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The world’s demand for electricity—and the stored
electrical energy in batteries—is escalating. Growth in wireless communications,
the Internet, critical electronic operations that cannot be interrupted
and the transportation needs of a world on the move are creating enormous
new demands for battery power.
Exide Technologies is the global leader in providing stored electrical-energy—or
battery—power. As the world’s foremost supplier of lead-acid batteries
for transportation, network power and motive power applications, with
an increasing presence in emerging battery technologies, Exide Technologies
offers the most comprehensive portfolio of superior technologies, products
and people.
With operations in 89 countries, Exide Technologies has captured one
of the leading positions in every market it serves—including the original
equipment market and the aftermarket
The Transportation Business Group: Going Mobile
The Exide Transportation Global Business Unit, headquartered
in suburban Atlanta, Ga., provides a broad range of starting and deep-cycle
batteries for vehicles ranging from garden tractors to cars, pickup
trucks, motorcycles, boats, jet skis, golf cars, farm equipment, RVs,
motor homes, buses, locomotives, tractor trailers and military equipment
such as tanks and personnel carriers. Exide’s broad portfolio includes
such consumer brand leaders as Champion®, Exide Select Orbital®,Trailblazer®,
BIG, Tudor, Fulmen,
Centra,
and Stowaway®. Exide transportation products also can be found as original
equipment in the top selling passenger cars and trucks in North America,
Europe and Australasia.
Starting batteries provide a short burst of power
to start a vehicle’s engine. By contrast, deep cycle batteries provide
a long lasting, low, steady supply of power for electrical accessories
such as on-board computers, navigation devices, electric seats and windows
as well as sophisticated audio systems. Exide’s batteries are found
as original equipment in the new electric vehicles manufactured by Corbin
Motors and, at the other end of the spectrum, in high performance racecars
such as the Saleen S7.
The High Voltage Future of Automotive Batteries
The demand for the electrical power provided by
batteries is increasing. According to automotive experts, today’s large
cars can use as much as 2 kilowatts of power. By 2005, that number is
projected to grow to as much as 3.5 kilowatts. This is because today’s
vehicles—from passenger cars to heavy-duty
trucks—are equipped with more and more electronic
equipment to enhance vehicle performance, comfort and safety. For example,
electric power steering (EPS), electromechanical brakes (EMB) and electromagnetic
valve operation (EMV) are new developments that save fuel and reduce
emissions. Other devices that may require escalating levels of power
include advanced electrically controlled heating and air conditioning
systems; on-board communications such as satellite navigation systems;
telecommunications systems and wireless Internet access; creature comforts
such as TVs, video playback units and custom heated and cooled seats.
Exide Technologies and its original-equipment customers
are developing 42-volt battery systems that will augment and potentially
replace today’s 12-volt-based battery systems. The new, high voltage
battery systems likely will include sealed batteries, such as Exide’s
Select Orbital® , a patented, sealed, modular power system that can
be located anywhere in the vehicle and in any orientation.
In addition to its new alliance with Siemens Automotive
VDO, Exide Technologies also has cultivated several other partnerships
on the 42-volt front. The company is working with the Lear Corporation,
the world’s fifth largest automotive supplier, in a collaborative effort
to co-develop and market advanced power packaging solutions for the
automotive industry. Together, the companies will work to design state-of-the-art
interior systems to meet the increasing complexity and power requirements
of future vehicles. A key component of these interior modules will be
the Exide Select Orbital®.
Advanced Lead-Acid Batteries: Powerful, Versatile,
Recyclable and Affordable
 The
Exide Select Orbital® is Exide Technologies’ innovative, spiral-wound
battery. Its design and features are among the most significant technological
battery breakthroughs in 30 years.
The Exide Select Orbital® battery, with six cells,
each containing cylindrically-wound electrodes, is a radical departure
from traditional battery design. Its versatile construction can include
a “six pack”, or a long, straight row of cylinders configured into a
‘C’ or ‘S’ shape.
This powerful battery, under normal conditions,
is leak-proof, freeze-proof, spill-proof and virtually indestructible,
making it the optimal solution for military applications in tanks, armored
personnel carriers and the next generation of air defense vehicles.
A truly versatile product technology, Exide Select
Orbital® also is deployed in network-power, motive-power, marine and
automotive applications. The flexibility of its design and its safety
characteristics make Exide Select Orbital® the pinnacle of Exide’s high-voltage
battery systems.
Exide Technologies Today and Tomorrow
The lead-acid battery is evolving high technology
at its best. Developed in 1859, its first use was to power electric
lights in railroad cars while they stopped in stations. Exide Technologies
researchers and engineers have advanced the technology to make a battery
that is smaller, more powerful, safer, longer-lived, and less expensive
than before.
To keep the company at the forefront of the most
significant developments in the industry, Exide recently established
its own global network of battery testing and design improvement centers
in North America, France, Spain, Australia and Great Britain. The company’s
engineers continually work to explore new and better ways to advance
lead-acid battery technology.
The One-Two Punch
Exide Technologies’ global foothold is strengthened
further by the technological developments of its Industrial divisions.
The company’s Industrial Energy GBU, headquartered in Manchester, England,
supplies batteries for both network power
and motive power applications. Network
power batteries support network communications for a broad customer
base that includes Nokia and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone. Motive
power batteries power lift trucks and a variety of electric vehicles
worldwide for customers such as Crown Fork Lifts and Wal-Mart. Exide
also supplies batteries for submarine and surface vessels for the majority
of the world’s navies, and developing sealed and flooded high voltage
battery systems transportation and industrial applications.
Contact:
Jeannine
Addams
Kristin Wohlleben
J. Addams & Partners, Inc.
404/231-1132
communications@exide.com
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