New lithium-ion battery modules from Leclanché promise increased energy and power density for energy-intensive electric transport applications in the marine, commercial vehicle and railway sectors.

Modules incorporating lithium-titanate oxide (LTO) batteries deliver a high cycle life of up to 20,000 cycles and those based on nickel manganese cobalt-graphite (G/NMC) provide up to 8,000 cycles. Outputs of up to 800 A continuous current and system voltages of up to 1,200 V are sustained with functionally safe battery Source: Leclanché management systems.

The higher density G/NMC versions are used in the majority of transport applications whereas the LTO version is typically used where fast opportunity charging is needed such as for certain bus and automated guided vehicle applications and in hybrid hydrogen fuel cell systems used in certain trucks and trains.

A dedicated production line has been implemented for high volume manufacture of the M3 modules in Europe. This highly automated production line will allow Leclanché to produce up to six times its current capacity reaching an output of more than 60,000 modules per year when in full operation. The module and production line have been designed to accept a high level of flexibility in product configurations while maintaining production efficiency and traceability.