Altairnano, founded in 1973, entered into the battery industry roughly ten years ago when they identified novel ways to use nanoscale technologies to process lithium titanate oxide (LTO) materials.

Their R&D led to the commercialization of a nano lithium titanate (nLTO) battery cell. The company leveraged the benefits of this technology to create a portfolio of products that could be used in the electric grid, transportation, and industrial sectors. These products are:

• Alti-ESS Advantage Provides advanced energy storage capabilities for electric power system ancillary services such as frequency regulation, synchronized reserve, reactive power and voltage control, and sytems restoration.

• PowerRack A cabinet solution consisting of fast charge batteries. Each battery rack contains up to 10-24V modules and a BMS that monitors the battery cells and provides operational information to the PCS controller to ensure optimal system operation.

• 24V 60Ah Battery Module Altairnano’s 1P10S 24V module is used in a variety of high power applications for transportation, quick charge charging stations, and commercial applications.

• Application Kit Designed as an open platform to support OEM design and system engineering initiatives providing an inclusive test bed for the evaluation of Altairnano lithium-ion battery technology for the use in prototype development.

Price per product and volume.

Electrochemical innovation

Altairnano is the first company to replace traditional graphite materials used in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a proprietary, nanostructured lithium-titanate. Altairnano claims their technology delivers distinctive performance attributes, including power, fast charge/discharge rates, high round-trip efficiencies, long cycle life, safety and ability to operate under extreme temperatures.

Safety

Due to the structure of the cells and their electrochemical compossition, Altairnano states their batteries are significantly safer than other lithium-ion technologies.

Rapid response Altairnano ESS transition from full-power charge to full-power discharge at high rates in fewer than 100 ms.

• Electric Grid

Renewable generation is intermittent, which causes sudden and unanticipated changes to power output and contributes to electricity grid instability.

Besides, small electric grids or those with high concentrations of heavy-fuel generation can more economically manage frequency control using energy storage technologies.

The ALTI-ESS is an adaptive, intelligent and scalable power and energy management platform that reduces dependencies on conventional generation required for frequency regulation. Based on advanced lithium-titanate technologies, the ALTI-ESS responds within milliseconds to these fluctuations by releasing or absorbing power from the electricity grid. This helps improve equipment and capacity utilization, strengthen operational efficiencies and reduce carbon emissions.

• Industrial

Off-highway hybrid-electric and stationary industrial applications increasingly require battery systems capable of demanding duty cycles.

From large mining haul trucks to locomotives and construction equipment like forklifts that require rugged duty cycles, battery-operating requirements and environmental factors favor Altairnano’s technology.

• Remote UPS

Altairnano’s battery systems are useful for uninterruptible power supply (UPS) applications in remote, severe, or unusually challenging environments from remote cell towers to Arctic research facilities. Altairnano states that due to their nanostructured lithium-titanate technology, their batteries have longer life cycle, low self-discharge, wide operating temperature ranges, low maintenance and abuse tolerance.

• Transportation

Altairnano’s technology HEVs and EVs:

* Operate in “diesel off mode” from zero to 30 miles per hour * Quietly “electrically idle” using battery power – not diesel * Perform in fully loaded, GVW 6-8 intercity operations * Perform in severe service and off-road vehicles * Start and operate in -40°C without battery heaters