Altech Batteries has begun production and fabrication of two 60 kilowatt hour (KWh) battery pack prototypes at the Fraunhofer IKTS facility in Hermsdorf, Germany.
Once completed, the ASX-listed company said the battery packs will undergo cycling testing under extreme conditions, before being made available for testing at customer locations.
The battery pack is intended for the grid storage and renewable energy industries and operates at a voltage of 600 volts and a current of 100 amps.
Altech and its joint venture partner Fraunhofer unveiled the concept for the CERENERGY sodium chloride solid state (SCSS) 60 KWh battery pack on 7 November 2022.
The joint venture conducted extensive cycling simulations after the launch to assess the temperature distribution of the battery’s interior components.
The calculations demonstrated that the battery could cycle through charges and discharges at recorded temperatures of 60 degrees while maintaining constant internal temperatures and avoiding overheating.
Iggy Tan, the managing director of Altech, said he was “pleased” with the business’s development since the battery pack debut.
“We have built a dynamic and fast-moving project team incorporating personnel from Altech, Fraunhofer and various leading German engineering companies and industrial contractors,” Tan noted.
The Altech official also pointed out that the rapid progress made on the final designs of the 60 KWh Battery Pack is remarkable.
According to the company, the specifications for the battery packs were being finalised based on the findings of the simulation, and the materials needed to produce two prototype batteries had been ordered.
Altech also revealed that the manufacturing of 480 ceramic solid-state cells will be done during the production process, along with the creation and acquisition of auxiliary tools such as cabling, module structures, composite isolation cabinets, and battery management systems.
The Altech-Fraunhofer joint venture is now commercialising a 100 MWh per annum SCSS battery plant designed exclusively for the stationary energy storage market and located on Altech’s Saxony, Germany, site.
In March 2023, the battery technology company launched the design for its 1.0 MWh GridPack (ABS1000) battery system.
The pre-installed solution includes up to 18 ABS60 60 KWh battery packs that are linked to a pack power management system.
The Altech GridPacks are also designed with a “plug and play” capability to allow for easy installation in remote places.
These GridPacks may be layered on top of one another, unlike other gigantic battery pack designs now on the market, according to the company.
In turn, the solution reduces the battery footprint and makes it simple to scale up to meet any energy storage needs.
