SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PowerGenix, the leading developer of high performance, automotive Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) batteries, today announced that it has entered into an innovation contract with PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles, a French multinational automobile manufacturer. Peugeot will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the use of PowerGenix’s NiZn batteries as a replacement for lead-acid in stop-start vehicles.
“Peugeot has displayed impressive leadership in cutting emissions and adopting innovative technologies,” said Salil Soman, Director of Systems Engineering at PowerGenix. “We look forward to working together over the coming months to fully adapt and integrate our NiZn batteries into their vehicles. This is a promising milestone for NiZn, which is poised to capitalize on a rapidly expanding market for stop-start technology.”
Micro-hybrid vehicles are gasoline or diesel-powered cars with automatic, battery-powered stop-start systems that shut off the engine while the vehicle is at rest and restart it instantly and automatically upon re-engaging the gas pedal. Stop-start technology is one of the most cost-effective and efficient means of optimizing fuel economy. Current estimates put stop-start efficiency improvements at around 5-8 percent, while next generation systems may achieve savings as high as 12-15 percent.
Stop-start technology has already been widely deployed in Europe, where 70 percent of all vehicles sold by 2017 are expected to carry the system as a standard feature. Lead-acid batteries, the most common battery choice, are low-cost, easily available and relatively safe. NiZn batteries with higher energy density and higher charge acceptance could be an alternative choice offering a sustained fuel economy improvement.
As part of this innovation contract, PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles and PowerGenix will work closely together to verify several aspects of performance improvements, including high sustained charge acceptance, weight savings and service life improvements for use in stop-start vehicle applications. PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles and PowerGenix will also investigate battery sizing, cost projections, in-service life evaluation and safety analysis of the batteries, with tests performed under wide temperature ranges to validate NiZn’s performance at extreme temperatures.
At completion of the contract term, PowerGenix NiZn batteries are expected to be fully tailored for Peugeot and ready for successful integration into vehicles.
“PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles is committed to reducing the ecological impact of our vehicles and maintaining our position as a leader in low emissions automobiles,” said Bernard Sahut, innovation team manager for PSA Peugeot Citroen. “NiZn holds the potential to provide an ideal replacement for lead-acid by reducing the weight and CO2 emissions of our stop-start engine vehicles. This study marks PSA Peugeot Citroen Automobiles’s interest in working closely with PowerGenix to validate the promise of NiZn technology.”
PowerGenix is the world’s leading developer of Nickel-Zinc batteries, which were originally patented by Thomas Edison in 1901.
About PowerGenix
PowerGenix has developed and patented high-power, low-cost Nickel-Zinc batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, industrial products, and stationary storage applications. PowerGenix Nickel-Zinc batteries outperform lead-acid and nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in a smaller and lighter form-factor, and avoid the high cost and safety issues associated with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries – providing a highly recyclable alternative free of all toxic chemicals, to existing technologies in the multi-billion dollar rechargeable battery market. For more information, please visit http://www.powergenix.com.
