Lithium-Ion 6T Battery Technology Integration and Data Collection Program

June 2014

With recent advances in battery chemistries and materials, Lithium-Ion batteries are expected to replace Lead-Acid batteries in a variety of military vehicle applications. One of the main barriers for the successful introduction of advanced Lithium-Ion batteries is a much higher cost which the small military vehicle market itself cannot easily drive down. If however the use of the Lithium-Ion batteries can be expanded to the much larger commercial vehicle sector, this would drive prices down and address the cost issue. The U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is particularly interested in expanding the market for Lithium-Ion NATO 6T batteries by developing dual use opportunities of batteries that would meet the needs of both military and commercial fleets. With funding from TARDEC, CALSTART worked with project partners to develop Lithium-Ion 6T batteries that were installed into six Class 8 day cab truck tractors in in two regions (California and Colorado) and operated in a real world commercial delivery application. Vehicle and battery data was collected for a cumulative period of 21 months to assess the performance and reliability of Lithium-Ion 6T batteries in commercial vehicles.