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

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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

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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