PSI Showcases S Mark-approved LiFePO4 Cells at EV Taiwan 2013

After gaining a solid foothold in the semiconductor industry, Phoenix Silicon International Corp. (PSI) of Taiwan has ventured into the lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery business and aims to be a major player.

At this year's Taiwan Int'l Electric Vehicle Show (EV Taiwan 2013), the company showcased its power cells and battery-packs.

PSI entered the Li-ion battery sector in 2006 and set up an energy business department to produce fully made-in-Taiwan Li-ion cells and the batteries. PSI claims that it improves battery performance and safety, also having developed full range of automated production equipment to achieve qualitative consistency and effectively cut production cost. PSI has monthly production capacity of about 50,000 cells, or about 850,000 Ah.

Mike Yang, PSI chairman, says that the battery business, relative new to his company's core semiconductor business, presents many challenges both technically and in application markets, hence forcing him to be wary and prudent.

PSI focuses on producing mainly 40138 lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) cells with energy density exceeding 150 Wh/Kg, also owning designing and development capacities for high-end battery management systems (BMSs) and chargers, enabling provision of comprehensive energy storage solutions. With ample effort invested in the business over the years, Yang claims, his company has many big customers in electric vehicle (EV) and energy-storage application markets, including for big telecom equipment rooms, high-tech enterprise uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems etc. SmartEnex, a major solar-power energy-storage solution provider in Japan, for example, purchase PSI's cells and packs.

S Mark Safety Certificate

According to PSI, its 15Ah 40138 battery cell and battery pack have passed the UL Japan S Mark (SBA-S1101) safety certification. After the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, qualified energy storage system products in Japan can receive subsidies of one-third the prices from the Japanese government, which plans to pour 20 billion yen into such subsidies. With the S Mark approval, PSI expects to ship ample products in Japan.

In 2012, according to PSI, to encourage home and business use of energy storage device system (ESS), the Japanese government began to subsidize one-third prices of ESSs that meet JET (Japan Electrical Safety & Environment Technology Laboratories) system certification. Battery in the JET system certification must also be Japan UL S Mark (SBA－S1101) Safety certified. PSI is the first Taiwanese company to be safety certified in Japan.

Yang also says that the maker offers energy storage system, charging systems, as well as compatible BMSs to be a total-solution provider. Besides providing converters and chargers, PSI integrates manufacturers of energy storage system to lead the Li-ion battery industry in Taiwan to enter the Japanese energy storage market. PSI plans to build higher profile for Taiwan's battery and energy storage industry in Japan, Yang says. Unlike most counterparts who often choose to first develop sales in China or Southeast Asia, PSI decided to first tap the Japanese market, indicative of its product quality and durability.

In addition to the S Mark in Japan, PSI's LPF cells and battery packs also won the 2013 Taiwan Excellence Awards, the most important award granted to made-in-Taiwan products with high innovation value.

PSI's cells and packs have also passed the UL1642 and IEC62133 safety certificates. To further develop the global market, the company plans to obtain additional UL 1973 approval (for US energy storage system), UL2580 (US electric vehicle), and UL2271 (US electric motorcycles and scooters).

Japanese Market

PSI signed a cooperation contract with Japanese enterprise SmartEnex in 2012 to jointly tap the residential solar power energy storage system market in Japan, by leveraging PSI's advantages in Li-iron battery and inverter technology, and SmartEnex's know-how and experiences in system integration and the Japanese market. SmartEnex estimates its monthly shipments in 2014 to reach 1,000 systems.

Yang says that the residential solar power energy generation and storage system developed together with SmartEnex is 8Kwh and battery module is 52.8V40Ah. The system includes a 2kw charger, 4 groups of 2kw battery packs and a 3kw inverter. In addition to promoting residential solar power energy storage system, PSI will develop industrial-application, large-scale solar power energy storage systems in the near future.

Established in 1997, PSI started by providing wafer reclaim, thinning, and integration services. Yang says that his company will gradually expand cell production volume according to market demand and personally lead its professional team to continue developing the promising market. PSI targets developing safe, durable, high-performance LFP batteries for industrial applications.