Benefits to Battery Users

Target markets for our advanced bipolar VRLA batteries are in electrified vehicles and UPS backup power.

For the electrified vehicles market, customers’ top priorities are increased range, performance without maintenance, proven safety, faster charging time and an environmentally friendly make-up. OEMs also demand more from their batteries: longer run times, maintenance-free operation, higher system voltage, electronics simplicity and a design that is both compact and flexible. All of these attributes must include value and cost effectiveness in the technology. Atraverda bipolar VRLA batteries provide all of these features and benefits to OEMS and customers of electrified vehicles.

With the combined solution of “high voltage” and “custom battery shapes,” the Atraverda battery can be designed to meet diverse needs. As an “energy battery” the Atraverda bipolar battery delivers the daily power requirements in applications such as low-speed electric vehicles, e-bikes and scooters, wheel chairs or golf cars. As a “power battery” the Atraverda bipolar design offers the HEV industry the unique properties of VRLA in a more energy-efficient package. Atraverda’s bipolar VRLA batteries can be recycled. Recycling back into new batteries is not currently possible with Lithium Ion or Nickel Metal Hydride.

The unique Atraverda bipolar design also readily fits into the existing lead-acid battery recycling infrastructure. More than 97% of new lead-acid batteries are produced directly from materials from used lead-acid batteries, thus claiming the title as “the most recycled item on our planet”.

Atraverda batteries are lighter, smaller, and greener than conventional lead acid batteries. They are also more affordable – significantly less expensive – compared to newer advanced batteries such as nickel metal hydride and lithium ion. Atraverda’s technology has intrigued battery design engineers with our unique ability to produce single high voltage batteries that allow for more compact designs (including form factor shapes and dimensions) and flexibility in operating efficiency.

Markets

Low-speed electric vehicles

Limited to a maximum speed of 25 mph, low-speed vehicles are used in a variety of applications -from planned communities and large distribution centers to military bases, corporate centers, malls and airports. Our bipolar VRLA batteries increase the energy of the battery pack to improve the run time of the vehicles and create a design to eliminate acid spillage. Vehicle voltage for these low-speed vehicles are typically 48 volts and 72 volts with higher voltage systems being considered.

Personal mobility (wheelchairs)

The personal mobility or wheelchair market requires a non-leaking maintenance-free battery. Customers are looking for extended range and with Atraverda’s batteries can travel further without running out of power. Typical personal mobility battery pack: 24 volts at 30 Ah.

Electric bikes, scooters, and motorcycles

Electric personal transport vehicles are a global growth market. The VRLA battery requirements for this broad market are diverse because of the many uses for which these vehicles are needed. This includes transport to and from work, personal/recreational use and commercial use for businesses. Customers want improved VRLA batteries for longer range, longer battery life, lighter weight, faster charging times, and compact designs. This market uses a wide range of battery packs from 24, 36, and 48 volt systems and 8 to 16 Ah capacity. An advantage of an Atraverda bipolar battery is the capability to create a single high voltage battery that meets the needs of the OEM with fewer battery connections. For example, a single 36volt x 16Ah battery to replace three 12 volt batteries.

Hybrid and Plugin Hybrid vehicles

Current hybrids use an expensive nickel metal hydride battery pack to provide a full electric range of one to two miles before the gas engine turns on. The trend is to produce a plugin hybrid (a vehicle that you plugin at night to charge the batteries) that can travel up to 40 miles before the gas engine turns on. Currently nickel metal hydride and lithium ion batteries are far too expensive for this long range application; however, an advanced power lead acid battery that can achieve energies similar to nickel metal hydride at an affordable battery pack cost would be very desirable. Our batteries have the additional advantage of less expensive battery management systems making the entire system much more affordable.

UPS backup power

Maintenance-free VRLA batteries are used in this application to provide backup power for uninterruptible power systems (UPS) for computers and alarm systems for offices and homes. Our bipolar design is well suited for this application since this market already requires maintenance-free batteries at high voltages at high discharge rates. Our batteries have the advantage of being lighter weight and can provide higher voltages in a single battery.

Designer vehicles

Atraverda’s revolutionary battery technology offers a design flexibility and performance that can work well within virtually any vehicle made today – or even one that is on the drawing board as the new vision for the vehicle of tomorrow. With the options for any voltage and almost any shape battery from Atraverda, a vehicle manufacturer can customize a “designer vehicle” around the battery that makes the best use of space and voltage while having a battery power that is lighter, smaller and greener than conventional VRLA batteries.

