Batteries
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InoBatExide: Tips for a healthy battery this winter
Batteries lose a great deal of their cranking power in cold weather, which is the reason why battery failure most frequently occurs in winter. Poorly performing batteries often continue to loyally start the engine for months, only to fail the first time they’re exposed to a cold night on the roadside. Unexpected battery failures are expensive and inconvenient, but can be avoided with the right approach to battery maintenance. Exide Technologies offers tips on how to keep your battery in top condition throughout the winter months.
The Garage Inspector recommends like-for-like battery replacement
VartaVARTA brand ambassador Andy Savva explains the importance of replacing a car battery with the same type of technology (or upgrading) and advises never to downgrade technologies. When it comes to vehicles with a start/stop system, it’s essential that an Absorbent Glass Mat (AGM) or Enhanced Flooded Battery (EFB) is fitted, as a traditional, conventional flooded battery would not cope with the vastly increased number of engine starts – and not last very long.
Britishvolt chooses Mira for new global headquarters
BritishvoltAdvanced battery technology investor Britishvolt has announced its plans to make the Mira Technology Park Campus near Coventry the home of its 5000sqm global headquarters. The company wants its new HQ to be fully operational by 2022. The news follows the UK government’s decision to bring forward its ban on the production of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030. Britishvolt said the facility, in the traditional heartland of the country’s automotive industry, will spearhead the development of battery technologies for future electrified vehicles. Britishvolt adds that it wants to expand the site further to “bring highly skilled and specialist jobs to the West Midlands.” The company wants to build the UK’s first battery gigaplant, supporting the vehicle parc’s transition to electric engines. It is targeting the fourth quarter of 2023 to begin production, having signed an MoU with the Welsh government in 2020.
Ateq launches electric vehicle battery balancer
AteqWith electric vehicles soon to be a large part of the overall vehicle parc Ateq – a company best known in the tyre business for its TPMS products – has launched an industrial scale battery management tool. Designed for both electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid-electric vehicles (HEV), the battery module balancer is called the EVB 5100. The unit is designed for rework stations in battery manufacturing or electric vehicle production plants. According to the company, it uses “the most efficient and precise technologies to equalize voltage differences between modules to maximize battery performance”.
EESL Thai investment paves way for electric two-wheelers with swappable batteries
Following the news that India’s state-owned Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has announced to invest in Thailand-based e-mobility player SWAG EV, Bakar Sadik Agwan, senior automotive consulting analyst at GlobalData, says: “EESL’s investment in SWAG EV is expected to pave way for electric two-wheelers with swappable batteries in India and is a major positive development for the Indian e-mobility market. The cost of ownership, along with the availability of adequate charging infrastructure, is a key factor for the large-scale uptake of electric vehicles. EESL’s pilot project with SWAG to implement battery-swapping concept is expected to make electric two-wheelers a more feasible product in India.
Horiba MiraGS Yuasa batteries installed in ground-breaking Portsmouth Port electric vehicle charging station
GS YuasaPortsmouth International Port now has the capability to power electric vehicles at a green and cost-effective rate thanks to battery manufacturer, GS Yuasa. Expert engineers have successfully installed their industry-leading lead acid and lithium-ion batteries into a cutting-edge dual chemical battery system.
UK could lose out to Europe in battery recycling market
University of WarwickThe UK is at risk of losing out to the rest of Europe when it comes to the automotive lithium ion battery recycling market, according to a new research report published this week by WMG at the University of Warwick and backed by the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK, the High Value Manufacturing Catapult and Faraday Battery Challenge at Innovate UK.
EcobatEcobat gains NI presence through Easystart acquisition
EcobatFollowing its purchase of Easystart Ireland last month, Ecobat Battery Technologies (Ecobat) is opening a new branch in Northern Ireland. The branch is located in Crumlin, Co Antrim and will be headed by Colin Watterson, managing director of Easystart since its founding in 2016 and a 20-year battery industry veteran. He will be joined by two Easystart colleagues, Jim Brennan and David McNeill.
Exide introduces 5-minute battery test app
Exide TechnologiesExide Technologies has launched an app to aid workshops when testing batteries. It enables technicians to analyse battery test results and provide customers with battery replacement options within five minutes. Exide notes that as issues requiring replacement may be discovered in more than 20 per cent of tested batteries, using the app opens up a “valuable new revenue stream” for workshops, and helping motorists avoid unexpected failures. It adds that this solution is the first of its kind on the market.
Check all batteries, says Yuasa as MOT surge begins
We have all read dire warnings in the press and online about the possible implications of the six-month extension to MOTs and of possible bottlenecks and logjams as everybody leaves it to the last minute to get their vehicles tested. As lockdown measures ease, the demand for routine servicing, repairs and MOTs is already dramatically increasing. Yuasa are encouraging garages to introduce a simple battery check as part of their MOT and service schedules to identify if the vehicle’s battery has been damaged due to reduced usage. At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, it is estimated that around 70 per cent of the UK’s cars remained immobile.
VARTA joins the OESAA
VartaVARTA has joined The Original Equipment Suppliers Aftermarket Association (OESAA) in the UK. Technical sales manager at VARTA, Andy Cook, has confirmed the new association with the organisation, saying: “Clarios, the Company behind the VARTA brand, is the largest battery manufacturer in the world, and that status naturally comes with longstanding and successful OE partnerships on a global basis, so joining OESSA makes perfect sense for us. Our new membership will help us support the independent garage further, especially in the area of new technology, where we have battery expertise on features like start-stop, where 8 out of 10 start-stop cars fitted with an AGM technology battery, is one of ours.”
Britishvolt names key strategic partners
Britishvolt, which is purportedly making one of the UK’s largest-ever industrial investments, has announced the appointment of Ray Macera as project director for the construction of Britain’s first battery gigaplant. The new gigaplant is being designed by leading Italian design experts Pininfarina. It is set to be sited on a former RAF base in Bro Tathan, South Wales and will house Britishvolt’s manufacturing and research and development facilities.
