package, and there are no variations. Other closure concerns can hinge on something as simple as handling at any point in transport. “Particularly with large format batteries and packs, closure can sometimes be determined by just how the

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unit might be picked up,” says Edwards. “By personnel? A forklift? Both? From where, a truck bed or a dock? What angle would handlers need to access and secure closure points? Depending on how the package fits, closure points may need to be designed in such a way as to avoid potential damage upon opening once it gets to its destination. Because anyone handling the unit needs to understand all this, we also offer training.”

Database compliance too Because regulations require specific kinds of record keeping, HAZPlus maintains a database of all certifications and closing instructions, which must now be included with documentation. “Customers must understand that they are required to declare the package with the shipping carrier, and

present the proper notification documents and closing instructions,” says Edwards. “In the event that a DOT/ FAA official comes on-site for an inspection or audit, we can help customers prepare and supply them with proper documentation.” Of all the benefits any packager can offer — compliant packaging, time and cost savings, reliable service — confidence in the degree of regulatory knowledge may rank highest of all, says Bowman. “Some of our customers are so new to shipping they don’t know much beyond that they want to ship a battery somewhere. But even our established customers, some of them large companies with deep experience, come to us for help understanding pending rule for packaging and testing services.” Educating customers about the regulatory environment is as important to a packaging manufacturer’s business as explaining each step of the process itself, says Edwards. “Given the complexity of these requirements, it’s easy to wind up non-compliant without intending to be so.”

“All tests — which include a drop test, a vibration test, a stacking test and a hydrostatic pressure test, where required — are outlined very speciﬁcally in the DOT regulations, per the type of package” — Pat Edwards, CL Smith www.batteriesinternational.com

BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION

The long and sometimes heavy arm of the law

Failure to ensure correct compliance with the rules on packaging and transportation can be a costly — and occasionally very dangerous — business if things go wrong. The consequences of non-compliant packaging with the US Department of Transportatio rules of advanced chemistry batteries can be huge — think thermal runaway, fire and physical harm — however, ensuring a safe, costeffective and timely delivery is not as easy as following a few rules and hoping for the best. “Things get tossed around in warehouses, sometimes violently, before they ever get on a truck or plane,” says former DOT regulator Bob Richard. “I’ve been in facilities where they’re throwing packaging of all kinds into a bin, with little thought for the contents. If federal hazardous material regulations apply — and that’s clearly stated on the package — they’re treated totally differently. “The operative words there are ‘clearly stated,’ because failure to do that

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causes problems for transporters. A related issue is the quasi-regulated consumer commodity items that contain batteries of various types; those just go into the normal handling systems, some of which can be quite severe and put a lot of challenge on the package.” All the more important, then, that all manufacturers, distributors, and retailers fully understand not only what appropriate, fully compliant packaging is — but why it’s absolutely essential to their business — and their industry. “You really do have to know the normal conditions of transportation — whether by road, rail, waterway or air — as well as the abnormal,” he says, “because like as not, your package may encounter the full range. We’re not objective enough on this. The industry understands the importance because they get data back tell-

ing them what damages occur at what cost, and they make adjustments accordingly. “But individual shippers, not understanding what’s at stake and not particularly wanting to, tend to skimp and get by with predictable results that affect us all.” Experienced shippers say concerns for incidents of fire or related damage, while real, pale beside potential financial liabilities should a battery, module or pack arrive at its destination in anything less than a fully functional condition as promised to the client. Perhaps the worst nightmare, says John Warner, vice president of sales and marketing for XALT Energy, is going to all the effort to develop and ship a product, and then have it arrive at the assembly location damaged and non-functioning.

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION “In a previous job my team shipped some prototype batteries to a client overseas in what we thought were suitable packaging materials, and did meet Class 9 shipping requirements,” he says. “But due to the method of shipping and the amount of jostling in transport and other environmental factors, our battery developed failures en route and arrived at the client with 20% fallout that rendered it unusable. “The cost in time and money in shipping new parts and sending an engineer to the job to repair it can be significant, especially with prototypes that can cost five times the production price. From a pure business standpoint, damage results in cost to both sides — public safety and the bottom line — of the equation.” As is the case in most regulatory matters, the serious problems occur not among the compliant shippers, but those who — not understanding the system and not particularly wanting to — cut corners and if caught, just pay the fine. But when they slip past regulators, troubling problems persist with often serious consequences a world away. “Some of the airlines are very concerned with substandard packaging,” says Richard. “Often they can’t do anything about it because if the labelling is incorrect they don’t know they’ve got something problematic on board, and may not be prepared to deal with it.” Enforcement of internationally accepted DOT regulations is not universal — in some countries the local authorities do not know the specific regulations, whether for lack of incentive or just willful ignorance. Typically, not understanding what they’re dealing with, inspectors just pass shipments through their own customs and carrier systems with only nominal oversight. Violators can be punished, but only in their respective countries, where prosecution is unlikely. “Even if someone unknowingly ships a dangerous substance, in some places in the world the regulatory infrastructure just isn’t there,” says Rich Byczek, global technical lead, transportation technologies at Intertek. “We see lots of instances where the package isn’t labelled properly, inspectors don’t recognize that it’s mislabelled, they don’t check out the contents of the packaging, and on to a plane or container ship it goes, with potentially hazardous consequences.” Batteries are not always packaged in

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Experienced shippers say concerns for incidents of ﬁre or related damage, while real, pale beside potential ﬁnancial liabilities should a battery, module or pack arrive at its destination in anything less than a fully functional condition as promised to the client. the original factory container, either, he says. “We see frequent problems in devices with batteries in them, where issues of electrical safety involving overcharging, or they’re using the wrong chargers. “These problems are now covered by the new HM-224F regulation, which addresses not only batteries coming out of a factory but also the batteries offered for transport after they ship from the original factory inside something like electric cigarettes.” That said plenty of industry people who should know the rules, still don’t take the trouble. “They’re not aware of the rules or they’re not aware that one of them has changed in the last month. Or they know part of a rule, but they misinterpret its full meaning and context. They might think, well, if I perform and pass those tests, then the battery is no longer considered a dangerous good.” But in fact the battery still is a dangerous product and it still has to ship under certain exemptions within the regulations. That’s where a lot of the confusion comes in. “The testing just allows you to get

one step further in the shipping,” he says. “So even the honest manufacturers trying to do due diligence don’t always understand the dangers. They’re not used to shipping things otherwise considered hazardous or flammable.” Another significant problem in testing labs receiving packaged batteries regularly, he says, are clients who frequently don’t understand that they can’t overnight their batteries via a shipping agent such as DHL or UPS. “It’s ironic, because they want us to test the product for a specific regulation — but they’re violating that very regulation.” While his lab has been lucky in that they’ve not received batteries in potentially dangerous condition, they do receive them without any padding, or so loosely packed they’re knocking around. “That they get to us in stable condition is just lucky,” he says. “We’ve had to notify customers and remind them that this is the reason we do testing: to avoid such hazards resulting from such carelessness as this. Testing is only the first part of what they need to understand.”

Perhaps the worst nightmare is going to all the effort to develop and ship a product, and then have it arrive at the assembly location damaged and nonfunctioning. Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 85

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The basic rules for air shipment

Isidor Buchmann, founder of Cadex Electronics, provides an overview of the regulations for shipping lithium-based batteries by plane and the latest changes to the procedures. Battery shipment has come under strict transportation regulation and this is especially critical with lithiumbased products. IATA, the International Air Transport Association and the dangerous goods regulation (DGR) manual are the resources to help prepare and document dangerous shipments. Recognized by the world’s airlines for over 50 years, the DGR Manual is the global reference for shipping dangerous goods by air. Li-ion batteries have improved and the official failure rate has been reduced to one-in-10 million. Experts believe that this number is high as unplanned events are few and far in between. Examining 113 recorded incidents of transporting batteries by air in the past 19 years reveals that most

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failures occurred due to inappropriate packaging or handling. This has resulted in battery damage that triggered an electrical short. Most events happened at airports or in cargo hubs and not on a carrier. Lead, nickel and alkaline-based systems are part of the problem, not just lithium-ion as is commonly perceived. IATA’s dangerous goods regulations provide guidelines in the shipment of lithium-based batteries on passenger and cargo aircraft. The quantity permitted is based on watt-hours. Wh establishes the lithium content by multiplying voltage with the ampere-hours. For example, multiplying 14.40V by 5Ah battery comes to 72Wh, a size that is common for a laptop battery. Since January 2008, lithium-based

batteries can no longer be checked in with the baggage but airlines allow them as a carry-on. The passenger compartment has better safety monitoring and access to fire extinguishers, should an event occur. Non-removable batteries do not count as batteries. Out of sight, out of mind. To protect against a short circuit, IATA recommends placing battery packs into clear plastic bags. A battery pack must further be approved even if the cells in the pack had been approved. This provision also applies to modified battery packs. The transport of lithium-based battery products is divided into nonClass 9 hazardous material and Class 9 hazardous material. Non-Class 9 allows the shipment of small batteries in limited quantities and Class

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION Sections

Cell/battery size

Weight/number limitation

Note

Carry-on Passenger

Maximum battery size 100Wh

Each passenger can take 2 spares not exceeding 100Wh

Carry-on only. Not allowed in checked luggage

Section 11 Small size, low volume

Cell 20Wh1 or less —› Battery 100Wh2 or less —› Cells/batteries 2.7Wh —›

8 cells, no weight limit 2 batteries, no weight limit 2.5Kg, no number limit

Not subject to Class 9; can be shipped by courier and mail; must include Lithium Battery Handling Label and Caution label.

Section 1B Small size, high volume

Cell less than 20Wh Packs less than 100Wh

10kg for passenger aircraft, 10kg for cargo per package

Class 9, subject to all applicable requirements

Section 1A Full load

Cells larger than 20Wh Packs larger than 100Wh

5kg for passenger aircraft, 35kg for cargo per package

Class 9, subject to all applicable requirements

Figure 1: Packaging Instruction 965 covering Sections 11, 1B and 1A — Shipment of loose Li-ion cells and battery packs. 1 Typical smartphone or tablet battery; 2 Typical laptop battery

9 hazardous material involving the shipment of larger battery sizes and in higher volume. Packaging Instructions (PI) are organized into PI 965 to PI 970. PI 965 covers Li-ion cells and battery packs only, PI 966 includes Li-ion installed in equipment and PI 967 combines Li-ion with equipment. Lithium-metal batteries are categorized separately in PI 968 to 970. Packaging Instruction 965 — includes loose Li-ion cells and battery packs (UN 3480). Figure 1 divides the transport of Li-ion products into four groups: • Carry-on states the quantity of Li-ion cells and battery packs a passenger can take on an aircraft; • Section 11 specifies shipment of small Li-ion products in low numbers; • Section 1B advises on the shipment of small Li-ion products in larger numbers, and • Section 1A governs larger Li-ion products. Only Carry-on and Section 11 are exempt from Class 9 hazardous material designation. IATA mandates that cells and battery packs cannot be combined in the same shipping box and recommends separate boxes.If the boxes can be combined into one shipping box, the Overpack label must be attached. Non-Class 9 shipments relating to PI 965 mandate additional guidelines. • LABELS Each package must include the CAUTION label and the Lithium Battery Handling Label containing the words “Lithium ion batteries in compliance with Section 11 of PI 965” (or applicable PI number) as illustrated in Figure 2. Also add a contact phone number to cover unforeseen events. • OVERPACK Larger shipments

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Figure 3: Overpack label combining small boxes 101mm x 74mm (4.0” x 2.94”) Other dimensions may apply

Figure 2: Caution label must be placed on all boxes containing lithium-based batteries Label: 120mm x 115mm (4.72”x4.53”)

Figure 4: Class 9 hazardous material label. Label dimension: 100mm x 100mm (3.94” x 3.94”)

than permitted under Section 11 can be divided into separate boxes and combined in a larger pack. Add Overpack label on the shipping box in addition to the other required labels. Keep the box under 30kg (66 lb). See label in Figure 3. • DAMAGE Batteries identified as defective and in danger of failing in transport are forbidden. • OLD BATTERIES Lithium battery products for disposal are also forbidden from air transport unless approved by the appropriate authorities. • PACKING Each shipping package must withstand a 1.2 metre drop in any orientation without damaging the batteries, causing them to shift or releasing the contents. Class 9 has these added regulations

to the above mentioned requirements. • TRAINING Anyone handling lithium-based batteries for transport must be trained. • APPROVAL All lithium-ion batteries shipped under Class 9 hazardous material designation must meet the UN Manual of Test and Criteria, Part III, subsection 38.3. • LABELS Class 9 packages must include [1] Class 9 hazard material label, [2] UN designation (UN 3400, 3481, 3090 or 3091), [3] marking “Lithium Battery” with packing information (PI 965, 1B, 1A or other), [4] name and address of the shipper and consignee, and [5] the number of packages and gross weight per package. Class 9 labels are illustrated in Figure 4.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 87

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BATTERY PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION Sections

Cell/battery size

Weight/number limitation

Note

Section 11

Cell 20Wh or less, packs 100Wh or less

5kg for passenger aircraft,

Not subject to Class 9; can be shipped by courier and mail; must include Lithium Battery Handling Label and Caution label.

