lead-acid

The US Battery Council International (BCI) association and the China Battery Industry Association (CBIA) have teamed up to jointly represent the interests of the lead-acid industry.

“Because BCI and CBIA’s members comprise 70% of the lead-acid battery manufacturing companies in the world, this partnership will create a unified voice for the industry and allow both associations to better serve their members,” said Mark Thorsby, executive vice-president of BCI.

UK-based bus manufacturer Optare has selected US battery maker Valence Technology’s (Valence) lithium batteries for the integration in electric buses.

Optare will install the lithium iron phosphate battery units in 45 buses for bus services in Nottingham, UK. The U-Charge battery series comes in standard Battery Council International sizes.

Wirtz Manufacturing Company, one of the leading suppliers of lead-acid battery manufacturing equipment, has had a U.S. patent granted that looks to make a considerable difference in the life of batteries using continuously manufactured positive grids and plates.

The patent, No 8,875,361, is for the method of improving the shape of the grid wires and the surface finish of the grid wires on all grids made by continuous processes including punched grids, expanded grids and continuously cast grids. A patent application has been filed with the European Patent Organization, which will apply for all of the E.P.O. countries.

German BASF and US energy storage start-up EnerG2 have partnered for the scale-up of carbon materials for supercapacitors and lead-acid batteries.

EnerG2 has developed a carbon technology platform that enables large-scale production of carbon materials. Seattle-based EnerG2’s patented carbon material is designed for supercapacitor electrodes and as a performance additive in start-stop lead-acid batteries in automotive and industrial applications. The two companies will jointly further develop the materials, expand capacity and extend global presence with a focus on Asia and Europe.

Hollingsworth & Vose (H&V), a battery separator manufacturer, has acquired Indian filtration media and battery separator maker Raman FibreScience (Raman) with immediate effect.

Raman manufactures a range of battery separators for flooded lead-acid batteries. According to the Mysore-headquartered company, the battery separators are suitable for use in automotive, standby power, industrial tubular and traction batteries. Raman has an international customer base.