Ground Support Worldwide - 16

COVER STORY

A Li-ion battery
is slightly
smaller than
a lead acid
battery, but
still fits in the
same relative
footprint when
installed in
GSE units.
Photos courtesy of
Charlatte

the energy is too low for high usage ground
support applications, it's well suited for applications such as Solar Energy Storage. After the
second life of the battery, many other parts can
be recycled for reuse."

Extinguishing Risk Concerns
Some consumer products using variations of
lithium technology have caused concern about
the risk of fire. However, the batteries used in
GSE do not come with those risks.
"The chemistry that we use in these batteries is lithium ferro phosphate. It's the least
energy dense of the lithium technologies that
you see out there," Laster points out. "For most
people, when they think of lithium, they think
of what's in the hoverboards, what's in their
phones. Those are extremely small and provide
a lot of energy."
Batteries used in GSE are much lower on
the density scale for lithium.
"Fire, while it's not impossible, it's not any
higher risk than lead acid batteries or fuel for
internal combustion engines," Laster says.
"Li-ion is inherently an unstable chemistry,"
Allen notes. "However, quality manufacturers
can build in safety to their designs to provide
an extremely safe product with no risk of fires."
Li-ion batteries in GSE have a thermal runaway of 500 degrees. And, what's more, the
batteries are fused.
If there is ever an issue, the BMS will shut
down the battery to prevent continued charging
or discharging.
"There is a very small possibility that a Li-ion
battery can have a chemical reaction, which
causes white smoke to emit from the battery,"
Cooper says, adding Li-ion batteries do not have
the potential for gas buildup that can ignite nor
acid that can spill, erode and cause bodily harm.

16 GROUND SUPPORT WORLDWIDE

Charging
Li-ion batteries charge more efficiently and do
not generate excess heat during the charging
process. The battery chemistry can also hold
its voltage during discharge better than other
options.
"Li-ion batteries can usually use the same
chargers as lead acid, there are a few cases
where a new charger would be required, but
this is not very often," says Cooper. "Li-ion
chemistry allows for 98 percent or higher
charging efficiency."
"Older conventional chargers shouldn't be
used. But all the latest 'smart' charging technology is capable of charging li-ion," Allen
says, adding EnerSys, Power Designers, PosiCharge and several other brands of chargers
are available.
Opportunity charging is also possible, and
often promoted, so ground handlers and other
users do not have to wait for the battery to be
depleted before placing it on the charger.
"The ideal location is to put these chargers
near breakrooms because it encourages these
users to plug-in, more so than not," Lesch says.

GSE Installation
Because of the unit's small footprint, a lithium
battery can often be utilized as a power source
for ground support equipment with minimal
effort.
"Since the Li-ion batteries are similar in size
to the lead acid batteries, they can be easily
dropped into existing equipment," says Rob
Lamb, vice president of sales and marketing at
Charlatte America - a manufacturer of tractors
and other GSE. "There was some concern at
first by the industry that the lighter weight of
the battery would negatively affect the tractive
effort of the vehicles, but our testing has shown

OCTOBER 2019

that the impact on our vehicle's drawbar performance has been quite minimal."
According to Lamb, Charlatte's engineers
have found that any piece of equipment that
can be powered by a flooded lead acid battery
can also be powered by Li-ion.
Cooper notes a Li-ion conversion is an easy
process that simply requires some information
about the make and model of GSE, such as
voltage, amperage and minimum weight.
So, while the battery can be put into position
with little trouble, the work primarily comes
from getting the battery to read the state-ofcharge and know how to shut down when it
needs to.
Li-ion batteries can be installed by the OEM
or battery supplier. While retrofits are possible,
Li-ion powered vehicles are often built new.
"It makes sense to have the OEM install
it at the factory and make sure the system is
operating properly," Allen says.
Li-ion batteries are beginning to find traction in the industry, powering GSE vehicles
from Charlatte, TLD, Textron GSE, Toyota,
MULAG, Trepel and Still, among others.
Charlatte vehicles powered by Li-ion are in
operation at airports in Salt Lake City, Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle and Atlanta and several
locations in the Middle East.
"Initially, we found that customers were
intrigued by the benefits of Li-ion batteries
but discovered their upfront cost to be prohibitive to making that switch from lead acid,"
Lamb says. "Recently, however, we have been
experiencing increased interest from more
budget-minded handlers who are now recognizing that those advantages combined over the
life of the GSE make Li-ion an economically
viable decision."

Ground Support Worldwide

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