Section 1

Cells larger than 20Wh, packs larger than 100Wh

5kg for cargo aircraft 5kg for passenger aircraft, 35kg for cargo aircraft

Class 9, subject to all applicable requirements

Figure 5: Packaging Instruction 966 and 967 — Shipment of Li-ion batteries with, and in equipment.

Sections

Cell/battery size

Weight/number limitation

Note

Section 11 Small size, low volume

Lithium-metal content —› per unit 0.3g or less Lithium-metal content —› in cells 1g or less Lithium-metal content —› in battery 2g or less

2.5kg weight limit No limit in number

Not subject to Class 9; can be shipped by courier and mail; must include Lithium Battery Handling Label and Caution label.

Section 1B Small size, high volume

Lithium-metal in cells 1g or less; battery 2g or less

2.5kg for passenger aircraft, 2.5kg for cargo per package

Class 9, subject to all applicable requirements

Section 1A Full load

Lithium-metal in cells exceeds 1g; pack 2g

5kg for passenger aircraft, 35kg for cargo per package

Class 9, subject to all applicable requirements

8 cells 2 battery packs

Figure 6: Packaging Instruction 968 — Shipment of lithium metal cells and battery packs.

Packaging Instruction 966 — governs Li-ion cells and battery packs with equipment (UN 3481) and Packaging Instruction 967 — governs Li-ion cells and battery packs in equipment (UN3481). See figure 5. These regulations are similar to PI 965 with the exceptions that Liion cells and battery packs can be shipped with, or in, the equipment. Equipment means an apparatus requiring Li-ion products to operate. PI 966 and PI 967 have these additional requirements. • LIMITATION The maximum number of batteries in each package must be limited to those required to operate the equipment. Extras must be shipped separately or in Overpack. • ACTIVATION Equipment must be turned OFF. Accidental activation in transport must be prevented. • EXCEPTIONS Devices such as watches and temperature loggers that do not pose a danger in transport may be left in the ON position. Packaging Instruction 968 — permits lithium-metal cells and battery packs (UN3090). Lithium-metal batteries have tighter shipping requirements than lithium ion batteries. Most Li-metal cells or battery packs are non-rechargeable

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and are found in watches, medical instruments, pacemakers, sensors, memory retention and more. From January 2015, lithium metal batteries will be restricted to cargo aircraft only. This only applies when shipping lithium metal batteries by themselves. Batteries packed with or contained in equipment can continue to be shipped on passenger aircraft. Additional requirements for lithium metal batteries as part of PI 968: • PACKAGING Cells and battery packs must be packed in a rigid outer packaging. • PADDING Batteries must be surrounded by non-conductive,

non-combustible cushioning material. • LABEL When the package does not meet the above requirements, mark “Cargo Aircraft Only” as illustrated in figure 7. • LIMITATION Lithium-metal in any equipment must not exceed 12g/cell and 500g/battery. • EXCEPTIONS Button cell installed in equipment and circuit boards do not add to the battery count.

Figure 7: Cargo Aircraft Only label; added to one shipping box with other mandated labels. Label dimension: 300mm x 300mm (11.8” x 11.8”) Other dimensions may apply Because of size, label cannot be printed on a regular printer.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 89

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT

Welcome to a special 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.

CONFERENCE IN PRINT Welding is an integral part of various aspects of battery pack manufacturing. Selecting and using laser, micro-TIG and resistance technologies can be key to the process writes Marty Mewborne, sales engineering manager, for Miyachi America Corporation.

Welding embraces new generation of techniques Batteries and battery packs have become an integral part of everyday life, in response to the ever-increasing demand for portable electronic devices, cordless power tools, energy storage, and hybrid and electric vehicles. This in turn, drives the need to manufacture batteries and battery packs that meet the quality and production requirements for these products. There are a number of materials joining requirements for battery manufacturing, depending on the specific type, size and capacity of the battery. Internal terminal connections, battery can and fill plug sealing, tab to terminal connections, and external electrical connections are a few key examples. Several joining options can be considered for each of these requirements, including resistance, ultrasonic, microTIG and laser welding, including the newest fiber laser options. The decision to use one or the other is generally dictated by the specific type of weld required and production requirements. Ultrasonic welding is commonly used for the joining of the internal electrode battery materials, which are usually constructed of thin foils of aluminum and copper. The remaining joining requirements — including the connections inside the can, and external terminal tab connections — are well suited to resistance, micro-TIG, and laser welding. For can and plug applications (seam seal-

ing), laser welding is the joining technology of choice. The following is an overview of resistance, micro-TIG and laser welding technologies, along with examples of battery joining applications, detailing when and where to use each technology.

Resistance, micro-TIG, and laser welding for battery manufacturing Resistance welding has been an established joining technology for more than 40 years and has been used in the battery industry for almost as long. Since then, a steady stream of advances in resistance welding systems has given users significantly improved capabilities to control various aspects of the process. For example, the introduction of DC inverter power supplies with basic closed-loop electrical modes provides the ability to accommodate changes in the secondary circuit (the electrical loop from cable connection on the negative side of the power supply or transformer, through the weld head and the parts returning to the positive side) to specifically address part resistance. Also, polarity switching for capacitance discharge supplies to enable balancing of the weld nuggets, and more recently, the addition of displacement and electrode force measurement, provide manufacturers with more tools to

ensure weld quality. Similar to resistance welding, tungsten inert gas welding (TIG), also known as gas tungsten arc welding, has been used in manufacturing for many decades and has traditionally been used for the more challenging welding applications for nonferrous materials. Advances in high frequency power supplies increased low current control and arc stability, enabling much finer welding. This process became known as micro-TIG, a generally non-contact process that offers excellent copper joining while offering a fairly relaxed process window with respect to part fit-up and positioning tolerances of the electrode to the parts. Laser welding is a newer technology, introduced in the manufacturing marketplace in the mid-1980s. As laser technology has matured, and the awareness of its benefits spread, it has become an established process. Today it is simply another tool in the manufacturing engineer’s toolbox to be used and implemented as needed. The laser provides a high intensity light source that can be focused down to very small diameters (0.01-inch). The concentration of light energy is sufficient to melt metals rapidly, forming an instantaneous weld nugget. The process is non-contact, has no consumables, offers instantaneous welding once positioned at the weld

Figure 1. Seam welding of aluminium cans

94 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT point location, provides sufficient control over the process to size the weld nugget according to requirements, and provides a number of implementation methods that can be geared toward individual manufacturing requirements. Laser welding enables joining of many materials and material combinations, can weld thick parts, and has no limitation on proximity of weld spots. There are two types of laser that provide solutions for battery applications: pulsed Nd:YAG and fiber. Both of these lasers offer different joining characteristics that can be selected as appropriate.

High speed seam and plug sealing of battery cans Laser welding is an excellent method for seam sealing, resulting in high speed, high quality seams in both steel and aluminum. Laser welding offers significant advantages over mechanical clinching and adhesive methods based on joint reliability, joining speed, and ease of manufacturing. As laser welding is an extremely efficient joining process, the heat input into the battery is minimized. Figure 1 shows a few examples of seam welding of aluminum cans, including a weld cross section, and ball and plug sealing application examples.

Welding tabs to terminals, and buss bars From a welding perspective, the important aspects of tab welding are the thickness and material of both the tab and the terminal. Resistance welding is extremely well suited to welding nickel tab material up to 0.015-inch thickness, and nickel or steel clad copper tab material to around 0.012-inch thickness to a wide variety of terminal materials. Due to a different welding mechanism, laser welding is able to weld both thin and thick tab materials, with a capability of welding copper or aluminum tab material above and beyond 0.04inch thickness. Avoiding penetration of the can and overheating the battery are important aspects of tab to terminal welding. Welding tabs or terminal connections to buss bars generally does not require as much penetration of heat input control as the tab to terminal welds. The materials, material thickness and combination of materials determine the best welding technique.

Figure 2. Resistance tab welding applications

method for joining tabs on a wide range of battery types and sizes, using both DC inverter closed loop and capacitor discharge power supplies. With fast rise times, closed loop feedback control, polarity switching, and options for displacement and force sensing, the process can be finely tuned and monitored to ensure both high quality and yield. For nickel tab thicknesses up to 0.0070-inch, the tab can be welded without modification. Beyond this thickness, and to prevent electrical shunting and excessive electrode wear, a slot and projections are placed in the tab as part of the stamping process. The projections act not only as energy concentrators for the weld, but also greatly increase electrode lifetimes. Figure 2 shows several examples of the wide range of resistance tab welding applications.

Micro-TIG Micro-TIG offers excellent welding of copper, and so presents a good solution for buss bar welding that would require a brazing material for resistance welding or a large power laser welder. Both butt, fillet and lap welds are possible

up to and beyond thickness of 0.02â&#x20AC;? thick copper are routinely welded. When welding copper using micro-TIG it is extremely important to use a pulsation function that creates the weld without porosity, as shown in Figure 3.

Laser welding For tab and buss bar joining, laser welding offers a high degree of flexibility, welding both thin and thick tab materials, and materials such as copper, aluminum, steel and nickel as well as dissimilar material combinations. Two example welds are shown in Figure 4 on following page. When welding a tab to a terminal, the general rule of thumb is that the tab should be thinner than the can terminal thickness. As the can thickness decreases the tab usually must be 50% of the can thickness for a safe processing window that provides the weld strength and conductivity whilst not penetrating the can. As laser welding has no limitation on the proximity of the welds, the laser can place any pattern of weld spots on the tab according to strength requirements. It is worth noting that, in nearly all cas-

Resistance welding Resistance welding has been, and continues to be, the most cost-effective

96 â&#x20AC;˘ Batteries International â&#x20AC;˘ Fall 2014

Figure 3. Buss bar welds in 0.04 inch copper and the effect of pulsation on weld porosity

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CONFERENCE IN PRINT strength can be achieved with very little impact on cycle time. Although peel strength remains an important weld test, vibration is also important. As vibration strength places an emphasis on having good weld strength in any direction, the circle of weld spots shown in (c) provides the solution.

Battery pack manufacturing systems Figure 4. Examples of laser welding conductive tabs — Cross section and top view of a ﬁber laser weld of 0.012 inch thick copper tab to steel battery can

es, if the joint’s weld strength is achieved, conductivity follows. For more conductive materials, the weld area required for strength can be as much as 10 times that required for conduction. As shown in Figure 4, the placement of the weld spots on the tab is completely flexible, and can be tuned to the

strength requirements of the pack or tab. For example, peel strength is often used as a metric for weld quality. Therefore the welds can be positioned accordingly. The peel strength of (a) is 15 lbs. and (b) is 60 lbs. The time needed to add additional weld spots is very short; sufficient tab

The two main production options available are continuous flow in-line or offline systems. It should be noted that the manufacturing flow can have an impact on the welding technology selected and this should be factored in at the technology selection stage. A consideration of materials, joint geometry, weld access, cycle time and budget will normally point in the direction of the required joining technology.

Figure 5. Examples of ﬂexible weld placement for tailoring weld strength and weld

Production volume driven by consumer demand The production volume of batteries continues to be driven by the demands of consumer electronics

and electric vehicles. Likewise, the manufacturing and joining needs of these batteries are also pushed by

Technology

Key benefits

Resistance welding

Closed loop feedback welding, cost effective, self-tooling

Micro-TIG

Large process window, cost effective for copper welding

Laser

Non-contact, high speed welding, tailored weld patterns, weld any joint geometry

capacity, size, materials and usage. Resistance, micro-TIG and laser technologies each have speciﬁc features that align well to these joining needs. A clear understanding of the technologies and application is needed to implement an efﬁcient and reliable production welding system. The tables here offer some guidelines on the available methods and a few parameters including suitability for a variety of applications.

Joining application

Technology

Details

Can and plug sealing

Laser

Barrier sealing of aluminum, nickel and cold rolled steel with minimal heat input

Tab to electrode/case

Resistance

< 0.015” thick nickel/steel straps • < 0.007” thick copper straps

Laser

Up to 0.04”+ thick tab material • Electrode/case thickness > 1.5x tab thickness

Laser

Multiple materials and layers can be welded • Up to 0.04”+ weld penetration in any material

Micro-TIG

Thick copper welding, single spot nugget dimensions up to 0.15” x 0.15” • Seam welding capability

Resistance

Material thickness range as for tab welding. Thicker materials can be brazed.

Tab to busbar

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 97

EVENT REVIEW: ELBC

ELBC recalled The ELBC has always had a reputation for ﬁnding the most exotic of locations to hold their gala evening — but it’s a very hard reputation to live up to. Edinburgh proved that the ILA, the organizers of the conference, were still on form.

