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Green Cubes Technology Appoints Power Industry Veteran as Chief Operating Officer

KOKOMO, INDIANA July 21, 2021 – Green Cubes Technology (Green Cubes), the leader in producing Lithium-ion (Li-ion) power systems that facilitate the transition from lead acid batteries and Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) power to green Li-ion battery power, appointed Ken Johnson as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the company. Mr. Johnson reports to Keith Washington, President and CEO of Green Cubes, supporting all business units and operations.

Mr. Johnson provides leadership to supply chain, operations, and manufacturing roles to build processes for continued growth for Green Cubes within Telecom, Materials Handling, and Industrial Automation markets.  Mr. Johnson will manage Green Cube’s production facilities in Malaysia, Slovakia, Kokomo (Indiana), and Dunlap (Tennessee).

“Ken has led both domestic and international operations and supply chains through new product introduction, lean transformations, inventory reductions and overall working capital improvement,” said Mr. Washington. “I am confident his experience and focused vision will help Green Cubes successfully execute its continued growth within strategic markets and geographic locations.”

Mr. Johnson has a history of success in energy storage and power electronics technology as an operations leader with a demonstrated track record of success in these markets, spending over 25 years in global manufacturing and supply chain with companies such as IBM, Danaher, Eaton and Active Power.  The range of products manufactured under Mr. Johnson’s supervision includes personal computers, motors, DC power systems and single phase/three phase complex Uninterruptable Power System (UPS).   Mr. Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Engineering degree from Texas A&M in Industrial Engineering.

Design World: MultiVoltage Lithium Batteries Target Material Handling Equipment

Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables the battery to charge at double its output voltage, which cuts charging time in half and makes opportunity charging a more accessible option with simplicity and ease of use for the operator.

Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables charging at double the batteries’ output voltage, halving the charge time and increasing productivity. Applicable to the material handling market, Green Cubes Technology’s MultiVoltage battery completes a full charge in less than one hour and is offered in 24/48 V, 36/72 V, and 48/96 V combinations.

Green Cubes has deployed over 200 MultiVoltage batteries across these three different voltage combinations. It is common for high use and high capacity batteries, such as a large 48-V battery, to be charged with two cables to increase the charge current. The MultiVoltage battery utilizes single connector 4/0 cabling in a charge port configuration, which delivers cost efficiencies and minimizes the chance of cable damage over traditional fast charging with dual cables. In addition, due to the lower insertion and extraction forces of the single connector equipment, operators appreciate the MultiVoltage systems over their dual cable counterparts.

“The ability to opportunity charge is a key feature of Li-ion batteries’ value proposition for material handling equipment,” said Anthony Cooper, General Manager of Green Cubes’ Motive Group. “MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries accommodate an even faster charging time which widens the performance gap between Li-ion and Lead Acid Batteries. Our class 2, 36-V products, have been extremely popular for Reach Trucks because they are very highly utilized and recognize the benefits.”

Other than the battery configuration itself, the MultiVoltage battery uses standard chargers and requires no changes to the equipment. Lithium SAFEFlex is the integration of lithium-iron=phosphate cells, electronics, packaging, and a software platform that was designed specifically for the rugged requirements of material handling. The advanced mechanical packaging meets the impact forces of a large forklift and the rugged automotive-grade Battery Management System (BMS) makes Lithium SAFEFlex the most reliable lithium battery for the material handling industry. With MultiVoltage technology, a quick coffee or lunch break can be used to charge a battery, keeping material handling equipment in full utilization.

See the original news article in Design World

No Compromises – When It Absolutely Must Work


At Green Cubes (formerly branded as UNIPOWER), we hang our hats on our reliability and robust designs. The following article comes directly from the field where we support the U.S. military and their communications equipment. Read how our Sageon DC power systems are the de facto standard for our military customers because reliability matters most of all. The post is from someone who really knows the need for reliability firsthand, and he is one of our partners – Michael Shillinger, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel!

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Working with governmental agencies such as the FAA and major defense contractors for the military, there is no room for compromise – especially when it comes to powering sensitive electronic and communications equipment. Due to their criticality and cannot-fail requirements, D.C. power systems must work the first time, every time. In partnering with the Krydon Group, our Sageon systems are being deployed in installations across the globe and often in very remote locations to solve complex challenges for critical government infrastructure at:

  • forward-deployed bases
  • domestic facilities
  • air traffic control facilities
  • mobile communication facilities

For most applications, the government looks for tried-and-true equipment with a long-proven track record of reliability, like our Sageon DC Power Systems and battery chargers made in Dunlap, Tennessee. For example, working with the Army often requires power solutions that are precisely customized with redundancy and the highest level of reliability (backed by ISO9001 Certification). Krydon’s dedicated team of technicians and engineers oversees the installation, validation, and load testing in theater to ensure all systems are functioning to spec.

