LARGE FORMAT LITHIUM ION BATTERY MANUFACTURING

Saft America, inc. Space and Defense Division (SDD), located in Cockeysville, Maryland, is the world leader in providing state of the art lithium ion systems for the demanding defense and space markets. Saft has been manufacturing batteries at its facility in Cockeysville for over 26 years. The major focus of the facility today is large format high power lithium ion cells and battery systems for defense applications.

Saft SDD has been developing lithium ion cells and batteries since 1993. Recent efforts have focused on the industrialization of the technology for use in military hybrid vehicles. Since 2004 Saft SDD has been developing US based manufacturing capability of the entire cell and battery manufacturing processes. This effort is focused under the ManTech program with TARDEC. Overall goals of the program are aimed at improving the technology readiness to support the production of military hybrid vehicles, with areas of focus on improved performance, reliability, manufacturability, and overall cost.

Efforts to date have yielded improvements in performance, reliability, and cost. Advances have been realized for improving the power and cold temperature performance of the high power cells. Power in excess of 20kW/kg has been realized. The improved power performance from the cells improves their use in hybrid vehicles by improving the overall energy efficiency of energy storage. Power efficiencies in excess of 95% have been demonstrated for typical hybrid vehicle duty cycles. Operation at temperature less than -40°C has also been tested. Operational improvements and design activities, with an emphasis on manufacturability, have led to a lean production operation for the electrode, cell, and battery manufacturing activities. These efforts have led to a dramatic reduction in cell cost since 2004. These products are offered as complete battery systems, fully design and manufactured and Saft SDD.