October 11, 2018: Bipolar lead battery firm Advanced Battery Concepts has signed a memorandum of cooperation to develop bipolar lead batteries with the Chinese battery maker FengFan, ABC announced on October 5. Fengfan’s batteries are also known under the brand name ‘Sail’.
It is the first time bipolar battery technology has been introduced to the Chinese market, ABC’s Don Hobday, vice president of business development, told BESB.
“We’ve agreed to work together to bring bipolar to the Chinese market,” he said. “We have been working with JCI predominantly in North America for the past year and a half, and as they have moved closer towards commercializing this we now have resources to go and target other markets — so we have turned our attention towards Asia.
“FengFan is a state-owned firm and one of the largest automotive battery makers in China. We are also talking to other Chinese manufacturers and there will be other announcements soon.”
The deal was struck on September 25 between the two chief executives of the companies, Ed Shaffer for ABC and Li Yong for FengFan, who signed the memorandum of cooperation at FengFan’s offices in Baoding, China.
No details have yet been released of the terms of the MOC, and it was not made clear whether the work will relate to ABC’s GreenSeal brand of bipolar batteries.