“The Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and other agencies all know that the Green Cubes Sageon Systems and associated batteries are rock solid,” noted Michael F. Shillinger, vice president of engineering for the Krydon Group. As a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the U.S. Army and a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq, Shillinger knows firsthand how critical it is to have the equipment – especially communications systems – always at the ready. On the rare occasion a question occurs, the folks at Krydon and Green Cubes are available to take the call at any hour of the day to quickly address any challenge.

Qualified for the “Buy American Act” program, GSA Advantage! and DoD projects, our Sageon family of DC Power Systems offer hot-swap rectifiers with 90% plus efficiency, battery monitoring and testing, and a wide operating temperature range from 40ºF to 158ºF. In addition, Green Cube’s ARE-M Battery Chargers offer 24V to 250V output, minimal maintenance, remote communications, temperature compensation and more.

For military installations, customization of our systems is a must to address specific form factors. Power shelves, power distribution components, enclosures, wiring, and other components are built or sourced to meet tight specifications. Training in theater is another key aspect of the Green Cubes-Krydon team. Setting up the power systems properly and fully understanding D.C. equipment operation requires experience with both the equipment and the highly specialized applications in which they are deployed.

We are proud to work with the Krydon Group (a member of the Society of American Military Engineers and the Armed Forces Communications-Electronics Association (AFCEA) to integrate and support our power systems for mission-critical defense programs.

Material Handling & Logistics: Lithium Batteries

Green Cubes Technology has launched MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries that can charge at double their output voltage, which can reduce charging time in half.

Green Cubes Technology has launched a full line of MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries. Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables the battery to charge at double its output voltage, which cuts charging time in half.

Applicable to the material handling market, Green Cubes Technology’s MultiVoltage battery completes a full charge in less than one hour and is offered in 24/48V, 36/72V, and 48/96V combinations. It is common for high use and high capacity batteries, such as a large 48V battery, to be charged with two cables to increase the charge current. The MultiVoltage battery utilizes single connector 4/0 cabling in a charge port configuration, which minimizes the chance of cable damage over traditional fast charging with dual cables.

Other than the battery configuration itself, the MultiVoltage battery uses standard chargers and requires no changes to the equipment. Lithium SAFEFlex is the integration of Lithium Iron Phosphate cells, electronics, packaging, and a software platform that was designed specifically for the rugged requirements of material handling. The advanced mechanical packaging meets the impact forces of a large forklift.

See the original news article in Material Handling & Logistics

Material Handling Wholesaler: Green Cubes Technology Announces MultiVoltage Lithium SAFEFlex Batteries

Green Cubes Technology (Green Cubes), the leader in producing Lithium-ion (Li-ion) power systems that facilitate the transition from lead acid batteries and Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) power to green Li-ion battery power, today announced a full line of MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries. Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables the battery to charge at double its output voltage, which cuts charging time in half and makes opportunity charging a more accessible option with simplicity and ease of use for the operator.

Applicable to the Material Handling market, Green Cubes Technology’s MultiVoltage battery completes a full charge in less than one hour and is offered in 24/48V, 36/72V, and 48/96V combinations. Green Cubes has deployed over 200 MultiVoltage batteries across these three different voltage combinations. It is common for high use and high capacity batteries, such as a large 48V battery, to be charged with two cables to increase the charge current. The MultiVoltage battery utilizes single connector 4/0 cabling in a charge port configuration, which delivers cost efficiencies and minimizes the chance of cable damage over traditional fast charging with dual cables. In addition, due to the lower insertion and extraction forces of the single connector equipment, operators appreciate the MultiVoltage systems over their dual cable counterparts.

“The ability to opportunity charge is a key feature of Li-ion batteries’ value proposition for material handling equipment,” said Anthony Cooper, General Manager of Green Cubes’ Motive Group. “MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries accommodate an even faster charging time which widens the performance gap between Li-ion and Lead Acid Batteries. Our class 2, 36V products, have been extremely popular for Reach Trucks because they are very highly utilized and recognize the benefits.” Other than the battery configuration itself, the MultiVoltage battery uses standard chargers and requires no changes to the equipment. Lithium SAFEFlex is the integration of Lithium Iron Phosphate cells, electronics, packaging and a software platform that was designed specifically for the rugged requirements of material handling. The advanced mechanical packaging meets the impact forces of a large forklift and the rugged automotive-grade Battery Management System (BMS) makes Lithium SAFEFlex the most reliable lithium battery for the material handling industry.  With MultiVoltage technology, a quick coffee or lunch break can be used to charge a battery, keeping material handling equipment in full utilization.

