China Ritar Power sees uptick in demand for its EV lead-acid batteries

Shenzhen, China-based lead acid battery manufacturer China Ritar Power (OTC:CRTP) said today it has secured new orders for its batteries from 28 electric vehicle manufactures and battery distributors. The total value of the orders was not disclosed.

Some of those orders came from: Shenzhen Greenwheel Electric Vehicle; Wonder Auto Technology; Shenzhen Aoxiang Industrial Development; Shenzhen Ziyouda Electric Vehicle; Advanced Transportation Energy Center; Maurer Elektromaschinen; Ajanta Group; ITP Infotech; Ultra Motor India; Tube Investments of India; Boston Golf; and Alco Battery Sales.

China Ritar said as demand increases for electric vehicles, there’s a greater need for battery technology that delivers more efficiencies and better performance. China is expected to be the world leader in the market for electric vehicle charging equipment, with nearly 48 percent of annual global sales by 2015, according to a Pike Research report. Global annual sales of EV charging equipment are expected to reach $1.9 billion in 2015, the report says (see ECOtality pulls $15M to build EV charging network in China).

China Ritar’s CEO Jiada Hu said in a news release that he thinks his company is well positioned to benefit from the growth in the electric vehicle industry with its lead-acid batteries.

The company’s batteries have the capability to power an electric vehicle up to 90 miles without needing to be recharged and are priced at approximately 50 percent less than international manufacturers, according to China Ritar. China Ritas sells its cadmium-free, valve-regulated lead-acid batteries in 81 countries, including China, India, and numerous markets in Europe and the Americas.

Shenzhen Greenwheel Electric Vehicle, one of China’s largest EV manufacturers in China, is in the process of constructing a new industrial park in Wuxi, China, with capacity to manufacture up to 50,000 electric vehicles annually.

“Once Shenzhen Greenwheel Electric Vehicle begins manufacturing electric vehicles at the new industrial park, we expect to receive orders worth up to $15 million,” said Hu, in the release.

But other companies are pursing alternatives that could be safer and more efficient than lead-acid batteries. In 2008, San Diego, Calif.-based PowerGenix announced its non-toxic rechargeable nickel-zinc batteries met the European Union's requirements for the Reduction of Hazardous Substances as well as the union's 2006 Battery Directive. The company's batteries, being produced in China, contain no lead, cadmium or mercury, which it said offers a cleaner environmental alternative to lead-acid and nickel-cadmium, or NiCd, batteries (see PowerGenix non-toxic batteries coming to market).

Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin signed a deal last year with EEStor to use the secretive Ceder Park, Texas, company's ultracapacitors for military and homeland security applications. The company said EEStor is developing a ceramic battery chemistry that could provide 10 times the energy density of lead-acid batteries at one tenth the weight and volume (see Lockheed Martin to use EEStor's ultracapacitors).

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