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Industrial battery giant EnerSys has won two contracts from the US military to supply VRLA batteries to the US Army and Marine Corps.

The deal is for Hawker Armasafe Plus batteries that feature Enersys’ thin plate pure lead technology— this uses a greater number of thinner lead plates rather than fewer thick lead plates within the battery. This increases the power density of the batteries and allows them to be charged at a higher rate. The Armasafe Plus batteries can be charged in a quarter of the time of conventional batteries.

Sales of lead-acid batteries in North America rose 15.2% in December 2013 following the extended period of cold weather.

Shipments of automotive batteries in December 2013 reached 12.2m, which is 15.2% higher than the figure for November.

Battery and charging technology development company Highpower International, based in Shenzhen, China, has secured a deal to supply large format lithium-ion batteries to Huizhou Yipeng Energy Technology for use in buses in China.

In a deal worth up to $5m for the 2014 financial year, Highpower will supply 16 and 20 Ah lithium-nickel cobalt manganese batteries to Huizhou Yipen for use in hybrid and plug-in hybrid buses. Huizhou Yipen will integrate the batteries with BMSs into the buses for multiple Chinese bus manufacturers.

Separator manufacturer Celgard’s Concord, North Carolina manufacturing plant has received certification for its products to be used in the electric drive vehicle market.

The ISO/TS 16949 Quality Management System certification is an international standard with specific requirements for the automotive industry. All major vehicle manufacturers subscribe to this standard, which means separators from the Concord plant can be used in lithium-ion batteries in electric cars.