US buys batteries

July 17, 2008 by Dagpotter · Comment
Filed under: Contract Awards, DLA, Saft, logistics, production program 

The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) signed a contract with SAFT for batteries. See the press release here. While SAFT is a French company the batteries will be made in NC at their plant. The contract is for up to 5 years and could be worth $170 M. With the amount of electronics proliferating on the battlefield, battery technology is very important as the US and other countries strive for lighter batteries that provide more power.

DARPA invests in fuel cell technology

The DARPA and US Army awarded a follow-on contract to UltraCell for continued work on hydrogen fuel cell systems to power military hardware. See an article here. The UltraCell process utilizes methanol and converts it into hydrogen to provide electricity. The current system is used to provide power for laptops, but UltraCell is working on scaling it for use with larger fixed installations. The advantage this offers is that for comparable power the fuel cell is smaller and lighter then existing batteries. There is also no requirement for a separate electrical system to charge the batteries as is currently done.