Custom Battery Shapes

Atraverda’s bipolar battery design can be shaped to fit almost any geometric form factor. The size - length and width - of each plate determines the overall Ah capacity of the battery and the number of plates determines the battery voltage. The shape of each plate is infinitely variable and can be used by the vehicle designer to optimize system performance. For example, one application such as an e-bike may require a flat, low-profile-shaped battery for a low center of gravity, while another vehicle application may warrant a trapezoid-shaped battery to fit into the luggage compartment. We utilize the customer needed battery shape and then manufacture the plate and frame. Our technology would even permit a “donut-shaped” plate design should the user require an open central core space for system wiring or cooling.

High Voltage

The nature of the bipolar battery technology enables building a battery in any 2V increment without the need for specially molded battery cases. The typical Atraverda bipolar VRLA battery is 12V, 24V, 36V or 48V with a C/20 rating of 15 Ah with higher capacities easily designed. Each plate has its own integrated frame, which when stacked and joined, create the external battery case. With bipolar technology, the number of plates are selected based on the required battery voltage and then the current-collecting end-plates are added to finish each battery.

The vehicle designer then selects the appropriate operating system voltage so that the Atraverda engineers can build batteries that are an increment of the overall system voltage. Atraverda recommends keeping the individual battery voltages below 50V for safety and handling reasons, but these batteries can easily be connected in series or parallel to create the desired system voltages. Each battery has flush-mounted terminals for high power and easy installation without the need for wires and crimped terminations.

Pack Design

Bipolar batteries can be wired in series to further increase the voltage and/or wired in parallel to increase the Amp hours to the desired rating. A 72V x 340 Ah Atraverda battery pack has been tested extensively in a real world application with measurable success.

Easy Pack Expansion

Because of the unique design and flexibility of the Atraverda bipolar VRLA battery, battery packs can easily be expanded to higher capacity ratings simply by adding additional batteries in parallel. Each battery has four threaded terminals (two positive, two negative) for maximum wiring flexibility.

Energy Battery

The Atraverda “Energy Battery” is specifically designed for applications such as wheelchairs, e-bikes and golf cars that require daily charge / discharge cycling. The unique Atraverda bipolar design affords efficient use of weight and space achieving similar energy densities to nickel metal hydride batteries. We design our energy batteries by working closely with our customers and by using a “systems approach.” We begin the design by first considering the required system operating voltage which determines the number of plates in the battery. We then establish the overall battery performance requirements in terms of discharge rate and amp-hours. These two factors combine to determine the basic volumetric size of the battery, but not shape. The battery shape is infinitely variable and determined by the vehicle requirements in terms of form-factor, center of gravity and any other specific design characteristics. Bipolar allows the freedom to design around the vehicle and optimize accordingly. One application may mandate a flat design for low center of gravity while another may require a thin, tall design with integrated handle.

Power Battery

The Atraverda “Power Battery” incorporates many new features for use in high rate partial state of charge (HRPSoC) cycling such as that required for Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV’s) and Uninterruptible Power Sources (UPS). The high voltage capability and short internal current path of the bipolar design enables bipolar batteries to be more electrically efficient than valve-regulated lead-acid batteries. The bipolar plates create a streamlined battery by eliminating components such as cast-on-straps and plate lugs. Voltage drops associated with grids and straps are eliminated therefore leading to more uniform use of the active materials. These features when combined with the world-class recyclability of lead-acid batteries makes the Atraverda “Power Battery” the obvious choice for HEV applications.

Cost-effective energy systems

Batteries are only part of the energy system for electrified vehicles. There are other components (pack containers, battery chargers, battery management system, cooling system, wiring, safety features) that can add significant cost to the entire battery system, depending on the type of batteries used. So when deciding on the entire energy system, all components need to be included in the final system cost and weight. Current and future electric and hybrid vehicles are requiring high energy systems that can pose a challenge to lithium ion and NiMh requiring thousands of individual cells that need to be packaged, monitored, and constantly managed for performance and safety. Designing a battery system around Atraverda’s bipolar VRLA batteries requires only tens of batteries with much simpler wiring and battery management. Using our batteries will lead to much lower overall system cost and improve our energy density ( Wh/Kg ) compared to lithium ion and NiMh.

Faster Charging

With the Atraverda bipolar VRLA battery, the charge current is straight through and across the whole area of the active material in the body of the battery. This reduces the total resistance of the battery and therefore reduces the time needed to fully recharge our battery. Standard VRLA batteries are designed with energy collecting cast on straps at the top of each cell. The energy is then moved through this cast on strap to a vertical terminal and then through a plastic partition to the adjacent cell. This is performed with each of the six cells of a 12V battery. Electron movement through all this “top lead” creates resistance which, in turn means, increased energy that must be put back into the battery to recharge it.