A SCOTTISH THEME The ELBC gala night, as ever, was a night to remember. Despite the organizers’ cloak and dagger secrecy — “we can’t tell you where it’s going to be as it’s a surprise and please don’t look on our website where we accidentally posted it” — the wait was worth it. The theme inevitably was Scottish, but none the worse for that. As is traditional north of the English border a piper welcomed people in to where the aperitif drinks were served and then on into the main gallery. Although traditional sports such as “tossing the caber” (throwing the equivalent of a telegraph pole) didn’t happen due to lack of space the elaborately organized mayhem of Scottish dancing, and kilt flailing to the wail of bagpipes was memorable. That said few realised that the world famous Highland Fling is a dance of triumph at the end of a battle. Haggis — the minced heart, liver and lungs of a sheep served in the casing of the animal’s intestines — was served with neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes) and this was washed down with a wholesome dram (glass) of whisky.

Yes, it was a sell-out and the powerful mix of a solid conference and massive networking opportunities proved a perfect conference material. Near record numbers (698 delegates from more than 50 countries and more than 100 exhibition stands) according to the organizers attended two days of presentations in Edinburgh, Scotland, on the theme of sustainability at the conference organised by the International Lead Association. Among the positive developments for lead batteries discussed were: • Emission-saving start-stop vehicles, using advanced lead batteries, are predicted to be a large chunk of the new automobile market in Europe by 2020 with signs that they will

Guess-work ends and the Ye it’s Valletta! Those of us with a Yes, kn knowledge of the place reacted with ch cheers at the gala dinner announcement. Th The more geographically challenged sta started googling frantically, first Valetta, the then Malta and some of the less adept we were last seen typing Mediterranean into the their iPhones in lieu of an atlas. But read the list of where ELBC has been to and yo you’ll see the conference has criss-crossed Eu Europe several times. T The ELBC secretariat are notoriou ously tight-lipped about announcing w where the next conference will be held. O Omertà, the mafia’s code of silence, h nothing on these sturdy souls. “We has c continue to deny any link between the d deaths of four office staff ahead of the B Berlin announcement and the disap-

98 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

then dominate the market. China and USA are also expected to follow suit. • Large-scale energy storage is seen as the next major market for lead batteries, with several papers in the Energy Storage for Future Electricity Networks session describing real projects now in operation using lead batteries. Several battery manufacturers have off-the-shelf modules on the market which are easy to install. Some parts of the industry believe there is the potential for this market to become as large as, if not larger than, the market for vehicle batteries. Keynote speaker, Julian Allwood, a lead author of the 5th Assessment

pearance of two others,” said an ELBC spokesman who later said he could neither confirm or deny his name. But ELBC watchers outlined some general principles ahead of the Valletta announcement. The Price-per-Pint Rule Some parts of Europe are out of bounds, mostly on the grounds of affordability. Bye, bye Scandinavia, where the price of a beer is €7.10 in Norway. And perhaps hello Kyev? Civil war notwithstanding, a pint is just €0.60. The Not-Near-A-Golf-Course Rule US delegates are known to choose attendance by a one step process — “where are my golf clubs? followed by “I wonder what this event all is about?” ELBC or-

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EVENT REVIEW: ELBC Report of the Intergovernmental Panel anel ead on Climate Change, put the role of lead and lead batteries firmly in the contextt of the need to reduce the world’s reliance on misfossil fuels to help control carbon emissions. bilHe homed in on lead’s recyclability (much less energy to recycle than to ad smelt from ores) and the need for lead ze batteries for energy storage (to capitalize on renewable energy sources). mIn other sessions, the dramatic imng provements in lead batteries resulting gfrom the addition of carbon to the negal ative active mass were seen as a critical focus for future research. y The task now is to understand why the carbon is so beneficial, and to iden-tify the most effective parameters off that carbon (size, shape, optimum per-y centage of addition, etc) and especially the type of carbon (carbon black,, graphite, graphene, nanotubes, etc). A limiting factor in the wider use of lead batteries is the speed at which they can be recharged and dynamic charge acceptance which will be another major focus for future research.

ELBC, a persona l view

The14ELBC confere nce in Edinburgh, what an week! I, and many others, thought that it was one of the best ‘networking events’ — aka business opportunities — of th e year! From the moment we arrived we hardly had time to stand still. Starting with the first evening ’s networking opportunity, supplied by the Hammond Group, touring an d partaking in the Scottish Whiskey Ta sting Experience. A fantastic venue and gracious host. Ending with the Ga la evening at the National Museum of Scotland — as always a spectacula r event, we would have expected noth ing less from the IL A and its highly cre There have been tim ative team. es when I have been amazed at how othe seems to deploy spec r event organisers ial skills in keeping the delegates away — those poor hara from the exhibitors ssed people who ha ve spent thousands, thousands, getting th sometimes tens of eir booth to the exhib ition and then stand hoping for a glimpse around for days of a ever more rare delegate. Not so at ELBC. Every coffee and co mfort break was sp ent in the exhibition looked like they migh . If the delegates t turn the wrong wa y out of the conferenc helpful people there e hall there were to point them in the right direction. Each tion was held in the networking recepexhibition hall. What then could be improved on? Well , nothing as far as concerned. I will lea the exhibitors are ve other, more opini on ated, people to comm ity of the speakers ent on the qualand presentations — for ourselves we he praise — but for us ard nothing but exhibitors, the ILA came out on top. Or in the words of Abraham Lincoln: “H e has a right to critic to help”. ise, has a heart Karen Hampton, Publisher, Batteries International

show moves to Valletta ganizer thinking is more complex. Golf courses are out. This year’s tournament at St Andrew’s by the way is an exception, based on You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers), see later for fuller details. The One-Flight Rule. There should be direct flights from across Europe, the US and Asia to the city. Edinburgh slightly broke the rules here, most US and Asian visitors had to fly in through Glasgow. The reasoning is not that after Glasgow, Edinburgh will seem a dream but further evidence of the You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers). The-Never-The-Same-DestinationTwice Rule. For the first 13 ELBC meetings, this was the golden rule for confer-

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ence watchers making their predictions. Unfortunately ELBC organizers wised up to this, see You’ll Never Guess It Right Rule (suckers) and wrong-footed everybody two years ago. The sneaky return to Paris — and to the same venue as the first 1988 meetings — was reckoned by ILA insiders as a master-stroke of deception. You’ll-Never-Guess-It-Right Rule (suckers). In recent years delegates’ clever money on where the event will be held has been more accurate than before. The result has been this rule which goes: “All rules are made to be broken (including this one)”. This last clause apparently makes perfect sense to the highest echelons of the ELBC.

Roll of honour — named and shamed! 1988

Paris

1990

Brussels

1992

Geneva

1994

Munich

1996

Sitges/Barcelona

1998

Prague

2000

Dublin

2002

Rome

2004

Berlin

2006

Athens

2008

Warsaw

2010

Istanbul

2012

Paris

2014

Edinburgh

2016

Valletta*

(not Southend on Sea as some foolish soul predicted)

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 99

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EVENT REVIEW The Sixth China International Battery Industry Fair August 26-27, Shanghai, China

Sea change as lithium loses its ﬂavour Size doesn’t mean importance and this year’s — and sixth — China battery conference in Shanghai was huge but it proved perhaps less than important to the international battery industry in terms of business opportunities. That said it did highlight a seachange in what’s fashionable in energy storage. Over the years we’ve had talk of the next big thing — supercaps, fuel cells and latterly lithium ion batteries are set to dominate the planet — but this year it seems clear that supercaps have returned to favour. Perhaps it was inevitable after Toyota’s bold announcement in the spring that supercaps would form the basis of its next generation electric vehicle fleet. The event — branded as an international battery industry fair — strictly speaking is a combination of three different meetings; one looking at the lead acid business, another about batteries in general and another about ultracaps. However, it isn’t particularly international, the lingua franca of the meetings and exhibitors was Mandarin and coverage was confined to the Chinese press and an occasional representation from the trade press. But the underlying theme of the fair would have probably verged on the depressive to most sections of the international lead battery market. With supercaps being the flavour of the day — at least half of the 200 plus exhibitors was related to the supercapacitor industry — the overwhelming sense was that the energy storage business was about to bow under the hype that engulfed it in the 2010s. In terms of lead acid, the picture is confused in that China’s battery market is running at various levels of over-capacity. Those in the market continue to keep their heads above water — the ebike market is here to stay and lead acid batteries are relatively inexpensive — but the new entrants are not enjoying the success

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that the late starters had previously achieved. The price of lead continues to be of real concern to the Chinese market and there are clear indications that secondary lead prices are making smelting difficult to make a profit from. Market talk of operating offshore, most likely in south-east Asia, remains a theme that continues to be examined. One Chinese firm even suggested a move to the US was being considered. How times have changed.

One international delegate told Batteries International that it was clear that the lithium ion market in China had appeared to give up on making a breakthrough into the SLI market — “they can’t get their costs down and get the batteries accepted” he said. “They now want to make their mark in hybrid electric vehicles and the challenge to traditional areas of the lead acid battery market appear to has started to fizzle out. “There were roughly the same numbers of lead acid players as lithium.”

ILZDA International Conference & Exhibition on Lead & Lead Batteries — Towards Sustainable Development July 28-29, New Delhi, India

ILZDA brought the great and the good of the Indian lead acid battery community together ILZDA — the India Lead Zinc Development Association — organized the conference which brought the great and the good of the Indian lead acid battery community together. “About 25 technical papers were presented by overseas and Indian speakers, followed by thought-provoking technical discussions,” said one of the organizers. “In all, 240 delegates participated in the deliberations.” An exhibition also showcased the latest in plant and equipment, technology and services; 18 companies took part in the exhibition. The concluding session was a panel discussion, where the panelists and the delegates gave meaningful recommendations and suggestions for the sustainable growth of the lead as well as lead battery industry. The conference was sponsored by Hindustan Zinc, Exide Industries, Amara Raja Batteries, Luminous

Power Technologies, Gravita India, Engitec Technologies, Supreme Batteries, Arya Alloys, Nile, Metenere, Sumetco Alloys & VMCO Alloys. Media partners were Batteries International, MMR, SSRL Battery Directory, Steel & Metallurg. Dreamz Conference Management was the hospitality partner. The conference focused on global and Indian scenarios for lead and lead batteries, battery technology, markets and environmentally friendly lead battery recycling.

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EVENT REVIEW: THE BATTERY SHOW The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, Novi, Michigan, USA, September 16-18, 2014

Advanced batteries — which now includes cutting edge lead products — underpins America’s fastest growing trade show.

From strength to strength The Battery Show and its co-located event Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, returned to Novi, Michigan in September for what turned out to be its highest attended and mostexhibited of the series of shows yet. This is the show’s fifth year and, despite an awkward start when it launched in San Jose, California, every year the event has grown and grown. The addition of a hotel attached to the conference venue has added to its attractiveness. “This year, we’ve noticed a growing sense of maturity within the exhibition hall,” one attendee told Batteries International. “This show has moved away from the early years of froth when everything lithium was fashionable thanks to the US government ARRA money. We’re seeing mature products on offer that are on the manufacturing line and not on the lab test workshop. “This year has probably been the most interesting yet of the shows I’ve attended.” The 2014 event welcomed 4,624 technical leaders from 33 countries to the US auto heartland, who gathered to see the latest energy storage tech-

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nology from some of the industry’s best known suppliers. Exhibitors included East Penn, Delphi, Siemens, Kostal and energy storage giant EnerSys, who risked crushing nearby booths getting their Odyssey Battery Bigfoot No 20 Monster Truck, the world’s only all electric-powered monster truck, into the exhibition hall. Sovema Global and Solith also entertained attendees by presenting Romeo, a member of the Nao family of robots. The two worked with Aldebaran, the French robotics company, to create this humanoid robot designed to share with universities, teachers, counselors, and those treating children with autism, learning or emotional challenges. Romeo put on a show at the networking reception, dancing and interacting with the crowd. (See Last Word section.) The conference too proved to be a success in terms of numbers with 30% more delegates than in 2013, listening to speakers from companies such as: Dell, Tesla, Continental, DoE, Lotus Engineering, Porsche, Valeo, Eaton, BAE Systems, and Bosch covering all the major and hot topics affecting the

industry. The organizes said that all sessions were well attended but it was standing room only for the R&D conference track. Conference director, Mindy Emsley said: “The breadth and depth of topics covered, along with year-on-year improvements to the range and calibre of participating speakers attracted the highest number of delegates yet. “We will build on the overwhelmingly positive feedback by continuing to deliver business and technical tracks for the battery audience, and seek to grow the content offering for our EV-focused delegates with more sessions on specific applications and sectors such as off-highway. “The launch of the Critical Power Expo will also add a new and exciting dimension to the 2015 conference.” Apart from the exhibition and conference, the event offered useful educational opportunities including two three-day open tech forums providing free access to exhibitor-led seminars and workshops, plus in-depth seminars about a variety of battery topics and applications from Michigan Tech Mobile Lab. An international business expan-

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EVENT REVIEW: THE BATTERY SHOW sion service was also launched with Germany Trade & Invest, facilitating expansion of US companies into the German market. Elsewhere, EcoCAR3 hosted its kick-off workshop with 150 students participating in an automotive university challenge for next generation engineers. Saft Batteries is just one of the companies returning in 2015. Peter Gunia, sales manager for its vehicle business unit said: “I was pleasantly surprised with the constant traffic and bandwidth from both the domestic and international customers at our booth. I found this an excellent platform for networking, evaluating options and gaining a sound insight for future development. And…yes we are committed with a larger booth and additional staff next year!” The show’s continued success should be seen as a reliable barometer of a thriving energy storage and EV business, and an indication of the importance the business places on continued expansion and future development. However, it is also plain that this industry’s very own event provides it with cohesion and opportunities that could not be found or achieved elsewhere. The organizers said they welcomed the continued year-on-year growth, with a record number of on-site booth sign-ups and introduction of new colocate Critical Power Expo for 2015, dedicated to backup power systems for critical applications. The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo return to Novi, Michigan, with new co-located show Critical Power Expo on September 15-17, 2015.

