High-capacity smart meter battery launches at ACE 2023

Ultralife Corporation is exhibiting at the ACE conference, where the company will launch its 19Ah D cell battery, particularly designed for water and other utility meters.

In recent years, the company has undertaken major investments to improve its range of non-rechargeable Lithium Thionyl Chloride cells, which are often embedded into utility meters for the duration of the product’s life. The new cell provides industry-leading capacity, which produces a long service life and has already been verified by a leading metering OEM.

In utility metering, power is needed to transmit energy usage data from the consumer’s smart meter to the energy provider. Some meters may be plugged into mains power but need batteries as backup in case of mains failure. Others are wireless and employ batteries as the main power source, which may result in the batteries requiring to be replaced more frequently.

“Research suggests that, by 2027, smart meter deployment will generate around $60 billion in revenue for vendors globally,” explained Eric Lind, vice president of Ultralife Corporation. “However, to make this growth a success, energy companies must have confidence that the smart meter is providing an uninterrupted stream of data so that customers can be billed accurately. Reliable battery power is key to this.”

For smart meters where batteries may need to be replaced, non-rechargeable Lithium Manganese Dioxide cells are consumer-replaceable and provide high energy density and low self-discharge. This includes the UB123A, which provides a high pulse discharge of 3,000mA, which means it can supply more power than alternative cells. Finally, the company has its own hybrid non-rechargeable chemistry (Lithium Carbon Monofluoride Manganese Dioxide). In this range, the upcoming XR123A product has around a 30% greater run-time than other CR123A batteries.

ACE, booth 2513, Toronto, Canada, 12-14 June 2023.