See the original news article in Material Handling Wholesaler

Green Cubes Technology Announces MultiVoltage Lithium SAFEFlex Batteries

Green Cubes Technology (Green Cubes), the leader in producing Lithium-ion (Li-ion) power systems that facilitate the transition from lead acid batteries and Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) power to green Li-ion battery power, today announced a full line of MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries. Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables the battery to charge at double its output voltage, which cuts charging time in half and makes opportunity charging a more accessible option with simplicity and ease of use for the operator.

safleflex multi-voltage batteries
Patent-pending MultiVoltage technology enables charging at double the batteries’ output voltage, halving the charge time and increasing productivity.

Applicable to the Material Handling market, Green Cubes Technology’s MultiVoltage battery completes a full charge in less than one hour and is offered in 24/48V, 36/72V and 48/96V combinations. Green Cubes has deployed over 200 MultiVoltage batteries across these three different voltage combinations. It is common for high use and high capacity batteries, such as a large 48V battery, to be charged with two cables to increase the charge current. The MultiVoltage battery utilizes single connector 4/0 cabling in a charge port configuration, which delivers cost efficiencies and minimizes the chance of cable damage over traditional fast charging with dual cables. In addition, due to the lower insertion and extraction forces of the single connector equipment, operators appreciate the MultiVoltage systems over their dual cable counterparts.

“The ability to opportunity charge is a key feature of Li-ion batteries’ value proposition for material handling equipment,” said Anthony Cooper, General Manager of Green Cubes’ Motive Group. “MultiVoltage SAFEFlex batteries accommodate an even faster charging time which widens the performance gap between Li-ion and Lead Acid Batteries. Our class 2, 36V products, have been extremely popular for Reach Trucks because they are very highly utilized and recognize the benefits.” Other than the battery configuration itself, the MultiVoltage battery uses standard chargers and requires no changes to the equipment. Lithium SAFEFlex is the integration of Lithium Iron Phosphate cells, electronics, packaging and a software platform that was designed specifically for the rugged requirements of material handling. The advanced mechanical packaging meets the impact forces of a large forklift and the rugged automotive-grade Battery Management System (BMS) makes Lithium SAFEFlex the most reliable lithium battery for the material handling industry.  With MultiVoltage technology, a quick coffee or lunch break can be used to charge a battery, keeping material handling equipment in full utilization.

Shorter Lead Times for DC Products

Many times we issue a story, blog or press release announcing a major improvement to the company and/or our customer service. However, most times we move on to the next news item and do not report the progress on previous stories. I am happy to announce that Green Cube’s (formerly branded as UNIPOWER) lead time program has been a huge success! The attached story is from last October, when Green Cubes announced a new program to get products into our customers’ hands quicker. Our goal was to get lead times on our ARE-M and ARE-S below four weeks and to even hit two weeks when possible.

In a very difficult environment (COVID-19, supply issues, component shortages and shipping delays) we have managed to increase our on-time delivery and far exceed our lead time goals for these popular battery chargers. Since the announcement last year, we have shipped nearly every battery charger order within the more aggressive 2-week goal, and many times we shipped within 1 week! This is a marked improvement over the last few years and all resulting from a new Operations-centric stocking program. You can read the full article below.

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Rugged, High-Temp Battery Chargers for Utility, Communications and Industrial Applications First to Benefit from Shorter Lead-Times

October 15, 2020 (Coral Springs, FL) – Green Cubes (formerly branded as UNIPOWER) LLC, a world-leading supplier of industrial AC and DC power systems, announces a new corporate initiative to invest in resources that are decreasing lead times and providing an easier order process for its highly reliable AC/DC power solutions. Known industry-wide for its product quality and longevity, this new program is designed to assist customers with time-critical delivery needs.

“We have recently invested in state-of-the-art testing equipment and process improvements to upgrade our manufacturing so that we can deliver our products more quickly to our customers – in as little as two weeks for many products and configurations,” said John Ely, vice president of marketing for Green Cubes. “We are also investing in our technical support and field service teams to ensure the highest level of customer satisfaction from pre-order to post-sale assistance.”

