The Battery Show North America 2023 offered a comprehensive industry gathering around the ever-evolving battery technology and Electric Vehicle landscape, presenting breakthrough innovations, challenges, and solutions.
From a renewed emphasis on safety and sustainability of legacy battery chemistries to reimagining fast-charging infrastructure, delve into what we saw at the event.
The Rise of LFP in Lithium-ion Batteries
Leading industry players like Lithium Werks and Lithion championed the LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) designs. Compared to other Li-ion chemistries, LFP offers promising benefits such as:
- Increased overall safety metrics
- Enhanced resistance to overheating
- Reduced risk of thermal runaway
Battery technology, particularly since the widespread adoption of lithium-ion, continues to push the boundaries of heightened performance. As it does so, interest toward LFP reaffirms the importance of prioritizing user and environmental safety.
Fast Charging: Solving a Long-Felt Pain Point
Advancements in fast charging addresses one of the most significant pain points in the EV industry—that of lengthy charging durations.
Companies like Lincoln Electric presented groundbreaking solutions that promise to drastically reduce charging times without compromising long-term battery health.
Utilizing DC fast charging solutions (scaleable from 50 to 300 kW), vehicles compatible with CSS-1 could experience a charge time reduction to 30 minutes—even as low as 10 to 15 minutes with suitable charging architecture in place.
While the adoption of such advanced charging infrastructure is still in its nascent stages, the regulatory pressure to transition away from internal combustion engines is accelerating. Fast charging solutions will ease this transition, removing barriers to establishing EVs as a sustainable, yet convenient solution.
Green From the Start: Sustainable Battery Manufacturing
Cleaner production methodologies, ethical sourcing and waste reduction mechanisms remained key topics of discussion at the North America Battery Show 2023.
As consumers and regulatory bodies push for greener end products, there’s an increased understanding that sustainability must permeate every aspect of battery design—from manufacturing to end-of-life. Best practices may include:
- Cleaner and lower-cost manufacturing
- Batteries designed for ease of disassembly
- Low-cost bill of materials
Weighing in on the sustainability conversation, Zeta Energy highlighted its pioneering effort in developing the world’s first successful Lithium-sulfur battery. This iteration of battery claims a remarkable energy density of 450 Wh/Kg, up to 10 C charge rate, and less than 5% self-discharge over the course of a year.
The event served as a reminder that a holistic approach is necessary to achieve a truly sustainable yet high-performing EV ecosystem.
Strengthening Local Supply Chains
Global supply chain disruptions shine a spotlight on the need for robust, local sourcing strategies. Exhibitors based in the battery show’s Michigan area led by example—with Our Next Energy (ONE) emphasizing their sustainable usage of abundant, lower-cost materials such as iron and manganese.
Local sourcing and component delivery suggests multi-faceted benefits:
- Faster lead times
- Bolstered regional economies
- Reduced cost and supply chain resistance
The benefits of ONE’s forward-thinking strategies promise to extend beyond just sourcing. They’ve set an audacious goal: to double the driving range of electric vehicles in the near future, directly addressing another long-standing industry challenge.
Delta-Q and Zivan at the Charging Forefront
Demonstrating a strong presence at the booth during all three days of the event, ZAPI GROUP’s two charger product companies showcased the Zivan CT3.3 charger and Delta-Q Technologies’ XV3300—both being recently launched 3.3kW charger solutions. Delta-Q’s new 700W charger, the RQ700, also made its debut at the event.
Meeting the Needs of High Voltage Trends
With rapid developments in battery technology since the advent of lithium-ion, increasingly power-hungry applications demand stronger charging solutions to match.
ZAPI GROUP’s unveiling of its newest charging products underscores this trend towards higher power and voltage requirements, supporting voltages such as:
- 6.6 kW
- 11 kW
- 22 kW
These chargers aim to ensure that as devices and vehicles demand more energy, ZAPI GROUP’s solutions are well-poised to meet the needs of larger industrial applications as seen in segments such as construction.
Further enriching the lineup, Lithos, a leading manufacturer founded by MIT and Tesla alumni, showcased their next-generation battery systems. Their high-voltage solution, specifically, boasted of being lightweight, IP67 rated, and featured an integrated BMS with CAN2.0B communications.
Charging the Future
The North America Battery Show 2023 proved to be a must-attend event for battery technologies in North America. Live demonstrations from the New Product Showcase delivered an experience and a roadmap for what lies ahead. With a balanced emphasis on technology, sustainability, and practicality, the event painted a promising picture of the battery and EV sector’s future. After many years in Novi, Michigan—increased demand for exhibition space and attendance has prompted the event to move to a larger venue in Detroit for 2024.
As innovators like Delta-Q Technologies and the ZAPI GROUP continue their pursuits, they do so with the insights and feedback from such events, ensuring that the solutions they create resonate with the market’s current and projected needs.iVT Expo is a growing technical conference focused on off-road industrial vehicle technology, held twice a year – in Cologne, Germany, in the spring, and in Chicago, USA, in late summer. It offers a significant opportunity for Delta-Q and other product companies within the ZAPI GROUP to engage with highly qualified prospects and existing customers in the construction, agriculture, outdoor power equipment (OPE), and material handling sectors, which consists of material handling and mobile elevated work platforms (MEWP).
Delta-Q co-exhibited under the ZAPI GROUP banner alongside Inmotion USA, Zivan, Schabmueller, and ZAPI USA.
From an educational standpoint, our product-centric team members had the opportunity to attend technical sessions that place considerable emphasis on implementation, development, and improving the efficiency of off-road machines and vehicles.
Special mention for this event:
- The new RQ700 battery charger was featured as part of our multi-channel promotional efforts.
- Chris Botting, Delta-Q’s Manager of Research Engineering, presented a seminar on battery charger efficiency regulations.
- Rod Dayrit, our Global Director of Business Development, was part of an industry panel (which included experts from CNH Industrial and Caterpillar) that discussed US decarbonization incentives for industrial vehicles. Both sessions were well attended, exceeding 75 attendees.
