VRLA

Chinese battery maker Vision Group, which makes lead-acid batteries through its subsidiary Shenzhen Center Power Tech, has announced plans to build a 30GWh lithium-ion battery plant in China's Hubei province.

The company says the plant will meet demand from the 5G telecom networks and new energy vehicle (NEV) power battery sectors, according to media organisation Argus Media.

German lead-acid battery maker Moll Batterien has opened insolvency proceedings after 75 years of operation due to the “sudden, massive, and permanent” decline in sales caused by the corona crisis.

The 75-year-old company applied to the Coburg District Court for the opening of insolvency proceedings on Monday, 30 March. The company made EFB, AGM and VRLA starter batteries for automotive applications, and had recently launched a 12.8V lithium iron phosphate battery.

Will Jones, the battery entrepreneur who made a small fortune developing recombination catalysts for failing VRLA batteries in the ‘90s has come up with what he believes is a solution to premature lead-acid battery failure in mico hybrids— likely to be the dominant automotive technology in the next 20 years.

Jones, writing to BEST magazine, claims the problem isn’t with the fundamental chemistry but its charging regime.

New products were announced at the 16th ABC conference in Thailand, among them a grid and plate production system that was ‘the most advanced high-speed plate-making system in the world’, according to John Wirtz, CEO and president of Wirtz Manufacturing.

Italian battery manufacturing equipment maker Sovema was another one of a number of companies announcing new products at the Bangkok conference.