A snippet.
French battery company SAFT may supply Lithium-ion or possibly Lead-acid batteries (depending what is negotiated) for Shortfin
See Asia Pacific Defence Reporter (APDR), May 2016 edition, page 19.
Also see a 2008 DCNS Media Release about SAFT, Lithium-ion research, and Scorpene.
Wikipedia entry.
Hi Pete.
ReplyDeleteATLA has awarded GS Yuasa up to \9.11 billion (initial cost is not included) for submarine LIBs of 27SS.[1]
Considering price of LABs of 26SS (\1.44 billion[2]), submarine LIB is EXTREMELY expensive.
[1]ATLA FY2015 central procurement list (negotiated, large contracts)
http://www.mod.go.jp/atla/souhon/supply/jisseki/rakusatu/xls/27zuikeikijunijou.xls (row:2870)
[2]ATLA FY2014 central procurement list (negotiated, large contracts)
http://www.mod.go.jp/atla/souhon/supply/jisseki/rakusatu/xls/26zuikeikijunijou.xls (row:3445)
Just for your information.
Regards
Wispywood2344
SAFT technologies came from the acquisition of an Israeli battery. They dominate in the smart meter segment for utilities, nearly 1/2 of their revenues come from that.
ReplyDeleteOutside of that segment which is rather "close", SAFT is struggling against Chinese, Korean and Japanese competitors. Their last financial quarter ended up with profit warnings and they had to depreciate their Li-ion factories to make up for the profit short fall (an accounting practice). BTW, they will be acquired by Total which is the right thinking, since today they lack financial depth to compete with say Samsung.
KQN
Hi Wispywood2344
ReplyDeleteThe very high cost of Lithium-ion Batteries (LIBs) for submarine you mention compared to the standard Lead-acid Batteries may make it less likely that LIBs will be chosen for Shortfin.
Also many navies and submarine makers will be looking closely for any issues like dangers to safety on on Japanese subs that use LIBs from 2020 onwards.
Regards
Pete
Hi KQN
ReplyDeleteWith SAFT's corporate worries I wouldn't be surprised if Japan's http://www.yuasabatteries.com/index.php comes to dominate submarine battery sales, even outside Japan.
This may make Yuasa Shortfin's battery supplier - if LIBs for Shortfin are chosen.
Regards
Pete
Hi Pete
ReplyDeleteSpiked price of LIBs is due to vast amount of capital investment [2]. Judging from exchange cycle of batteries [1] and cost difference (7.5 billion yen) between LIBs and LABs, life cycle cost of LIBs Soryu for 22 years-operation with three times-LIBs exchange is expected to be 30 billion yen higher than LABs Soryu [2].
Logically speaking [3,4], there is possibility that SAFT may import LIBs (made by GS Yuasa) from Japan. But, as Japanese government is very critical to French weapon export to China, Three Principles of Defense Equipment Transfer will be strictly adopted for LIBs export for SAFT. And according to two top managements of DCNS, Japanese LIBs are explosive. How we can export such dangerous equipment to our best friend, Australia?
[1] FY2012 Evaluation of Administrative Project (MoD). 2. Exchang and purchasing of main batteries for submarine. Page 17, the officer of MoD said “Exchange of the main storage batteries has been carried out once every six years.”
[2] ibid. Page18, MoD said “We are considering submarine equipped with LIBs. Vast amount of capital investigation is needed, and it obviously would raise much higher the unit price of the current (=LABs) submarine.”
[3] ibid. Page24, MoD said “As batteries for submarine belong to weapon, we could not conventionally export them. But, new weapons export guideline, the Three Principles of Defense Equipment Transfer has established. It will be discussed which country is adequate or not for export of LIBs in future according this guideline.”
[4] ibid. Page24, MoD said “As Japanese LIBs are equipment only for JMSDF submarine, we do not want to export LIBs with the same specification as that for JMSDF submarine.”
Regards
S