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Firefly Energy Selects First Contract Manufacturer for Carbon-Graphite Foam Batteries
30 April 2007
Firefly Energy Inc., developer of a carbon-graphite foam lead acid battery for commercial and military uses, has formed a battery manufacturing partnership with NorthStar Battery Company to enable prototype and production support of Firefly’s “3D” battery technology to serve the US Army. (Earlier post.)
Under a product design provided by Firefly Energy, NorthStar will manufacture a “6T – 3D” carbon-graphite foam lead acid battery. The carbon-graphite foam-based battery technology deliver a combination of high performance, extremely low weight and low cost, all in a battery which utilizes the best aspects of lead acid chemistry while overcoming the corrosive drawbacks of this same chemistry.
The Firefly battery offers performance associated with more advanced battery chemistries but for one-fifth the cost, and can be both manufactured as well as recycled within the existing lead acid battery industry’s vast infrastructure.
April 30, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Neil | April 30, 2007 at 02:01 PM
This technology could find an immediate application in the worldwide lightweight electric bike market . It seems that for innovations like the Firefly to have the most positive impact on sustainable growth - it should roll out across commercial, military and non-profit applications, simultaneously.
A good place for DOEs Advanced Battery Consortium to lend support for non-military applications.
Posted by: gr | April 30, 2007 at 02:23 PM
The are making it available to power an electric lawn mower from Husqvarna ultimo 2007. see http://www.fireflyenergy.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=91&Itemid=86
Posted by: Henrik | April 30, 2007 at 02:38 PM
What is meant by:
1. High Performance..........?
2. Extremely low weight.......?
3. Low cost...........?
Can somebody fill in the missing info?
Posted by: Harvey D. | April 30, 2007 at 03:00 PM
Harvey - It means they are not Lithiums.
Posted by: Lucas | April 30, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Let's see if GM gets interested.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | April 30, 2007 at 09:50 PM
Harvey:
1) High Performance ... four to five times the energy density of regular lead acid.
2) Extremely low weight ... only a fraction of the lead is required.
3) Low cost ... no more expensive than regular lead acid (we'll see)
Other than that ... check out their web site.
E-P: If their price is low enough to shift the economics do you think these are good enough for a PHEV (Volt)? I know they would be good enough for electric bycicles and electric motor cycles.
Posted by: Neil | May 01, 2007 at 08:39 AM
is there any performance data on these batteries
Posted by: scott | May 14, 2007 at 08:03 PM
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I imagine the US army will be a large black hole for all production of these batteries for a couple of years at least.... Pity.