ElectriPlast Corporation, the wholly-owned subsidiary of conductive plastics developer Integral Technologies, announced on May 4 it was in advanced discussions with a secret Asian lead-acid battery manufacturer that was seeking collaboration to develop “the most advanced bi-polar plates for the lead-acid battery market”.

The unnamed Asian company is reported by ElectriPlast to be looking at implementing the plates into its existing bipolar battery product line, although details were scant when BESB was due to go out.

In a company statement, Integral said that Gene Song, Integral Asia’s CEO, had met the Asian party and both had agreed that Integral would supply batteries with ElectriPlast plates for validation testing.

James Eagan, ElectriPlast CEO, said the Asian company would adopt the technology once it had completed its technical due diligence.

“The Integral bi-polar plate allows greater specific energy and energy density of the lead-acid battery, which translates to significantly greater energy storage in the smaller size and weight battery package,” said a company statement.

“Bi-polar battery design brings simplicity to battery construction and assembly process and greater flexibility in selection of battery shape. Bi-polar plate technology and bi-polar lead-acid battery construction enables lead-acid batteries to compete with other battery chemistries for new automotive applications.”

The bi-polar plate has been developed so that dissimilar materials can now be joined to it.

“We have seen the battery industry showing greater interest in our bi-polar plate technology which we believe will create new opportunities for the lead acid battery industry as a whole,” said Doug Bathauer, CEO of Integral.