Market Segments

Battery Manufacturer

Benefits for a battery manufacturer include:

• Innovative product to market and sell (providing patented product differentiation from competition, premium pricing opportunity)
• Moves manufacturers from a commodity supplier to a technology leader
• Increases market share (access to new customers – aftermarket & o.e.m.)
• Increases profit margins (reduction in warranty return costs)
• Provides market feedback and enhanced inventory control
• Quickly gather data from retailers regarding battery failure modes
• Provides tracking of new battery sales – regionally/distributor/retailer for production planning purposes
• Establishes a warranty tracking database
• Reduces costly returns of still “serviceable” batteries (freight & handling, teardowns)
• Overall reduction in overhead costs (excess plant capacity)
• New revenue opportunities (handheld/warranty tracking data-base)

Battery Distributor

Benefits for a battery distributor include:

• Better ordering & inventory control
• Reduces the need for rotation of consignment battery inventory
• Eliminates the need for expensive test equipment
• Ability to charge more for battery, improves margins
• Reduction in warranty return handling & associated freight/shipping costs

Battery Retailer

Benefits for a battery retailer include:

• Marketable, differentiated product line
• Provides number of new product branding opportunities
• Simplifies battery selling process
• Takes warranty return decision out of the hands of sales associate (handheld/data-base - accepts/declines warranty)
• Allows for premium pricing, increasing margins
• Eliminates the need for expensive test equipment, load testers/bench testers
• Retailer sells technology not commodity
• Delivers better customer service, customer satisfaction, improves customer confidence in sales associate – current lack of training and turnover supported by the technology
• Increases brand loyalty

Automotive O.E.M.

Benefits for automotive O.E.M. include:

• Provides numerous technical innovations for automotive manufacturers and their customers
• Incremental battery cost as opposed to expensive e.b.s. (electronic battery sensor) type systems
• Increases customer satisfaction by providing “24/7/365” battery s.o.c. & s.o.h. monitoring
• Records and tracks battery performance, operational results/operational conditions
• Allows for product specific features and functionality
• Allows for full integration into the vehicle can/lin network
• Provides inventory tracking for “just in time” delivery to assembly lines
• Reduces warranty parts and labor returns

Automotive Aftermarket

Benefits for automotive aftermarket include:

• Provides numerous new product branding opportunities
• Ability to provide differentiated product per retailer
• Record and track battery performance for warranty terms & conditions
• “Drop in” replacement battery that meets oem specifications

Features

Key features include:

• Collects real-time battery conditions: voltage, current, temperature, and internal resistance
• Technology platform enables broad product diversity
• Adaptable to a single battery or multiple battery string cell configuration
• Easily incorporated into existing group sizes and electro-chemistries
• Real–time monitoring of battery s.o.c. & s.o.h.
• Provides alert of pending failure
• Optical network connections data port
• Warranty tracking data-base
• Diagnostic service platform (handheld–computer based)

Advantages

Key advantages include:

• Provides the operator with #1 requested feature: alert of problematic conditions
• Reduces battery warranty claims and inventory
• Reduction in consignment battery inventory
• Increases manufacturing capacity for “sale-able batteries”
• Increases margin/profitability per unit
• Introduction of innovative new technology

Benefits

Key benefits include:

• Technology platform enables numerous product features and application diversity
• Provides numerous new product branding possibilities
• Increases customer satisfaction with “alert of pending failure”
• Increases brand loyalty when supplying replacement battery
• Assists in improving customer satisfaction