Advanced Battery Development

Current lead-acid battery systems in military vehicles are increasingly unable to support the full array of onboard electrical sensors, to endure the stringent demands of "silent-watch operation" and to maintain the reliable cold weather vehicle starting, which is required by 21st-century missions. Mainstream addressed these issues by demonstrating both advanced lithium-ion batteries and ultracapacitors, comprised of carbon nanotube electrodes that were manufactured with a new proprietary process invented by Mainstream researchers.

The experimental results were extremely encouraging. The battery and ultracapacitor electrodes provided a significantly increased capacity compared to normal electrodes. Projections show a full-scale prototype system will deliver more energy and power from a lighter and smaller package, and because of Mainstream's new cost-efficient production process, will do so without increasing cost (while also reducing environmental concerns). In this project, complete military vehicle batteries and ultracapacitors will be fabricated and evaluated for military vehicle applications.