The latest news from 17ELBC • September 22-24, 2020
A Batteries International publication
What’s News By Mike Halls
T
he 17th European Lead Battery Conference — the first ELBC presentations of their kind to exist only in virtual form — kicked off promptly at
midday BST yesterday (Tuesday). Broadcast over the internet from a studio in Weybridge in the UK and another in Aachen in Germany, it was viewed by more than 500 virtual attendees. Some US delegates — reared
Lights! Camera! Action!
in the best farming traditions of the mid-West — were already up and about even though it was the early hours of the morning for them when the presentations began. Delegates in Moscow would have been slurping up the last of their lunchtime gazpacho; in India it was time for late afternoon chai; in China an early evening Tsingtao. And in faraway Australia the first day’s proceedings closed with the chimes of midnight ringing from the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney. All made possible thanks to the wonders of modern technology, without which there could have been nothing at all. The overall reception was very positive. “Technically, it was very slick, very professional,” Steve Barnes, vice president at Hammond Expanders, later told Battery Street Journal. “I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but I liked it. “I was particularly pleased that there was a simplicity, perhaps Continued on page 3 >
Latest Industry News Released at ELBC A wave of specialized industry news is often released at ELBC and the fact that this was a virtual conference and exhibition was no exception. Hammond Expanders announced that it had been obtained IATF16949 certification, which is an automotive quality management system that provides for continual improvement in the
way the firm works. Digatron released details of its new all-in-one DCA testing product. Since Dynamic Charge Acceptance is one of the pillars that advanced batteries need to boost, clearly this is a welcome product. Meanwhile Steve Mate, head of Co-Efficient Precision Engineering, revealed the company’s new bench top thickness gauge, Mate
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Gauge S, touted as the ‘smallest, lightest and most affordable’. Sovema Group says investments in R&D over the past few months have resulted in a whole set of new equipment and upgrades to its machines, ranging from oxide production to battery finishing. For more information on product releases go to page 8
n Clarios CEO Wallace Discusses Bright Battery Future and Need for ‘Moral Mission’ — The new Clarios CEO maintains a positive outlook on the future of the industry and puts the eradication of illegal lead battery recycling and the maintenance of material stewardship at the top of his agenda moving forward. Page 6 n Ever Mounting Army of Lead-Acid Manufacturers Add Lithium-Ion to Product Offering Ranges — Following the likes of Clarios, Exide Technologies and ENTEK a growing number of leadacid battery and equipment manufacturers are moving into lithium-ion due to lead acid’s performance in the market. Page 7 n Delegates Take Opportunity to Unveil New Products at Virtual Event — News from Digatron, Sovema, Hammond, Co-efficient BM Rosendahl PLUS Return of Graeme Fraser Bell to Energy Storage Markets. Pages 8-9 n Virtual Trade Shows Can be a Big Disappointment if You Don’t Prepare Properly — Exhibitors at the 17ELBC are urged to take the advice of SY Innovations’ Anton Gurevich on the importance of video presentations. Moving away from PDFs and into the world of virtual and video marketing is the way forward. Pages 10-11 n Industry news — Cellusuede Acquisition of EFT, Clarios’ New CFO, ARPA-E Appoints Cheeseman, ENTEK expands sales, Aqua Metals sells plant, news of BCI’s EHS conference Pages 12, 14 n The Last Word — Darkness and distress on the first day of a virtual conference: tales of hedgehogs, lunchboxes, tekkie phobias and shameful confessions … Page 15
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