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 103

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6 "* ÊEÊ-/ Ê7 / Ê BMV 10/310 BM-Rosendahl‘s BMV 10/310 processes your stationary batteries as well as small and mid-sized traction batteries with up to 310 mm plate height.

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS SHMUEL DE-LEON ENERGY STORAGE SEMINARS, 2014, 2015

IATA 4th Lithium Battery Workshop

October 29-30

Copenhagen, Denmark

Lithium Balance

Guangzhou, China November 4-5

November 3-4

San Sebastian, Spain

IK4-Cidetec

November 11

Lithium 2014 Battery Power, Washington DC

Knowledge Foundation

January 22-23

Genk, Belgium

Trineuron & EnergyVille

April 9-10

London, England

HEL

April 30-May 1

Wezep, Netherlands

Dr Ten

June 22-23

Vimercate, Italy

Genport

July 1-2

Munich, Germany

Ice Seminars

August 27

Oslo, Norway

Hans H Schive

September 21-22

College Station, Texas, USA

Arbin

EV-VÉ 2014 Vancouver, Canada October 28-30 Since 2009, Electric Mobility Canada has organized an annual conference and trade show — the premier event in Canada on electric vehicles. Recent conferences have been attended by more than 60 speakers and 450 delegates from Canada, the US and overseas along with a large trade show of industry exhibitors. Our annual EV-VÉ conferences represent the best opportunities for networking with and engaging EV stakeholders. Key leaders from automobile industries, federal and provincial governments, fleet organizations and academia are assembled there to make EVs a sustainable solution for transportation in Canada. EV-VÉ2014 promises to be an outstanding event designed to advance the electrification of all modes of transportation in Canada, particularly in urban centres. We are delighted that BC Hydro and the City of Vancouver are hosting this event. British Columbia and the City of Vancouver have much to show in terms of electrified and sustainable transportation. We are also pleased with the wide support from key organizations

with their assistance in pulling this conference together. The theme for the conference is ElectriCITIES — Move Electric and will focus on how electric transport contributes to the creation of liveable cities. EV2014VÉ will be of particular interest to those supplying, operating or planning to market or operate battery, plug-in hybrid, hybrid or fuel cell electric vehicles in Canada. It is a three-day event with plenary sessions, technical sessions as well as special sessions aimed at academics, new technology developers and vehicle manufacturers. The exhibition hall will host numerous EV companies, utilities, component and technology developers, government agencies, infrastructure companies and more. You will be exposed to some of the latest battery, hybrid, plugin hybrid and fuel cell electric vehicles. EMC is always seeking to bring new electric-transport related ideas, technologies and business models to our delegates. As a result, our 2014 conference will look at autonomous electric technologies as well as electric car sharing models. Contact Debby Harris Tel: +1 778-386-4333 debby@riversedgeconsulting.ca

This workshop will review the changes to the air transport regulations that become effective on January 1 as well as the requirements for testing of lithium cells and batteries contained in Amendment 1 to the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria. To provide a practical explanation on how to comply with the regulations applicable to shipping lithium batteries by air, as well as the application of the test requirements set out in Subsection 38.3 of the UN manual of tests and criteria. It will promote the best practices for regulatory compliance and safety to help reduce the incidence of delayed shipments and avoid potential penalties or fines resulting from regulatory breaches. The seminar provides an excellent opportunity to engage and share experiences on: • The intent and application of the UN manual of tests and Criteria • The application of the IATA dangerous goods regulations • Packing instructions for lithium batteries that will take effect from January 2015 • Provisions that currently apply • Application of the regulations applicable to the testing, packaging and shipping of lithium batteries by air • And a review of the current provisions for lithium batteries together with the changes effective in the 2014 dangerous goods regulations We are expecting over 200 delegates representing: regulatory authorities and airlines; lithium battery and equipment manufacturers and distributors; operations managers from airlines; freight forwarders and shippers (manufacturers and distributors); and ground handling agents. Contact http://www.iata.org/events/Pages/lbw.aspx

NY-BEST and JCESR Energy Storage Technical Conference Buffalo, USA November 5 Batteries, fuel cells and energy storage technologies are continuing to experience new and exciting breakthroughs in chemistries, longevity and in a growing number of applications. This one-day conference will focus on the current developments in battery and energy storage technology taking place at premier research and academic institutions as well as within leading companies.

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 105

FORTHCOMING EVENTS The goal of the conference is to bring together leaders from industry, government and academia to discuss and share their findings in this rapidly evolving field. Contact Phone: +1 518 694 8474 info@ny-best.org

Energy4Power Live London, UK November 5 Energy4PowerLive will feature exhibitors from a number of fields, and one of the four tracks of this one day conference will be specifically looking at standby power, energy storage, batteries and how these are integrated into the larger energy industry. Exhibitors include those involved in: • Generating sets (manufacturers of complete diesel, gas or gas turbine engine driven power generating systems in the range of 2kW to 5MW) • Acoustic treatment • AC generators (manufacturers of rotation AC generators in the range 0.5kVA to 30MVA) • Biomass • Biogas • CHP/cogeneration • Control and monitoring equipment (manufacturers of electrical control and switchgear panels, measuring instruments and digital controls). • Diesel engines • Engine speed governors • Engines (manufacturers of diesel and gas engines for power generation in the range 3kW to 6MW). • Environmental solutions (manufacturers of noise attenuation equip-

• • • • • • • •

• • • • • •

ment, exhaust gas after treatment systems and vibration isolation units) Fuel systems Gas/steam turbines Governing (manufacturers of engine speed governors and controls for load management) Heat exchangers Load banks Noise, acoustic equipment Radiators (manufacturers of engine cooling system radiators and heat exchangers). Services (suppliers of hire equipment, repair, installation, maintenance and freight forwarding services and technical consultancy) Starting (manufacturers of electric, air and hydraulic engine starting equipment) Switchboards Test equipment (manufacturers of static and mobile electrical resistive load banks). Turnkey solutions UPS rotary UPS static

Contact Global Media Publishing Global House, 13 Market Square, Horsham, RH12 1EU, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1 403 220 750 • Fax: +44 1 403 220 751

Lithium Battery Power Conference Washington DC, USA November 11 The Lithium Battery Power Conference, now in its 10th year, will include technical case studies and presentations

on next generation lithium-ion and beyond lithium-ion advanced materials science, technologies and research from academic and government labs, leading manufacturing, and start-up companies. In addition to research papers, this conference will also address the need to better connect research science and manufacturing to create higher performing, lower cost batteries. There will be a series of strategy talks on this bridging theme along with a panel discussion. Topics include: • New ideas for battery design, battery trends and chemistries • New lithium chemistries for better electrodes and higher LIB performance • Beyond lithium-ion research including lithium-air/lithium-oxygen, lithium-sulphur, metal-air • From novel materials and components to systems design and integration • Novel electrode and electrolyte materials and technologies, solid electrolytes • Role of nanotechnology in improving power and energy density • State-of-the art commercial lithiumbased batteries • Challenges of manufacturing lithium-ion, scale-up, performance in real devices, formulation • Issues of miniaturization for certain applications • Thin-film lithium-based batteries • Silicon-based lithium battery anodes • Solvent-free lithium electrode manufacturing • Trending from EV to stationary applications • Supply chain challenges for raw materials for new battery chemistries • Supercapacitors Contact Edel O’Regan Vice President, Conference Production Knowledge Foundation Tel: +1 781 972 5423

Defense Energy Summit & Innovation Showcase Austin, Texas, USA November 11-13 Join the stakeholders and working groups building the foundation for a new Defense Energy Center of Excellence. The summit’s focus will center on this proposed initiative and how to accelerate clean energy and infrastructure solutions for the DoD.

London will host Energy4Power Live

106 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Contact Sarah Wenning Tel: +1 512 697-8849 wenning@techconnect.org

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS 3rd Workshop on Lithium Sulphur Batteries

GRAPHENE LIVE!

Fraunhofer IWS, Dresden, Germany November 12-13

— APPLICATION, TECHNOLOGY, OPPORTUNITIES ENERGY HARVESTING & STORAGE USA, COMMERCIALIZATION OPPORTUNITY

Lithium-sulphur batteries are the most promising choice for future energy storage systems. Novel materials such as nanostructured carbon/sulfur composite cathodes, solid electrolytes and alloy-based anodes are expected to significantly enhance the cell’s performance. Following the success of our previous lithium-sulphur battery workshops in 2012 and 2013, this year’s symposium will again bring together an international audience of scientists and industrial customers. Renowned experts will present the latest results, new materials, processes and applications in the field of lithiumsulfur batteries.

Santa Clara, California, USA • November 19-20

Contact Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik Winterbergstr 28 01277 Dresden, Germany Tel: +49 351 83391-0 Fax: +49 351 83391-3300 info@iws.fraunhofer.de www.iws.fraunhofer.de

5th Annual Knowledge Foundation, Battery Safety 2014 Washington DC, USA November 13-14 Innovations that increase energy storage for lithium-ion batteries enhance their reliability and degradation management. But higher-energy densities can also compromise lithium battery safety and thus require further research. The Fifth Annual Battery Safety conference addresses key safety challenges of lithium batteries and technologies for improvement. The conference gathers electrical engineers, cell manufacturers and safety officials to share cell-level research, systems-level safety analysis, research applications and cost reduction strategies with examples

IdTechEx is providing a range of colocated conferences in Santa Clara in November, of which two are particularly cutting edge in relation to energy storage — Graphene Live! and Energy Harvesting USA. There are also colocated meetings dealing with supercapacitors and wearable technology (mentioned overleaf) Graphene Live! is an international conference and tradeshow covering the applications and latest technology developments of graphene. Our audience will develop a comprehensive yet detailed understanding of the state of technology and market for each graphene application area. The conference will cover all promising applications of graphene, including graphene composites, supercapacitors and batteries, functional inks, logic and memory, touch screens, sensors and bio-electronics and beyond. Uniquely, you will hear the full story per market segment. Potential end-users and investors will initially outline the opportunities, requirements, scaling concerns, price points, etc. Academics/experts will then from industry, academia, government and the military. Contact Tel: +1 617 232-7400 Fax: +1 617 232-9171 custserv@knowledgefoundation.com,

NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop Huntsville, Alabama, USA November 18

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discuss the latest progress and challenges facing graphene in each application area. Companies targeting each graphene application area will then present their technology, target markets, business strategy, and progress. Here, we will also include companies developing a suitable manufacturing technique for that application. This will include players commercializing chemical vapour deposition, oxidisation-reduction, liquid-phase exfoliation, plasma, etc. Finally, you will hear views from players from the incumbent or rival technology area where appropriate. The event brings together users, material providers, equipment makers, policymakers, academics and investors from more than 30 countries. It covers more than 30 speakers over the two days. Contact Chris Clare Event director +44 1223 810270 c.clare@IDTechEx.com

The NASA Aerospace Battery Workshop is an annual event hosted by the Marshall Space Flight Center and is sponsored by the NASA Aerospace Flight Battery Systems Program. The workshop is typically attended by scientists and engineers from various agencies in the US government, aerospace contractors, and battery manufacturers, as well as international participation in a like kind from countries around the world.

