HOLLAND, Mich. — For good cause, a lot has been manufactured from the brand new high-voltage battery techniques automakers and suppliers have designed to energy the following technology of electrical autos.
However remember in regards to the humble 12-volt battery.
Low-voltage batteries stay a fixture in battery-electric autos, serving to to energy all the things from locks and lights to engine management models. Because the title would recommend, the batteries make the car’s low-voltage techniques run whilst high-voltage battery packs propel the car.
However like the remainder of the business, suppliers of low-voltage batteries have been innovating to maintain up with the altering wants of their automaker prospects. Look no additional than Clarios, the world’s largest provider of low-voltage batteries and whose batteries are in about 1 in each 3 autos on world roadways at the moment.
The corporate’s manufacturing unit in Holland, Mich., on the west aspect of the state, has change into a hub of types for Clarios’ rising low-voltage battery know-how. Whereas most 12-volt batteries on the street at the moment are lead-acid, the Holland plant produces low-voltage lithium ion batteries, that are considerably lighter albeit dearer than their conventional counterparts.
“We take a look at what we provide from a chemistry-agnostic viewpoint,” Jennifer Slater, Clarios vp of authentic gear and merchandise, mentioned at a media occasion in Holland final week. “If a buyer is packaging and weight, lithium ion might be the best resolution for them.”
The Holland manufacturing unit has been a sophisticated battery hub for Clarios since 2009, when it was a division of Johnson Controls. That yr, the corporate acquired a $299 million grant from the Division of Vitality to construct superior batteries for EVs. Work wrapped up on the plant in 2015, in line with the corporate.
The 41,000-square-foot area ships about 3.5 million battery cells for 12-volt purposes to automakers worldwide yearly, in line with Clarios.
Low-voltage lithium ion batteries have caught the eye of some automakers, together with Tesla, in recent times for a handful of causes. Not solely are the batteries lighter, however they’re constructed with electronics that monitor the well being of the battery over time, a requirement contemplating the danger of fireplace that comes with lithium ion batteries.
Slater mentioned it was vital for automakers to observe the low-voltage battery system’s well being as a result of it could possibly present backup battery energy within the occasion the high-voltage system fails.
“Over the following 5 years, we’re not seeing a giant shift in know-how, however we need to proceed to be related with our prospects and have a full providing,” Slater mentioned. “It does not imply we’re anticipating lithium to return in and take over lead, we simply need to be certain we are available and have that area for purchasers who’re searching for that resolution.”
The Holland plant can even quickly be residence to manufacturing of a fair rarer battery type for the auto business: sodium ion batteries. This yr, Clarios entered right into a partnership with sodium ion battery maker Natron Vitality Inc. to mass-produce these batteries for the primary time.
Clarios CEO Mark Wallace mentioned sodium ion batteries may very well be utilized in an automotive context however are prone to first be used as energy turbines for information facilities and even to energy houses.
“We all know with elevated electrical hundreds, particularly as we cost extra electrical autos, you are going to want stationary [energy] storage to do this,” Wallace mentioned. “Our present grid isn’t able to doing all of that.”
Nonetheless, even with the corporate investing closely into new and rising applied sciences, Wallace mentioned the corporate expects the big majority of what it builds within the coming years will probably be lead-acid batteries.
However even lead-acid battery know-how is evolving. Clarios in January introduced a brand new “Good AGM” (absorbent glass mat) lead-acid battery that basically gives the health- monitoring know-how seen on lithium ion batteries.
The corporate mentioned the battery itself can establish potential points earlier than they occur and anticipate when upkeep or alternative is required, which Slater mentioned could be vital as automakers roll out extra superior driver-assistance options.
“It gives an answer for our prospects which might be searching for security and reliability [and] at all times monitoring the 12-volt battery, however possibly they do not need to pay the premium of lithium,” she mentioned.
Slater mentioned the corporate has “excessive confidence” that it’s going to provide batteries for greater than 200 EV platforms coming to the market over the following 5 years. Having a variety of various battery chemistries helps with that, she mentioned.
“We interact approach up entrance within the decision-making course of,” she mentioned. “After they come to us and say they’ve a car coming in X product yr, we need to have the product they want prepared.”
Clarios ranks No. 80 on Automotive Information’ checklist of the highest world suppliers, with annual gross sales to automakers of $1.9 billion in 2020.