The first product lines to benefit from the faster delivery times are Green Cube’s ARE-M Series Ferroresonant Chargers and ARE-S Series SCR-Controlled Chargers designed for harsh environments. Built from the ground up to operate in remote and demanding outdoor applications, both the ARE-M and ARE-S models operate in a wide temperature range from 32ºF to 122ºF (0ºC to 50ºC). Incorporating long-life components, the low-maintenance chargers have demonstrated their dependability in decades of reliable operation across the globe. They feature easy serviceability that saves time and costs – essential for communications and industrial power systems located in isolated locations, including offshore operations. With single-phase AC input, users can select from 24, 48 or 130VDC output with 144W to 6500W for the ARE-M Series and 48 or 130VDC output of 288W to 9750W for the ARE-S Series.

“Our robust ARE-M and ARE-S battery chargers offer ideal solutions for utility, communication and industrial power systems that are often located in remote settings,” explained Ely. “Some of our chargers have been in the field for 30 years – a testament to their high reliability, long life, low operating cost, easy-to-service modules and wide operating temperature range. These qualities make our ARE Series the go-to choice for power systems located in challenging environments – reducing truck rolls and other expensive service costs. With our upgraded manufacturing support, getting our battery chargers to customers faster to support their product rollouts makes them even more desirable.”

ARE-M Series Controlled Ferroresonant Float Rectifiers Feature:

  • Single-phase 120, 208, 240, or 480VAC input
  • 24, 48 and 130VDC models, with 6 to 100-amp output
  • Voltage regulation
  • Advanced rectifier, control, and filter circuitry
  • Short-circuit protection
  • Easily adjusted to meet specific operating requirements
  • Low operating costs (a combination of high efficiency and low power factor)
  • Easy maintenance and high reliability
  • Digital controls
  • High MTBF and a 5-year warranty
  • Safety Agency Listed to UL 1012 and CSA 107.1

ARE-S Series SCR-Controlled Single-Phase Chargers Feature:

  • Single-Phase 120, 208, 240, or 480VAC input
  • 48VDC with 6 to 50-amp output
  • 130VDC with 6 to75-amp output
  • Digital controls with 4-button keypad for live charger setting and alarm adjustments
  • Floor, wall, and relay rack mounts are available on most models
  • Modular design of major components for easy maintenance
  • Visual indicators with time delays to prevent nuisance alarms
  • Inherently safe design
  • High MTBF and 5-year warranty
  • Safety Agency Listed to UL 1012 and CSA 107.1

In addition, both models offer many options including: blocking diodes, lightning protection, transient protection (MOVs) and more.

The UL-listed, CSA-certified Micro ARE-M and Micro ARE-S chargers are available now.

To learn more technical details, watch Green Cube’s webinar on Utility and Industrial Charging Systems on YouTube.

More Information

Safer Forklifts with Iron Phosphate Li-ion Batteries

safer-forklifts-with-phosphate-li-ion-batteries

For Forklift Safety Week, Green Cubes Technology would like to highlight the benefits of Iron Phosphate Li-ion Batteries (LFP) over conventional lead-acid batteries in preventing workplace injuries in the warehouse environment.

The ongoing maintenance required to keep flooded lead acid batteries running presents a danger to the workers tasked with charging, watering and changing batteries in forklifts and other material handling equipment. The highly corrosive electrolytes in batteries can cause respiratory irritation, eye damage, skin irritation, and erode tooth enamel. The sheer size of material handling batteries means that crush injuries also occur during battery changes and repetitive use injuries are very common.

New LFP Li-ion batteries eliminate most of these issues because they are self-contained and maintenance free. Iron phosphate, a subset of Li-ion is the safest chemistry available, and its long cycle life means that it will last the lifetime of the truck. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is safest with:

  • Its stable chemical make-up, demonstrated by the high thermal runaway temperature.
  • The separator limits the chemical reaction of the electrode and helps to prevent thermal runaways by closing its porous structure at high temperatures.
  • The electronics of the Li-ion battery also provide protection against safety events, with incorporated fuses and protection against over-charge, over-discharge and high and low temperature charging.

Li-ion batteries greatly reduce the risk to the workforce when they are implemented for forklifts. For more detailed information, please see our recent article “Creating a Safer Workplace with Iron Phosphate Li-ion Batteries” in Workplace Material Handling & Safety.

Public Safety Communications Depend on Green Cube’s (formerly branded as UNIPOWER) AC/DC Power Systems for Reliable “Always On” Power

Public Safety Communications equipment is at the heart of responding to a myriad of emergencies and typically includes land mobile and microwave radio systems, wireline and wireless telephone systems, mobile computing resources, in-car speed enforcement, emergency and camera equipment.