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 107

THE EXPO FOR ADVANCED BATTERIES RETURNS TO NOVI, MI, USA IN 2015

SAVE THE DATE SEPTEMBER 15 – 17, 2015

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS technology and supercapacitors, including control circuits and their integration Materials in energy storage: Graphene, Carbon Nanotubes, ionic liquids, non-flammable and non-toxic electrolytes, increased temperature range Contact Corinne Jennings Event Director Tel: +44 1223 812300 E-mail: c.jennings@IDTechEx.com

Energy Harvesting & Storage USA Santa Clara, California, USA November 19-20

NASA technician installing Hubble’s new ﬂight batteries

This sixth annual IDTechEx event provides insight into energy harvesting technologies, case studies and markets, ranging from consumer electronics and sensors all the way to vehicles, building and industrial automation. Following our successful co-location in 2013, Energy Harvesting & Storage USA will again be co-located with Printed Electronics USA. Co-location with Printed Electronics USA is fantastic news for you and Energy Harvesting & Storage USA. It means an opportunity to connect with a whole new user-base in printed electronics devices, and will bring new potential adopters, end-users, and system integrators to your booth. Attendees to this event will learn: Who needs energy harvesting, the ROI and sectors close to adoption. End user and integrators from a diverse g

Santa Clara, California November 19-20

start, regenerative braking, etc.) Supercapacitors in military and aerospace applications Static applications - grid, welding and other electrical engineering applications The future role of energy storage in renewable energy/energy harvesting technologies: challenges and solutions Supercapacitor applications in consumer electronics including mobile phones Technical challenges and improvements needed for supercabatteries to fully realize their potential Printing

Supercapacitors USA 2014 is a leading conference in North America on the subject for this rapidly growing multibillion dollar market This international conference and tradeshow focuses on the future applications, market forecasts and opportunities as well as giving the latest technology trends, providing a global platform where users, investors, suppliers, developers, system integrators and government representatives come together. There are no commercials! Topics include: How supercapacitors wholly or partly replace batteries - what next? How supercapacitors replace electrolytic capacitors Road map of how supercapacitors, pseudocapacitors, supercabatteries and other variants are improving and what markets this will open up New forms - structural, smart skin, flexible, transparent, foldable, paper 10 year forecasts for supercapacitors and their variants - operating parameters, costs, sales Today’s supercapacitors and their variants comparative data, sales successes and applicational challenges The future of hybrid and pure electric EVs using supercapacitors by land, water or air Applications for supercapacitors (cold

Little did Brian Conway (front row second from the right) think his supercapacitor would still be being discussed in Santa Clara

Subjects covered generally include research and development work on stateof-the-art aerospace battery technologies, flight and ground test data Contact https://batteryworkshop.msfc.nasa.gov/ about.cfm

Supercapacitors USA

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 109

FORTHCOMING EVENTS range of markets present their needs and experiences. All the technology options — from energy harvester choices, energy storage options, through to the latest in low power electronics and wireless sensors and related technologies such as thin film harvesters and supercapacitors. More than 400 people attend this event to aid their critical business and technology development strategy decisions in this emerging, high growth topic. Application-focused sessions cover the opportunity of energy harvesting in the built environment, showing how it is enabling smart — and more energy efficient — buildings and smart cities, merging with the Internet of Things (IoT) and M2M evolution. Contact Corinne Jennings Tel: +44 1223 812 300 c.jennings@idtechex.com

55th Battery Symposium in Japan Kyoto, Japan November 19-21 This is organized by the Committee of Battery Technology, the Electrochemical Society of Japan (ECSJ). The main subjects under consideration are: • Reactions and materials of batteries and fuel cells • Innovative batteries • Rechargeable batteries for automotive application/large-scaled and low-cost rechargeable batteries • Durability improvement and cost reduction of fuel cells • International session in the 18th international symposium on batteries, fuel cells and capacitors Contact Tel/fax: +81 75 753 6850 denchi55@www.uchimoto. jinkan.kyoto-u.ac.jp eckansai11@or.knt.co.jp

ing technology providers and investors’ penetration into this promising market. Till the end of 2013, there are 76 energy storage demonstration projects that are planned, under construction or in operation in China, with a focus on application of distributed energy, micro-grid, wind or solar plant and new energy vehicle etc. The 3rd Annual EnergyStorage Tech China Summit is designed to gather 250 professionals representing policy makers, experts, decision makers and manufacturers in the renewable energy and energy storage industry in China together for networking and capitalizing on energy storage business opportunities in China. What makes the EnergyStorage Tech China Summit 2014 a must-attend? • Hear from regulator’s voice on legislative Initiatives and industry development • Updates on pilot project demonstration to promote energy storage industry development in China • Share latest battery and related technology R&D development • Explore new emerging application market for energy storage and opportunities behind • Discuss the best business and profit model for energy storage station in China • EV infrastructure development and energy storage facility requirement • Understand China’s distributed energy development plan and the implication for energy storage industry • Listen to technology pioneers’ presentation on PCS and BMS technology development • Networking with industry peers for material technology innovation for future battery development

European Electric Vehicle Congress

Contact Tel: +86 21 5058 9600 marketing@opplandcorp.com

Contact Tel: +32 477 364 816 E-mail:info@electri-city.mobi

Brussels December 2-5 The European Electric Vehicle Congress strengthens its position as global platform to foster exchange of views between the R&D, the industry, the authorities, the end-users and the NGO’s actors, so to develop synergies in the field of eMobility. As motivations and constraints are different for each of them, EEVC2014 has the objective to help define the most promising solutions to be selected, taking into account the research and development progresses, as well as the environmental and economical constraints. Feedback from past and current experiences will also be discussed and analyzed so that best practices and best ways for a daily introduction of eMobility could be identified. The venue is again in Brussels, so to ensure optimal connection with the representatives of the European Institutions that are considering Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles to play an important role to lower atmospheric pollution and to reduce oil dependency. Policy aspects, new mobility concepts, noise and health factors will also be issues to be discussed. The day prior the Congress, a EU Project day will be organized to provide the audience with a complete overview of the different programs supported by the European Authorities (FP7, Horizon 2020, IEE, EUROSTAR, INTEREG) & related funded projects dealing with eMobility, so to identify possible actions, overlaps, synergies and/or gaps.

Third Annual Energy StorageTech Summit Beijing, China November 20-21 China is facing the challenge of changing the mix of energy sources, to increase the usage of low carbon energy sources and address the challenges of growing and fluctuating electricity demand, which become key drivers for national policy on the development and deployment of energy storage technologies, with a particular focus on areas of transportation and grid applications. Although hampered by policy and economic impediments, such as ES technology immaturity, unclear business and profit models, China is already rising as the most attractive energy storage market where we are witness-

110 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

European Electric Vehicle Congress Brussels, December 2-5

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS • New models for advancing clean energy innovation • Announcing the new Eilat Eilot off grid demo site for developing economies

Energy Storage India 2014 New Delhi December 4,5 The structural realignment of the energy infrastructure in India is the focus of the Second Energy Storage India Conference & Expo. While the main interest will be on the establishment of technologically and economically viable energy storage and microgrid technologies, the conference and expo will systematically present a selection of practical applications and pioneering solutions while illustrating the necessary political conditions. The day before the start of the expo, interested visitors and exhibitors can take part in preparatory workshops of the conference. The conference will be hosted at the Kempinski Ambience Hotel. After China, India is the most populated nation in the world, with a total population of almost 1.3 billion. Providing access to reliable power and power quality for all is a major challenge. In the Smart Grid Vision and Roadmap, India’s ministry of power has set a goal of electrification of all

Eilat-Eilot Green Energy 6th International Conference & Exhibition Eilat, Israel December 7-9 We are excited to announce the 6th annual Eilat Eilot Green Energy Conference, which will be held December 7-9, 2014 at the Dan and Herods hotels in Eilat. This year the conference will be part of the Energy Week in Israel, joining other influential events, including the Alternative Fuels conference in Tel Aviv. The week’s activities will culminate in the Eilat conference. Our leading global event will outline the strategy for moving forward the RE-volution as well as dealing with the opportunities and challenges facing the global Cleantech industry. We will also highlight the recent achievements by the global clean energy hub of Eilat Eilot including new energy start-ups and meeting the goal of RE independence based on over 100 MW of solar energy.

112 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

households with minimum 8 hour of power availability. This will require providing electricity to over 400 million people currently not connected to the grid. While developments are still in their infancy, the market has tremendous potential. Last year, India assumed a pioneering role in the deployment of advanced energy storage systems, particularly for decentralized applications with over $300 million spent on lithium ion battery systems for telecom towers. Apart from the 600,000 telecom towers, India is also planning to install 26 million solar powered water pumps in coming decade. Over the next two years, the government will install the first pilot grid scale energy storage plants, and plans for a major implementation of this technology are to be completed by 2022 Contact Sachin Patil Messe Düsseldorf India Pvt E-mail: PatilS@md-india.com Tel: +91 11 2690 1655 Mob: +91-9717179615 There will be a special conference session dedicated to discussing the project details and bidding process for the 50MW Timna Solar Park tender, set to be published on October 19. This tender is open to qualified bidders worldwide and will be managed by the EilatEilot Renewable Energy Initiative. We are happy to announce that this year the Renewable Energy Investment Conference will be held in Aqaba, Jordan on the morning of December 7. You are invited to participate in this exciting event before joining the rest of the conference in Eilat on the same afternoon. Conference topics include: • Storage – the next stage in mass penetration of RE • Micro and mini grid – the distributed revolution • Energy efficiency, renewable energy, water-energy nexus Regional Development (the EilatEilot RE Model as a Pilot) • Is smart grid management turning into reality? • Natural gas – a threat or a bridge technology?

Contact 6th Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference Secretariat Tel. +972-3-6384444 Fax: +972-3-6384455 Email: EilatEilot@ortra.com

Power Gen International Orlando, Florida, USA December 9-11 Throughout the years, Power Gen International has covered it all, providing a world stage for the innovations, ideas and solutions that have formed our industry for more than two decades. Since our inception in 1988 in Orlando, Power Gen International has travelled coast-to-coast and evolved into the largest, most respected power generation event in the world. With a record-setting expected attendance of more than 22,000 attendees, 90 countries and 1,400 exhibitors, there’s simply no other place to be for education, networking and new business development. Highlights of the event are: • 22,000 power professionals from more than 90 countries • More than 200 of the industry’s top speakers • More than 50 educational conference sessions • Multiple competitive power college courses • More than 1,400 exhibiting companies • Networking events • Technical tours Highlights of last year’s event were: • 96% of attendees would recommend this event to a colleague • 97% of attendees said the quality of the conference met or exceeded their expectations • 99% of attendees said the quality of the exhibition met or exceeded their expectations • 95.2% of attendees said they are likely to attend the event next year • 96% of exhibitors said they are likely to attend the event next year • 84% of exhibitors said the contacts made at the event met or exceeded their expectations Contact General Tel: +1-918-831-9160 Exhibition Linda Fransson Tel: +1 918 770 8616 lindaf@pennwell.com

www.batteriesinternational.com

FORTHCOMING EVENTS EV China: the 7th China International Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Technology Exhibition Shanghai, China December 18-21 As one of the most important professional exhibition in Asia, EV China New Energy Auto Show aims to provide the newest information and integrated solutions for customers. EV China creates a professional trade platform under the brand influence of nevsources.cn and New Energy Vehicle magazine for companies at home and abroad to show electrical vehicle and charging equipment in the Chinese market. At the same time, it provides a fantastic opportunity for companies to meet their customers and buyers when showing their products which is good platform for trade cooperation. EV China combines a professional exhibition and trade exhibition together. Contact www.evchina.cc/en/

Battery Forum Germany 2015 Berlin, Germany January 21-23 The central element for electric mobility and for the storage of renewable energies are powerful, affordable, and secure energy storage and the expertise and know-how to produce this. In this case, the cross-sectoral or interdisciplinary dialogue between research and industry is of special importance in the value chain. The aim of the battery forum Germany is to offer the dialogue between companies, research and policy a platform. High-level representatives from industry and academia illuminate the topic of batteries from different perspectives and to provide an overview on the status and current research topics. Main topics of Battery Forum Germany 2015 are: • Innovative lithium-ion batteries • Visionary material systems (Allsolid-state and post-lithium-ion systems) • Production and process technology • Applications • Modelling and simulation Contact Organizers Michael Krausa Tel: + 49 3020 1431 32 michael.krausa@klib-org.de Congress organization Carsten Scheele, director event management T: +49 241 88 97 0-18 scheele@tema.de

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4th Graphite & Graphene Conference Berlin, Germany December 9-10 Industrial Minerals Events is hosting its Graphite & Graphene Conference in Berlin in December 2014. Now in its fourth year, the event has established itself as the flagship event dedicated to the graphite and graphene industry. Rising demand for the mineral due to advancements in end-user applications, such as lithium ion batteries, has highlighted potential supply issues. Who will fill the void left by the probable decrease in Chinese production for the export market? The hub city of Berlin is an excellent location for the event, which provides a forum for industry leaders from throughout the supply chain to discuss important challenges and opportunities that the market is facing. The two-day conference covers both the natural and synthetic graphite markets, as well as valuable insight

into graphene research and development. An expert panel of speakers and a great mix of delegates from every segment of the supply chain provide outstanding educational and networking opportunities, meaning this event is not to be missed. Topics to be discussed: • Consolidation in China and its implications for natural graphite supply • Developments in end-user applications and the associated change in demand • Pricing insight amid dynamic market conditions • The future of the amorphous market • Challenges and opportunities for junior miners to acquire funding • Graphene R&D advancements – are we any closer to finding a ‘killer application’? Contact Tel: UK +44 20 7779 7222 Tel: US +1 212 224 3570 marketing@metalbulletin.com

The 2015 European Advanced Automotive & Stationary Battery Conference

SAE 2015 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium

Mainz, Germany January 26-29, 2015 Join us at the leading European forum where automakers and energy-storage system developers discuss the status and prospects of the latest advanced batteries to meet the needs of the European market. AABC Europe 2015 will offer two technology focused symposia and two application focused symposia, including AAB’s first exploration of the emerging market for stationary batteries in utility applications

SAE 2015 Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Technologies Symposium addresses critical information on both the technical developments in electronic vehicle technologies as well as the business decisions around technology development and implementation. Additionally, it allows for attendees to meet with those industry experts and technology specialists from the entire supply chain of EV, HEV and EREV to engage in dialogue about the topics of greatest interest.

