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Firefly Carbon-Foam-Enhanced
Lead-acid Batteries
fireflyenergy.com
Presented by Ben Bacque, Lifted Systems Limited
liftedsystems.com
Ottawa, Canada
613-769-2734
• Firefly’s revolutionary battery technology was born in the
Research and Development laboratory of Caterpillar, Inc.
• Caterpillar has long been a consumer of batteries for its many
heavy equipment products. These, by their very nature, put a
severe strain on batteries. Hot and cold extreme
temperatures, severe vibration, and prolonged periods of
disuse are standard operating conditions for heavy
equipment batteries.
• With a new corporate focus on improving batteries, CAT
electronics turned the issue over to their R&D arm. The
division was spun out into a startup company in 2003, then
acquired by current management in 2010, when focus shifted
to bringing up volume production in India.
Firefly started up inside Caterpillar
• Every battery technology has issues:
– Lithium: high initial cost, more complex charge management;
– Traditional lead-acid: limited cycle life, inefficient capacity and power
usage.
• Lead-acid in particular suffers from limited charge acceptance
and electrolyte boiling at the top, and sulfation at low states-
of-charge.
• Carbon-enhanced lead-acid addresses the deficiencies of
traditional lead-acid while preserving the strengths.
Lead Acid – Battery Problems
Lead Acid – Battery Problems
Corrosion SulfationShedding
Use of Carbon negative electrodes
Firefly, Outback, Narada, Furukawa, others
Cost Effective Solution
More surface area means better life
From decades-long use of lead
plates with limited surface
areas…. Low Utilization
To micro-cellular-based Foam
plates with much greater surface
areas… Exceptional Utilization
• Infrared images snapped at the end of a 5C (12 minute!!) discharge of both a Firefly 3D cell and a traditional cell.
• More uniform temperature distribution of the 3D cell
o = uniform current density distribution
o = higher overall active material utilization
• More uniform temperature distribution will minimize
o localized positive grid corrosion (PCL1)
o localized positive active material wearout (PCL2)
Positiv
e Plates
Negative Plates
Traditional Cell Firefly 3D Cell
6
Internal testing
Superior heat transfer, cell temp consistency
The Result : Exceptional Cycle Life
Firefly Microcell Carbon Foam Technology (Advanced
Lead Acid Batteries)
Quantum leap in performance, familiar and safe technology and materials
• The Solution – Firefly: Microcell Carbon Microcell Battery
• Increased power density and specific energy over traditional Pb Acid battery
• 2-3x recharge rate
• 2-3x the calendar life expectancy of Pb Acid Battery
• 2-3 times cycle life expectancy of Pb Acid Battery
• Manufactured cost equivalent to premium lead acid
• New combination of off-the-shelf materials
o Up to 12-15% reduction of lead
o Environmentally safe
• Fits into existing lead acid battery infrastructure
o Manufacturing Production
o Customer use
o End of life recycling
Carbon Foam vs Other Technologies (Advanced Lead Acid Batteries)
Comparison Li ion Carbon Foam Pb acid batteries (SMF)
Performance 3C 8C 5C
Life (80% DOD) 1000 cycles 1000 cycles* 300 cycles
Discharging Temp Range -10°C to 60°C -40°C to 60°C -20°C to 60°C
Charging Temp Range 0°C to 45°C -40°C to 60°C -15°C to 50°C
Self-Discharge very low 0.15% per day 0.3% per day
PSOC No effect on Life No effect on Life Affects the battery life
Serviceability Maintenance free Maintenance free Maintenance free
Standards NA SAE J2185 & BCI : 05 NA
Cost per kW H in US$. 600 300 180
* with our BMS, 80% DoD
High efficiency, high performance at lowest-cost-of-ownership
• Specifications:o Group 31 Dimensions
o Non-Spillable VRLA
o Weight: 33.5 kg
o C/20: 116 Ah
o C/10: 110 Ah
o RC: 215 min - SAE J537
o CCA: 625 A - SAE J537
o CA: 800 A
o 250A max charge current
• Cycle Life:o 1000 cycles @ 80% DoD
o 3600 cycles @ 50% DoD
o 702 J-2185 Cycles
o 126 hrs J-930 Vibration
10
Target market/application for the Group 31 Oasis battery was long runtime (10 hour discharges) daily cycling applications.
Firefly Oasis Group 31 specifications
The Firefly 3D cell architecture results in:
• Instantaneous Power (2 hours and faster run-time rates)
• Fast recharge capability
• Continuous power through discharge process
• Recovery to full capacity after off-season storage
• Excellent cold temperature capacity utilization
• High temperature resiliency
• Recovery to full capacity after discharge
• Higher cycle life
Carbon-enhanced lead-acid is just emerging commercially
Firefly is well-positioned with low-cost volume manufacturing in place
In summary…
Thank You !
If you’d like to test, buy, or just learn more about Firefly carbon-
foam enhanced lead-acid batteries in Canada, please contact:
jbbacque@liftedsystems.com
613 769 2734
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