The lifeblood of this mission-critical equipment is power. If the power equipment is not built to the highest of standards and reliability, power outages and other anomalies could cause major problems – hindering the ability of the police to respond and react quickly. Typically, ensuring that all their AC/DC power equipment is in top working order is the responsibility of telecommunications engineers. One such engineer, Russell E. Wade II, observed, “Power and backup power are critical to run the many microwave and multiplex radios, routers, alarms monitoring and controllers that are the backbone of the statewide public safety radio network. We’re responsible for the communications at the dispatch centers to the patrol vehicles on the highway. If any of this equipment has a power problem, it can be a significant problem if our backup systems are not ready to take the load.”

The Challenge

Oftentimes -48VDC powered Motorola land mobile radios need higher current feeds with “cleaner” connections to enable more flexibility for the required circuits. Older -48VDC power supplies can have a “tedious” bus configuration for feeding the electrical loads. Also, the temperature compensation of the power supplies can become unreliable resulting in battery plant failures. In searching for solutions, Wade worked with Green Cubes technical specialists, David Barnes and Jon Rambin to specify the configuration of the systems.

The Solution

Having experience with Green Cube’s Sageon Micro Series integrated power modules, Wade chose Green Cube’s Guardian Access DC Power Systems that utilize 2.9kW hot-swappable rectifiers fed with 240VAC input circuits. “The Guardian provides a balanced load on our generators and the rectifiers achieve maximum potential output. The chassis can be populated with up to eight rectifiers, providing power ratings far more than what is currently required, to allow for future growth. The output bus can be populated with output breakers ranging from 4A to over 125A, giving us the flexibility for nearly any configuration we may need,” Wade noted.

The highly configurable integrated DC power systems are housed in a 19-inch rack-mounted chassis and provide an output of -48VDC for loads up to 400A. Configured with Guardian rectifiers that boast 96% efficiency, systems can be structured with as many as eight rectifier modules and include a selection of user-specified loads and battery breakers appropriate to system size.

Efficiency and Flexibility

“I also like that the system allows the rectifiers to be put in ‘sleep mode’ when demand is light to conserve energy and extend life. The programming of the controller allows us to customize our alarm outputs and provide exceptionally good temperature compensation to maintain the health of our fixed-site battery plants,” commented Wade. “In addition,
the Guardian’s DIN rail circuit breakers give us tremendous flexibility. The high bus current rating and high-capacity rectifiers provide us tremendous scalability in an N+1 redundant configuration so we always have one rectifier in reserve.”

480 amp dc power system
The easy-to-install Guardian Access MS31 units are 5RU or 6RU high 19” rack-mounted, integrated DC power systems providing an output of -48VDC. These systems feature remote monitoring & control and can accommodate highly configurable systems incorporating 2 rectifier shelves with up to 8 Guardian high-efficiency hot-swap rectifiers.

The Guardians have a small footprint at only 6U high with plenty of power available for most requirements. In the event of a power outage, all the communication sites are backed up with generators along with 48-volt battery banks. “We had a Liebert Nfinity Series UPS which hit its end of life. The power modules that produced the 120VAC from the batteries had a high failure rate,” recalls Wade.

The easy-to-install Guardian Access MS31 units are 5RU or 6RU high 19” rack-mounted, integrated DC power systems providing an output of -48VDC. These systems feature remote monitoring & control and can accommodate highly configurable systems incorporating 2 rectifier shelves with up to 8 Guardian high-efficiency hot-swap rectifiers.
“Several years ago, Motorola came out with a new series of radios that will operate on 48 volts or 120 volts AC. We began to use the Guardians to power the Motorola base radios directly off DC instead of the UPS. Microwave radios, multiplexers, routers, alarms, all run off 48VDC. Because of this, we were able to reduce the load on the Infinity UPSs significantly. Many of our sites are now at just 1 to 2% load. By adding Green Cube’s Bravo Series Inverters to pick up the last items that must run off 120VAC, we are now independent. In the event of a power outage, mostly due to severe weather, our generators will come online in 5 seconds. The 48-volt battery plant associated with the 48VDC power system will carry the entire load and transfer to the generators. If the generators fail, the battery plants are sized so we can stay on the air for several hours.”