Contact: info@advancedautobat.com Tel: +1 530 692 0140

Contact SAE International switchboard Tel: +1 724 776 4841

Los Angeles, USA February 10-12

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 113

FORTHCOMING EVENTS National Alliance for Advanced Technology Batteries, 2015 Annual Meeting & Conference Wigwam Resort, Phoenix, Arizona, USA • February 16-19

7th International Battery Expo & Recycling Conference, IBRX India Goa, India March 3-5

Less a wigwam more a fascinating resort

The National Alliance for Advanced Technology Batteries (NAATBatt) Meeting & Conference is the premier business development event in North America for professionals working in the electrochemical energy storage supply chain The meeting & conference will start on February 16 with a special event: the First Annual Advanced Battery Golf & Tennis Tournament. NAATBatt is pleased to offer those working in advanced electrochemical energy storage with the opportunity to participate in what we expect will become a regular social event in our industry. No special skill is required! And don’t miss the Tournament Awards Dinner that night at the award winning Litchfield’s restaurant. The 2015 Annual Meeting & Conference will start, on February 17. The two-and-a-half day program is designed to help delegates identify new revenue opportunities in the business of electrochemical energy storage technology and make new connections in the industry. This year’s meeting will see the return of the highly acclaimed M&A panel, discussing merger and acquisition activity in the advanced battery and energy materials industries over the past year. Delegates will hear about nearterm developments in materials that will be making lithium-ion batteries more capable and will open new market opportunities for other types

114 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

of batteries and ultracapacitors. Delegates will hear about new applications enabled by emerging thinfilm batteries that will create new business for battery and advanced materials makers and learn about new interests in the Department of Energy and Department of Defense that could drive commercial opportunity in the years ahead. The NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference also includes the Energy Storage Innovation Summit. At the summit, 20 emerging companies jury-selected by a committee of NAATBatt member firms make flash presentations to the meeting about new, market-ready technologies that are available to industry for immediate licence or acquisition. The summit is where early stage technology meets the market. Don’t miss this special, once-a-year event. As in past years, the annual meeting and conference includes a special spouses program. NAATBatt is all about building a community and including spouses and significant others in our activities serves to build that bond. The NAATBatt Annual Meeting & Conference is the best opportunity you will have this year to understand where the business of electrochemical energy storage is going and where the best commercial opportunities in the industry will be. Contact Rayna Handelman Tel: +1 312 588 0477

Inspired by the success of International Battery Fair — IBF India 2008, IBRX India 2009, IBRX India 2010, IBRX India 2011, IBRX India 2012, IBRX India 2013, Battery and Recycling Foundation International, New Delhi, these new meetings will feature: • an exhibition by battery manufacturers, equipment for battery manufacturing, equipment for battery recycling. • a one day conference that will in particular address, recent technological advances in battery manufacturing as well as waste management and environmentally sound technologies for recycling used batteries. We expect leading battery manufacturers to showcase their products and take advantage of India as base for business promotions — selling, buying, technology cooperation and JV opportunities. Today the talk is about Asia which continues to be a major user of batteries. With this arises the need for a defined focus towards waste management of used batteries. We expect exhibitor and delegate participation from battery manufacturers, importer and exporters of batteries, researchers, lead recyclers, battery breakers, furnace, pollution control equipment manufacturers. Contact: Tel/fax: +91 11 4240 3200 info@bﬁ.org.in info@ewm.org.in Organizer: Ajoy Raychaudhuri +91 98 1102 1630

The 32nd International Battery Seminar & Exhibition Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA March 9-12 In its 32nd year, this seminar is the leader in providing key industry speakers to discuss the state of the art of worldwide energy storage technology developments for portable, automotive

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

The 19th International Lead Conference (Pb2015) April 22-24, Lisbon, Portugal

The event is organized by the International Lead Association and is the only global conference on lead that is run by the industry, for the industry. The event will be held back-to-back with the International Lead and Zinc Study Group’s Spring Meetings, providing a unique opportunity to interact with governments from many of the world’s major lead producing countries. Building on the success of Pb2013, which attracted almost 150 delegates, next year’s event will provide an authoritative and comprehensive overview of issues affecting the lead industry worldwide, including: • • • •

Analyzing recent trends in the lead market and prospects for the future Reviewing regulatory issues affecting the life cycle of lead Lead’s role in achieving a sustainable society Using communications to create a more favourable environment in which the lead industry can prosper.

ILA is also holding a Lead Occupational Exposure Management Workshop on April 22 and is currently exploring opportunities for industry plant tours. Save the date to avoid missing out on this opportunity to:

• • • •

Network with business colleagues and government representatives from around the world Listen to presentations from expert speakers and industry insiders Find out more about industry trends, regulatory challenges and the positive role lead plays in society Support ILA in its work to create a sustainable global lead industry.

Contact Maura McDermott Email: mcdermott@ila-lead.org

MAY 12-14, 2015

THE 19TH ANNUAL BATTERY CONFERENCE AND TRADESHOW

“Technically oriented for the seasoned battery expert and the novice user.”

Be Empowered ± ± ± ± ±

Presentations and panel discussions relevant to your field Technological advances presented concisely and clearly Trade show vendors offering the products and services you need Interactive breakout workshops and seminars that provide solutions Industry-specific education and networking found nowhere else

“Where the data center, telecom, and utility sectors come together!” T H E H I L T O N O R L A N D O B O N N E T C R E E K | O R L A N D O, F L

BATTCON ALWAYS SELLS OUT. REGISTER EARLY!

To discover the advantages of being a presenter, see the Call for Papers page at www.battcon.com or contact Jennifer.Stryker@alber.com.

954.623.6660 EXT 2380 | WWW.BATTCON.COM

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Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 115

FORTHCOMING EVENTS Energy Storage, Europe/9th International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES 2015)

Battery Conference Aachen, Germany April 27-29 The 7th Advanced Battery Power Conference with the proceeding Batteryday NRW which takes place in the Eurogress in Aachen will be three days packed full of insights into battery competence. Advanced Battery Power has developed into one of the leading events in the battery technology sector. Its significance to the trade extends well beyond just the use of batteries in automobiles, making advanced battery power a must for all engineers, researchers and developers involved in energy storage devices in general, new materials, grid integration or battery recycling.

Dusseldorf, Germany • March 9-11

Contact www.battery-power.eu/en/registration.html

ICLB 2015: 13th International Conference on Lithium Batteries Messe Düsseldorf

In 2015 the International Renewable Energy Storage Conference (IRES) will take place for the first time in cooperation with Messe Düsseldorf and OTTI. Running in Düsseldorf for the first time, IRES 2015 is being held as a concurrent event with ENERGY STORAGE EUROPE (Conference & Expo) and the 4th Conference Power-to-Gas Conference (OTTI). A related trade show will feature some 100 exhibitors. Because of the enormous successes of past IRES conferences EUROSOLAR and the World Council for Renewable Energy (WCRE) will continue the IRES series in 2015. The series of IRES conferences has emerged as the leading forum for the discussion of the pressing problems and stationary power applications. This meeting provides not only broad perspectives, but also informed insights into significant advances in materials, product development and application for all battery systems and enabling technologies. In addition, this meeting is renowned for offering broad networking and exhibiting opportunities to the international battery community. As the longest running battery industry event in the world, this meeting has always been the preferred venue to announce significant new developments and showcase the most advanced battery technology. Areas of focus include: • In-depth worldwide analysis of battery markets and technologies • Government battery program developments

116 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

with renewable energy storage by drawing together one of the largest gatherings of scientific and economic experts worldwide. As of 2015 the participants can choose from even more extensive options. The three conferences and the exhibition will take place March 9-11 in the professional surroundings of Messe Düsseldorf (Trade Fair Dusseldorf), Germany. Combining their events, the organizers, thereby, will establish the most important energy storage meeting worldwide. Contact Tel: +49 228 362 373 Fax: +49 228 361 279 info@eurosolar.org • Battery safety enhancement and regulatory status • Consumer and large format batteries • Thermal and power management systems for consumer and electric, plug-in and hybrid vehicles • Battery development for the grid • Advances in new and improved materials for anode, cathode, electrolyte, separators. • Advances in battery packs, charging and testing • Battery recycling for regulatory and resource recovery purposes • Status and future outlook for other energy storage technologies Contact Tel: +1 561 367 0193 Tel: info@powersources.net

Miami, USA March 9-10 The ICLB 2015: XIII International Conference on Lithium Batteries aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Lithium Batteries. It also provides the premier interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered and the solutions adopted in the field of Lithium Batteries. Contact www.waset.org/conference/2015/03/miami/ICLB

24th International Specialized Fair on Independent Power Sources Moscow, Russia March 25-27 This conference has been organized by the International Association known as INTERBAT and the National Association of current sources known as RUSBAT since 1992. This provides a unique opportunity to those skilled in the field of chemical power sources to meet annually with the manufacturers, developers and consumers of power sources in Russia as well as manufacturers of process equipment, materials and components for production of power sources from different countries. Contact Tel/fax: +7 495 940 1820 interbat@interbat.ru

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We are delighted to announce that the 16th Asian Battery Conference and Exhibition (16ABC) will be held from 8 to 11 September 2015 in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Participate in a sparked-up show with an interactive and lively Exhibition, a program that showcases presentations from experts in battery technology, science and business and ramped-up social events. As both a forum and an expo, the Asian Battery Conference (ABC) continue s to be the premier lead battery event in Asia. It will appeal to everyone with a serious interest in the interaction between energy usage, storage and the environment. 4TH INTERNATIONAL

SECONDARY LEAD CONFERENCE

www.asianbatteryconference.com e. events@conferenceworks.com.au

7 & 8 SEPTEMBER 2015 CENTARA GRAND & BANGKOK CONVENTION CENTRE BANGKOK SECONDARYLEADCONFERENCE.COM

FORTHCOMING EVENTS 8th Energy Storage World Forum Rome, Italy April 27-30 Contact Singapore + 65 6243 0050 London: +44 20 8090 1613 USA: +1 978 263 9931

The Commercial Graphene Show Manchester, UK April 16-17 The Commercial Graphene Show is set to cut through the hype and hot air and directly tackle the challenges associated with applying graphene in the commercial environment. This meeting exists to bring those pioneering graphene production and commercial application together to share insight and exchange ideas that will shape the way that graphene impacts industry The Commercial Graphene Show presents a unique opportunity to network and forge relationships with the largest gathering of industrial application developers. It will introduce exciting new applications of graphene that are revolutionary to many sectors. The Commercial Graphene Show is the definitive meeting place for the entire graphene value chain. Taking you right the way from ground breaking research in the lab all the way to mass industrial adoption. This meeting will bring graphene researchers improving production quality and quantities, and put them at the same table as large multinational industrial powerhouses looking at industry wide adoption. Working with these large commercial application developers is no smooth process and only by working with all the stakeholders in this space can graphene suppliers truly realise the goal of commercial application. Contact www.terrapinn.com/conference/grapheneapplications-world-europe/about.stm

event to Sydney. The event will focus on the energy storage industry at all levels – for utilities, energy businesses, building management and the emerging electric vehicle markets. Following on from the successful 2014 event in Melbourne, Australian Energy Storage Exhibition will continue its to focus on the latest state-ofthe-art energy storage technologies, but also expand to incorporate ‘Lighting & Building Automation’ and ‘Emergent Business Technologies’ zones to offer trade visitors the most comprehensive energy solutions for their businesses. We are pleased to confirm our ongoing association with the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), which is a group committed to advancing the role of energy storage through policy, education, and research. Although Australia shares many traits with California, we are being left behind by technology, so there are many things we can learn from California’s experiences and the progress and knowledge of the CESA. The two day conference will feature over 40 speakers who will discuss the most recent trends and developments in energy storage. This is the only event of its kind in Australia and we invite everyone involved in the energy storage and allied industries to attend. Contact www.australianenergystorage.com.au/ conference/

Battcon 2015: The International Stationary Battery Conference Orlando, Florida, USA May 12-14 The goal of Battcon is to meet the specific needs and interests of end-users. Presentations by users and manufacturers address everyday battery applications, technical advances, and industry concerns.

