As commercial trucks become more complex, the low-voltage batteries that support them will also undergo significant technological changes in the years to come.
They’ll become smarter, lighter weight, more reliable and in some applications, will be comprised of more environmentally friendly — and less costly — materials such as sodium in place of lithium.
Federico Morales-Zimmermann, vice-president and general manager of global OEM customers, products and engineering with Clarios, gave journalists attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nev., some insights into what the future has in store for 12-volt batteries.
Clarios batteries can be found in about one third of all vehicles globally, including heavy-duty trucks. The truck batteries are branded as Optima, but the company also supplies white label batteries that carry various brand names.
“One hundred percent of our batteries are recyclable,” Morales-Zimmermann said. “We manage the entire lifecycle of the product from the design, to production, to recovery. Our OEM customers value this.”
About 80% of its market, however, is aftermarket.
A year unlike any other
Morales-Zimmermann sees 2025 “shaping up to be unlike any other year on record” for the battery industry. Customers are demanding flexibility, he noted. Artificial intelligence and automation will be key for suppliers, while demand or absorbent glass mat (AGM) batteries continues to grow at the expense of lead acid batteries.
The increasing complexity and greater power demands of new vehicles mean batteries will have to become denser, and manufacturers such as Clarios are taking a “systems approach” to their products to ensure maximum performance.
“We are investing significantly into innovation, AI and automation,” said Morales-Zimmermann. Increasingly advanced power-draining infotainment systems put more strain on a truck’s 12-volt battery system. So, too, do critical safety features found on today’s vehicles.
AGM batteries deliver the robustness needed to support these technologies and will continue to increase in popularity, Clarios indicated.
The company has expanded the breadth of its product line currently available and also in development. An eAGM battery is coming to the North American market next year for frequent-cycle applications. An iAGM battery can monitor the battery cells and provide greater reliability for safety-critical functions.
Systems approach
“No other company can provide the full range,” Morales-Zimmermann said. “Our full-systems approach is a big differentiator.”
Batteries will also have an increasing role to play in autonomous driving features and those with advanced driver assistance functions. For example, steer-by-wire systems eliminate the mechanical linkage between the steering wheel and the wheels.
“Imagine if one battery fails,” Morales-Zimmermann said. “You have to have redundancy and close monitoring.”
The company is also bringing to market a “smart” battery that offers remote health monitoring and can alert fleet managers before a battery failure occurs. “We connect the battery to the cloud,” Morales-Zimmermann explained.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence algorithms can determine the health of the battery. Clarios draws on decades of warranty data to better predict when a failure may occur so fleets can replace the battery before it fails while away from the shop. It has been testing the technology in Europe and will soon bring it to the North American market.
European test fleets were impressed by the idle reduction potential; one fleet pilot saw idle time reduced by 40% because drivers weren’t keeping their trucks running to ensure batteries remained charged, Morales-Zimmermann said.
“We can let the driver know, ‘You don’t need to start the engine right now. The health of the battery is OK.’”
This can save a commercial truck fleet about US$1,300 a year per vehicle, he said, while also reducing CO2 emissions by about 2,500 kg annually. However, an even greater potential cost saving for fleets is the ability to run batteries longer. Many swap out batteries before it’s necessary out of an abundance of caution and don’t realize the full value in their investment.
Sodium-ion batteries
Meanwhile, Clarios is continuing to advance plans to produce sodium-ion batteries to replace low-voltage lithium-ion designs. No lithium, cobalt or manganese will be needed if the base material is salt, which is abundant and inexpensive around the world.
“We are very confident and very bold with this technology,” Morales-Zimmermann said. “We have seen the results of how promising it is.”
It also has the potential to reduce battery costs by 15-20%, while also completely eliminating thermal runaway events.
Clarios is also producing supercapacitors which can offer short, high power bursts. It has already struck a deal to supply supercapacitors to a car maker and believes it will have commercial truck applications as well. Its supercapacitors will be compatible with vehicles utilizing both 12- and 48-volt architectures.
They’ll be an enabler for new technologies such as steer-by-wire, while adding minimum weight.
“We recognize the crucial role we play in helping automotive manufacturers achieve their growing power, safety, and sustainability targets,” Morales-Zimmermann concluded. “Our supercapacitors offer a reliable and efficient solution to address these increasing demands in modern and software-defined vehicles.”
Credit: Source link
