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 reliable cold weather vehicle starting required by 21st-century missions. Mainstream has addressed these issues by demonstrating both advanced lithium-ion batteries and ultracapacitors, comprised of carbon nanotube electrodes manufactured using a new proprietary process invented by Mainstream.

The prior experimental results were extremely encouraging with the battery and ultracapacitor electrodes providing 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 effort, complete military vehicle batteries and ultracapacitors will be fabricated and evaluated for military vehicle applications.