Papers and panels address manufacturing, maintenance, and testing issues and are of particular interest to data centre, power, telecom, and UPS industry personnel. • Experience industry-specific education and networking. • Attend an optional battery seminar to learn of the latest advancements. • Listen to presentations and panel discussions given by the leading authorities in the field. • Visit the vendors you’ve been wanting to see. • Participate in breakout workshops specifically geared for industry segments. Battcon offers three preconference seminars that focus on battery basics, advanced techniques, or a special topic. These optional Sunday seminars let you brush up on skills and discover new directions the industry is taking. Contact Tel: +1 954 623 6660 Fax: +1 954 623 6671 jennifer.stryker@alber.com

5th Israeli Power Sources Conference Herzelia, Israel May 21 The 5th Israeli conference for Power Sources, Batteries, Fuel Cells and EV will meet to discuss and provide a platform for technological innovations and business opportunities. The conference will discuss the latest advances in the field found in Israel and abroad and support the electrochemical, e-Mobility and the smart grid industry in Israel. All presentations will be in English. The conference will be held once a year and is the leading Israeli Power Sources & EV conference, bringing together world wide participants from leading private and public companies,

Space Power Workshop Los Angeles, USA • May 11-14

BCI’s 127th Convention and Power Mart Expo Savannah, Georgia, USA May 3-6

2015 Australian Energy Storage Conference and Exhibition Sydney, Australia June 3-4 Changes in the clean energy industry and the growing importance of NSW to the market have prompted Exhibitions & Trade Fairs (ETF) to bring the

118 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

Contact Tel: +1 310 336 6804 conf-reg@aero.org

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS start-ups, investors, academics and businesses that are interested in the Energy field. Senior keynotes and experts will present the lectures. An exhibition will run alongside the conference.

16th Asian Battery Conference (16ABC) and Exhibition Bangkok, Thailand • September 8-11

Contact Tel: +972 77 500 1674 Tel/Fax: +972 77 501 0792 Cell: +972 52 860 1517 shmuel@sdle.co.il

10th International Lead Battery Fair Beijing, China May 20-22 Thanks for the support from the exhibitors & delegates from over 50+ countries, and thanks for the participants of traders, buyers & visitors concerned worldwide, the previous nine events of the ‘International Lead Battery Fair’ ---- ILBF CHINA 2013, ILBF CHINA 2011, ILBF CHINA 2009, ILBF CHINA 2007, ILBF CHINA 2005, ILBF CHINA 2004, ILBF CHINA 2002, ILBF CHINA 2000 & ILBF CHINA 1998 have been held in Beijing China & have been the great success. Up to now, after the previous nine events in the last years, the ILBF CHINA has been the largest trade fair in the lead battery industry, and became the regular grand gathering of the manufacturers, suppliers, traders, buyers & all people concerned with business of lead batteries worldwide: • For all buyers & traders of lead batteries worldwide, the ILBF CHINA has been the best place to meet with all lead battery manufacturers in Asia for sourcing qualified automotive, motorcycle, motive power & sealed VRLA batteries; • For all lead battery manufacturers worldwide, the ILBF CHINA has been the best place to meet with all suppliers worldwide for purchasing advanced equipment, materials & components. And in order to provide better services & more business opportunities to our exhibitors & partners, a series of worldwide business promotion will be provided to ILBF CHINA 2015 exhibitors at no extra cost. The business information of ILBF CHINA 2015 exhibitors will be sent to potential buyers worldwide and the ILBF CHINA 2015 will also be promoted worldwide. The ILBF CHINA 2015 may be your company’s best opportunity in 2015 to increase your business and raise your profit, throughout Asia, and worldwide! Contact Tel: +86 10 6232 6669 Fax: +86 10 6234 0078 bcc@bcc-intl.org

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Centara Hotel

Over the years, the conference content and its drivers have changed over the years, from a very technical and scientific format to one that now also addresses the commercial and socio economic aspects of a growing, developing industry. At the time of the first ABC, back in 1988, the world lead tonnage consumed was 5.5 million tonnes with 65% entering the battery market, today we consume over 11 million tonnes with 85% being converted to batteries. The range and types of batteries we now produce have also changed during this period with VRLA a standard product and designs for stop–start vehicles becoming commonplace. It’s a far cry from 2ABC when the market was dominated by the use of antimonial alloys and when many Asian producers were only starting to think about converting the negative into a calcium alloy and producing their first ‘hybrid’ battery. So it is with this history and background that we have great pleasure in welcoming all delegates to the 16ABC in Bangkok, which aims to deliver an enhanced knowledge and a greater appreciation of our wonderful and growing industry. What’s new The EXPO of 16ABC will be sparked up with fresh show features and a

dynamic booth layout plan with a variety of different exhibition booths along with floor space only exhibition options. An interactive themed cafe in the centre of the EXPO. Sponsors and exhibitors will be able to conduct meetings and host clients in this space. The cafe will also house our barista’s making perfect coffees all day long and serving on demand snack items. Take a break in our fun Side Show Alley area within the EXPO Hall. The area will include arcade style games. Start practising your Atari skills and your muscle man swings! — great prizes to be won… 16ABC will see the introduction of scheduled appointments. Buyers will be able to review exhibitors profiles on line and request appointments through the Exhibitor Online Diary prior to the event. Stay tuned for heaps more program enhancements. Contact General/registration Lucy Cote e. events@conferenceworks.com.au Tel: +61 3 9870 2611 Sponsorship/exhibition Mark Richardson Cell: + 61 412 160 133 e. mark@conferenceworks.com.au

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 119

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Contact Karen Hampton: karen@batteriesinternational.com or call +44 (0)7792 852337

PROFILE: ALLAN COOPER In 2008 Allan Cooper was awarded the International Lead Medal for his exceptional contributions to the lead industry in the ﬁelds of metallurgy, production, and battery development, particularly in electric and hybrid electric vehicles. The story isn’t over yet. Battery historian Kevin Desmond reports.

Taking the long view Little did Allan Cooper know as he flew long haul to South Africa aged 22 that half a century later a succession of long — and very long — flights would be part of his protracted working life. Or that the career he was about to embark on, was just a preparation for a yet more important second career. The year was 1961. Allan, who had just graduated at Peterhouse College at Cambridge University with tripos in Natural Sciences and Metallurgy was off to play hockey — he was a University Blue — for a joint Oxbridge team. “After the sporting tour I returned to England with a bump,” says Cooper. “I then had to finish the final year of my so-called ‘sandwich course’

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with Richard Thomas and Baldwins (RTB), a major steel producer.” In the UK one fast entry into management is to work for a company for one year, take one’s degree, and then do a final year of work, hence the term sandwich course. Cooper went quite literally from the veldts of the Cape to the thenindustrial heartland of England, first to Scunthorpe before moving on to

the Midlands and then back to South Wales. He was then posted to the RTB Ebbw Vale plant as a tinplate metallurgist. After two years realising that little had changed in his work Cooper decided it was time to move on. Cooper joined Associated Lead Manufacturers in November 1964 (part of the then Lead Industries Group — later to become the Cookson Group). “I was hired by a Doug-

“I was hired by a certain Douglas Laidler – the research director — as his personal assistant. His politics were way to the right of Genghis Khan and one of his claims to fame was that he had turned Margaret Thatcher down for a job” Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 121

PROFILE: ALLAN COOPER

Left: Cooper was a Cambridge University Blue. Right: Early days after graduation working for steelmaking ﬁrm Richard Thomas and Baldwins

las Laidler – the research director — as his personal assistant. His politics were way to the right of Genghis Khan and one of his claims to fame was that he had turned Margaret Thatcher down for a job,” Cooper says. “On joining the company he greeted me by saying ‘Welcome to the lead industry – pipe is finished — sheet lead is nearly gone and lead-acid batteries will probably be replaced by another chemistry’. Well he got the first one right!” After a brief time in London he moved to ALM’s factory in Chester. This was a secondary smelter but also produced various products from lead including sheet, die-castings and shot. Cooper spent the majority of his time there in the smelting and refining department where his steelmaking experience came in useful as he was able to introduce oxygen enrichment to speed up the smelting process. He returned to London as personal assistant to the technical director just before the World Cup football final in 1966 when for the first (and only) time England was the winner. He recalls that his first priority in his move was to find a shop that could install his first colour TV in time for the final — the day after moving in! “At that time there appeared to be little in the way of ‘customer service’ – it was more a question of the phone being answered to find someone asking for some battery alloy and being

122 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

asked ‘How much antimony do you want in it? You can have between 3%-11%.’ Or ‘Oh you want some lead oxide — how much and what colour — you can have red, yellow or grey’.

Dispersion strengthened lead … and beyond “After a spike in the antimony price, there was a move to reduce the antimony content in battery alloys — or remove it altogether — as this would have the effect of lowering water loss. I was asked to oversee some joint development work with St Joe Lead (now Doe Run) on dispersion strengthened lead (DSL) which showed promise for a while. “This was in the heady days of the lead industry when the then ILZRO director, Schrade Radke, had initiated the construction of a Lamborghini car with as much lead and zinc on it as possible — Mike Rose, then R&D manager of St Joe, politely declined to have the brake pipes extruded in DSL!

“This work was rapidly superseded as around that time St Joe had hired a certain David Prengaman to work on lead calcium alloys and after our first meeting we’ve remained friends ever since. Work was also going on in developing low antimony alloys and ALM initiated a programme with TBS Engineering by which we would produce the alloy and they would cast it under different conditions so we could mutually assist customers in using these new alloys for the ‘low maintenance’ battery.” It was in early 1970s that love blossomed. Allan met his wife to be Irene while they were both working with Associated Lead, Irene was a sales executive in its export company Almeco. One thing led to another and they married in October 1975. Within a few years they had two daughters — Sophie and Debbie. Recently the two have become grandparents with the arrival of twins, Harvey and Lila. Cooper later had a spell managing the lead smelter at Millwall in London. After this he moved north to

A major problem in demonstrating batteries by retrofitting into currently available vehicles is that these have been about three years in development and probably we take another two years to fit and test the batteries so we are about five years adrift in terms of vehicle development. www.batteriesinternational.com

PROFILE: ALLAN COOPER Newcastle as R&D Director when ALM relocated its head office there in 1980. “It was ironic,” says Cooper. “As a child, my father had pointed out the lead works to me from the Redheugh Bridge and now I had an office in that very building.” During his time there, Cooper was involved in many projects such as automated battery breaking, polypropylene recovery and a lead/calcium battery strip production line. He then moved into the parent group working on technical business development and helped set up a joint venture battery separator plant with the US’s Entek Corporation. This plant is still in operation but now back under the control of Entek. The Cookson business had been very active in the takeover market — especially in the US and after the slump in 1987 — did not adequately retrench so he happily took an early retirement package after some 26 years with the company. It was June 1991. Cooper little realized that the end of one career was but the signal for another to start — and one that arguably has been influential in shaping the direction of the entire lead acid battery industry as well as, potentially — and he would probably blush here — changing the way the world drives.

progressed to record attendances approaching 800 attendees and over 100 exhibitor booths.” In 1992, shortly after the Advanced Lead Acid Battery Consortium (ALABC) was set up by the International Lead Zinc Research Organisation (ILZRO) in the US, Cooper was asked to look at ways of setting up a sister organisation in Europe with a sufficient legal entity to enable the ALABC to apply for research funding from Europe. This resulted in the creation of the European Advanced Lead Battery Consortium EEIG in November

1993. This consisted of many of Europe’s lead smelting firms, the major battery producers and other suppliers to the industry. The then chairman of the LDA, Alan Pugh, asked Cooper to put together a research project on electric vehicle batteries for funding from the European Commission’s Brite-Euram industrial and materials technologies programme. Cooper won the project and was chosen as its co-ordinator, So began a long and fruitful association with the ALABC. This was scheduled to be a four year programme involving 13 organi-

This prompted another Insight trial with a retroﬁtted 144V UltraBattery pack which successfully covered 100,000 miles on the UK’s Millbrook Proving Ground test track with the only noteworthy incident being when the car hit a pheasant at speed on the high speed circuit. That said the batteries behaved impeccably.

