Michigan-based Energy Power Systems (EPS) is to begin production of ‘quasi-bipolar’ lead-acid battery packs in the third quarter of 2015, BEST understands.
EPS is developing a ‘quasi-bipolar’ 12V lead-acid battery pack with multiple-stacked, thin plates designed for use in micro- and mild-hybrid cars. EPS will build a 100,000 square feet facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a spokesman for EPS told BEST, adding the battery would “reinvent” lead-acid batteries.
Details are patchy, but the use of a substrate and simplified electrical patterning will mitigate the need for connectors in packs, thus significantly boosting power and energy density. In 2012, EPS told the Society of Automotive Engineers its first generation of its ‘quasi-bipolar’ battery would achieve an energy density of 45Wh/kg, and had achieved a power density of 2000W/kg in testing – roughly four times that of current lead-acid batteries.
EPS was founded in 2011 by Subash Dhar, a former president of Ovonic Battery Company, which developed nickel-metal hydride batteries for hybrid vehicles. EPS has secured $25m backing from parent company Townsend Ventures, the venture capital firm that also owns lithium-ion battery manufacturer Dow Kokam.