Wade appreciates the technical aspects of Guardian systems including their efficiency of 90 to 96%. Of special note is the Guardian’s soft-start capability. In the event of a power outage, when electronic equipment comes back on, it typically comes back hard – all at once – potentially causing power surges. Instead of coming back up at say 60 amps, the Guardian will come back up incrementally for a soft start. Another important feature for Wade is the Guardian’s power supplies. If the control module should fail, the power supplies will continue to produce 48 volts.

The Future

“We are still building out, so we don’t have a large accumulation of data, however so far, we have had zero failures over four years of any of the Guardian products. The reliability and service from Green Cubes have been excellent.”

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Power Electronics News: Li-ion Batteries – The Future of Motive Power

The Li-ion battery industry is rapidly expanding as governments around the world accelerate the energy infrastructure needed to support climate change initiatives. Almost daily, the major news outlets are reporting on the technology in their headlines; from the New York Times “The Auto Industry Bets Its Future on Batteries” and “17 Reasons to Let the Economic Optimism Begin”, which predicts improvements in Li-ion battery technology similar to the predictive improvements in semi-conductors known as Moore’s Law.

Li-ion batteries are finding new applications in markets where they are replacing older lead-acid technology and there is a drive to convert products that previously used internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric power. Motive applications, from fork-lifts to landscape equipment can benefit from increased run-time, decreased weight, higher power, improved safety, and environmental benefits of Li-ion chemistry and its variants. The big auto makers are aggressively moving their fleets to electric power and there is a trickle-down effect in other motive applications, from aviation ground support equipment to electric scooters. With the wide-spread adoption of Li-ion technology, there is an improved variety in the chemistries and formfactors available and this is, in turn, enables the implementation of battery technology in a wider range of devices. In this series of blog posts, I will discuss the battery technology available for electric power and address typical concerns and tips for newly implementing these innovations in motive applications. First, let’s review some of the high-level changes to what is available in the market and where the technology and price points are headed.

Li-ion batteries’ first “killer app” was in the consumer electronics market, as a smaller and lighter weight alternative to the Nickel chemistries that powered early laptops. These features of Li-ion spurred the invention of small mobile devices from cell phones to watches and hearing aids. Smaller, mobile industrial devices, from military radios to defibrillators had requirements in common with consumer applications, so they also utilized the same technology. However, only recently has Li-ion technology been adapted and modified for transportation applications from e-bikes to buses. The performance of a cell is determined by a balance of competing and subtle trade-offs that depend on its major components: the cathode, anode, electrolyte, internal cell design and external cell size. The interplay of physical and chemical variables makes it difficult to make a direct or linear correlation between design and performance. The rapid evolution of the market is driving innovation and variety, and the innovation, in turn, is enabling more applications. While the increase in options for form factors and specific chemical formulations provides an exciting opportunity for differentiation, it also brings a lack of stability for supply in terms of longevity and cost. The risks associated with being single sourced for a marginal chemistry variant have gone up in recent years and the market fundamentals of the raw materials used for rechargeable Li-ion cells, and the sourcing of these materials continue to be issues.

Increasing prevalence is most notable in medium-to-large format systems. Some industry experts predicted an eventual decline in the use of cylindrical cells since the consumer electronics applications were getting thinner and thinner and polymer cells. Then the motive, electric vehicle, buses, and e-bikes found traction, causing a steep increase in demand for larger sizes and higher power. Of the chemical components, the cathode material has the biggest influence on performance. A divide has occurred in recent years with Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO) still being dominant cathode in polymer/pouch cells used in consumer electronics and the so-called “Mixed-metal Oxides” (NMC/NCA), where some proportion of the Cobalt is replaced with Manganese, Nickel, and or Aluminum, now being the cathode of choice for cylindrical (18650/21700) and larger format cylindrical cells. Generally, consumer electronics differentiate with long run-time from high capacity or energy density and faster charge rates, but cycle/calendar life is a lower priority, unlike motive applications, which prioritize cycle life and power delivery.  High-rate cells, which were originally designed specifically for power tools, are now being used in everything from garden equipment to pallet jacks to aircraft tugs. Because of these uses, Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) cathode cells, even in large format prismatic shapes, are finally becoming common-place with price points comparable to the cobalt chemistries and some added benefits. The growth of electric vehicles and motive application is spurring interest in hydrogen fuel cells as an adjacent and complimentary technology. In my next articles, I will compare the new LFP options to their predecessors and discuss the differences between hydrogen fuel cells and the latest battery technologies- always with a focus on motive applications and their unique challenges.

Author: Robin Schneider, Director of Marketing

See the original article in Power Electronics News – page 61

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