Maternity leave The call to arms came in the form of an unlikely request for assistance from what was then known as the Lead Development Association. “Could I help them out on a temporary six month consultancy contract as one of the technical staff was off on six months’ maternity leave?” says Cooper. “I started in September — without a contract — and stayed (the lady never came back having become pregnant again). Thus my six month temporary assignment has become 23 years, and guess what I still don’t have a contract!” Over the years the LDA has changed from market development to look after lead’s interests on the environmental front. Cooper’s role is now less technical and he is more associated with the successful series of European Lead Battery Conferences — helping on the programme committee and organizing the exhibition. “We first tried the exhibition in Geneva in 1994 and had 14 table top displays,” he says. “This has since

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Celebrating the 100,000 miles with Mike Kellaway (Provector) (left) and to right Mark Stevenson (Pasminco) and Pat Moseley (ALABC).

Batteries International • Fall 2014 • 123

PROFILE: ALLAN COOPER

CPT and EALABC received a Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership Carbon Champions Award in 2012 for their work on the so-called LC SuperHybrid. zations and costing a total of Ecu3.8 million (€3.8 million). This was later followed by a further 44 month EU project also on EV batteries costing €3.66 million and with 12 partner organizations. By the late 1990s interest in electric vehicles — especially with lead-acid batteries — was beginning to wane and the ALABC started to look at batteries for hybrid electric vehicles where power density is more important than energy density. Although excellent progress had been made in the laboratory in the work to overcome the problem of sulfation of the negative plate when lead acid batteries are subjected to high rate partial state-of-charge cycling — and huge strides had been made in other fields of battery development — Cooper found it difficult to persuade car manufacturers that lead acid was up to the job.

Novel battery designs It was therefore decided to demonstrate the batteries in a vehicle and an application was made under the UK Foresight Vehicle Programme for funding to retrofit a Honda Insight with battery made up with a novel design of 2V spiral-wound cells modified to have current offtakes top and bottom. A major problem was encountered in tapping into the Honda electronics to essentially fool the system that it was still talking to a nickel metal hydride battery. This proved a very difficult problem to solve and, together with some battery problems, resulted

124 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

in major delays to the project. After one particularly unsuccessful demonstration where the electronics were constantly tripping out, the project was nearly cancelled but Cooper, knowing a solution could be found, pleaded for a little more time. Provector, a long term collaborator with the ALABC, finally solved the problems and the project was ultimately successful in that the car covered 50,000 miles before being retired. The concept was sound but it still needed the right battery to take it further. At this point, enter the UltraBattery. The battery coming from a CSIRO project in Australia was the invention of Lan Lam which combines ultracapacitor technology with lead-acid battery technology in a single cell with a common electrolyte. In one test an UltraBattery outperformed a nickel metal hydride battery on a hybrid test cycle. This prompted another Insight trial with a retro-fitted 144V UltraBattery pack which successfully covered 100,000 miles on the UK’s Millbrook Proving Ground test track with the only noteworthy incident being when the car hit a pheasant at speed on the high speed circuit. That said the batteries behaved impeccably. Work by Effpower in Sweden on a bipolar design of lead-acid battery was producing some excellent results in the laboratory. “We had been keeping Honda informed about the work we had been doing on the Insight vehicles and they decided to take

a more active interest in the work,” says Cooper. “We bought a Honda Civic in 2007 to road test the battery at Millbrook and Honda provided an identical vehicle to exactly duplicate the test running of the retro-fitted car to compare fuel consumption and performance. The battery was put into the car in two large blocks to simulate the split of voltage in the Honda car but this proved to be a mistake as the battery design proved unable to dissipate the heat generated and it dried the battery out. “So we made another attempt, this time with the battery split into four 44V modules. This proved to be better in terms of heat control but unfortunately one of the modules developed a short circuit due to a crack in one of the ceramic bipolar plates. Effpower put this down to a manufacturing defect but it is possible that the design could have been prone to vibration in a vehicle situation. This failure ultimately proved to be a terminal blow for Effpower.

Working to the future “A major problem in demonstrating batteries by retro-fitting into currently available vehicles is that these have been about three years in development and probably we take another two years to fit and test the batteries so we are about five years adrift in terms of vehicle development. A major breakthrough came in 2010 where we met Controlled Power Technologies at the major JSAE Exhibition in Yokohama, Japan. They were exhibiting various CO2 reduction technologies while we had the 100,000 mile Insight on display before donating it to Furukawa who had built the batteries. “Their common interest in low cost CO2 reduction was to result in future talks between the organizations. This has resulted in us cooperating with them to build two vehicles to demonstrate how the use of a downsized engine in a vehicle can be performance enhanced by the use of an electric supercharger in combination with a turbocharger to restore drivability.” The electric supercharger is driven by regenerated energy from braking with an enhanced belt-driven starter generator stored in an advanced lead carbon battery. The first vehicle (a 1.4 litre VW Passat) was built with a 12V electrical system and delivered emission reductions of 20%-25% when compared with the 1.8 litre version

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“Our tooling operation is completely flexible so I can assure you that we can meet any reasonable delivery requirement. And our quality control and certification can guarantee that your tools will meet your specifications”. Jason Wirtz, Tooling Division Manager

FOR PRECISION TOOLING RELY ON WIRTZ Wirtz has been in the tooling business for over 60 years. In the last ﬁve years, we have installed 10 new CNC machining centers in our tooling division. These centers hold the closest tolerances, are completely ﬂexible, and are equipped to operate in an unmanned environment. The result is that Wirtz can produce, with minimal lead times, the most exact tooling in the industry for grid molds, continuous cast wheels, paster tooling, and plate cutter tooling. Machine Tested Tooling All Wirtz grid molds and ConCast wheels are machine tested with lead at our factory,

simulating real world operating conditions, to certify operating temperatures, grid weights, and grid thicknesses. Knowledge Our knowledge of key technical aspects of tooling; such as cutting tool relief angles for optimal grid cavity surface finish, paste hopper and orifice plate clearances for proper paste delivery, and wheel surface finishes for easiest grid strip release make the performance of our tooling as perfect as possible. Continuous Improvement We never stop improving our tooling design. A recent example is an upgrade to our steel

belt paster tooling that improved the quality of over-paste on both sides of the plate for one of our large customers. For more information call us at +1.810.987.7600 or email sales@wirtzusa.com.

A F F O R DA B L E T E C H N O LO GY WO R L D W I D E F R O M T H E W I RT Z G R O U P O F C O M PA N I E S

PROFILE: ALLAN COOPER with which the converted car has similar performance. The added cost is estimated to be somewhere between €750-€1,250 which is well below the add-on for full hybrids such as the Honda Civic or Toyota Prius or plug in hybrids which all have very expensive, high voltage battery packs. This has more recently been followed up with a 48V/12V dual voltage vehicle based on the same 1.4 litre version. This has a much more powerful starter generator (8kW as against 2kW-3kW) allowing provision of direct electrical assist on the engine as well as other functionality such as the option of putting big power users including aircon or water and oil pumps onto the regenerative circuit. “During the last three years, we have been actively demonstrating these vehicles to car manufacturers in Europe and the US with a lot of interest being shown,” says Cooper. “The EALABC is now working directly with Ford and Hyundai in two separate projects to ‘hybridise’ diesel powered vehicles with this system to drive CO2 emissions down below 80g/km.

The industry is going to have to start classifying things differently. Cars may no longer be categorized in terms of litres but instead by torque or horsepower. Ultimately, the consumer will get more out of smaller vehicles CPT and EALABC received a Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership Carbon Champions Award in 2012 for their work on the so-called LC SuperHybrid. “As a consequence of this we have also been nominated as one of the UK entries for the European Business Awards for the Environment in 2014. Allan Cooper, now 76 years old, continues to plan ahead: “In the future we might see an increase in the production of smaller engine cars overall. What has been added is a combination of turbo and supercharger to remove the turbo lag and improve the drivability. The potential of direct electrical assist to the crankshaft adds a further dimension. The industry is going to have to start classifying things differently. Cars may no longer be categorized in terms of

litres but instead by torque or horsepower. Ultimately, the consumer will get more out of smaller vehicles.” Cooper has no immediate plans for retirement. “Why should I?” he says. “There’s still so much to do!” However, since the arrival of twin grandchildren in November 2012, pressures for creating more spare time have increased but have also resulted in the move of the home office to the bottom of the garden. This he continues to enjoy along with the (too) occasional game of golf. Deep down however, there remains the desire to see one of these low cost, lead-carbon battery-based hybrids on the road. He also wonders what dizzy political heights he might have reached if Douglas Laidler had turned him down as well!

See us at booth 88

126 • Batteries International • Fall 2014

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What’s

in a name? What’s in a name? Quit Quite a lot really. Do you use a Hoover or a Vacuum Cleaner? That was the kind of thinking Ste Steve Mate (above) , chief executive officer at Co-efficient said behind choosing the name for h his Mate Gauge — a handy piece of kit that automatically measures and adjusts the amount of lead being applied during grid-making processes. “If you called it the laser la gauge, it just wouldn’t ring any bells but if you name it after a person then it gets kind of personal and remembered,” he says. “That’s also part of the th reasoning for shipping one of our machines from Canada over to international conference conferences. They see me, they see the machine. Unforgettable!”

Romeo, Ro Romeo, where for art thou Romeo? There’s only one wor word for it,” one delegate at The Battery Show iin Detroit, whispered International. “Irritating”. to Batteries Internatio “Why the whisper?” whisper? we whispered back. “Because you yo can’t help looking at it and it’s all a for a good cause.” Romeo, a two foot high, ‘Nao’ robot was one of the highlights show, as the clever robot of the sho interacted — including singing something approaching and some moonwalk dancing — with the moonwa crowds. The idea id was the brainchild Fossemò, the of Alessandro Alessa charitable general manager of charitab

the Solith subsidiary of Sovema in the US. The robot is not only an advanced teaching aid for children with learning difficulties but will also be time-shared with R&D departments at universities. And we just thought that universities were the founts of knowledge (yes, where students come to drink).

All the news that’s fit to print The Th he price of ELB ELBC LBC fame may b bee li lit literary terary immortality. Or that’s what it looks like im from our Grub Street hide-away. fro Pat P Moseley, fresh from writing the modern classic — Towards Sustainable mo Road Transport —is now going one step Ro further with his latest chef d’oeuvre, a fur collection of the best of ELBC presentaco tions. tio So is it about naming and shaming? “Not at all,” says Pat. “Altogether, the th 14ELBC conference will deliver 64 6 presentations and some of these selected texts will be published in s an a edition of the Journal of Power Sources.”

Spotted undercover in Edinburgh’s ELBC

A star is born Mark Stevenson, Boris Monahov and David Prengaman: “We’re in disguise, nobody’ll guess we’re distinguished battery engineers until we open our sporrans”

True stories are the hardest to believe, But take these ingredients: make of them what you will. Karen Hampton, polymath publisher of Batteries International has, minutes before, bruised a rib after a fall at the Battery Show in Detroit. Moving away to avoid the clamor of North American lawyers seeking her business, she spots exhibitor Mark Hulse at Maccor with its mini-golf challenge. “I’ve only played golf once before —they’re still filling the course

in — but today I can only putt with one hand,” she says. Result? Hole in one. Second time. Again with one hand. Another hole in one. At this point the next stand are taking odds on a third. Editor by her side is taking odds of 20:1 (against her of course, he says he’s underpaid). Yes, a hole in one. To raucous cheering a golfing star is born.

Anders Källström and Bo Johannsson: “This is genuine 100% Swedish tartan — little do yon Scots know that we invented the kilt. Our gentle forebears brought them over on one of our cultural pillage trips. Notice our national colours, blue and yellow embroidered into the clothing of the clan.”

Pictured left: Karen accepting the prize of the 16MP camera from Mark

If you can see the hills … Last ELBC conference in Paris, Abertax made a splash with a handsome surprise gift of ever-sohandy parapluies. At this year’s conference in Edinburgh the focus changed from umbrellas to, um thematic umbrellas with a cultural twist. “It’s time to stick with a cert — umbrellas in Edinburgh are a must at any time of the year,” says Abertax’s Trudi Murray. “In fact we’ve emblazoned them with a Scots

proverb, “if you can see the hills, it’s going g to rain. If you can’t see the hills… well guess what?!! “But this time we’re aiming to be the most st interesting stand — from a culinary point of view. Our amuses-bouches are gently simmered d haggis served with the freshest of tatties and neeps ps washed down with a selection of the finestt Scottish whiskeys. Gaelic coffee all day with Scottish sh shortbread and the world-famous pudding, g, Cracken.

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Pasting ► Dividing ► Flash Drying ► Stacking ► Curing ► C.O.S. ► Assembly

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New York, USA: sorfin@sorfin.com Tokyo, Japan: tokyo@sorfin-yoshimura.jp São Paulo, Brasil: saopaulo@sorfin-yoshimura.br Qingdao, China: qingdao@sorfin-yoshimura.cn Paris, France: paris@sorfin-yoshimura.fr Pune, India: sales@sorfin-yoshimura.in Bangkok, Thailand: sorfin@sorfin-yoshimura.co.th