XALT Energy XBV Provides State-Of-The-Art Telematics Data In A Single-Source Solution

Partnership with HED, Inc., offers customers advanced battery data

Midland, Mich. As commercial vehicle manufacturers and fleet owners transition to battery electric powertrains, they must manage a new set of mobility variables. Factors like the battery system’s state-of-charge (SOC), overall health, driving range and charging times are crucial considerations in optimizing urban and long-haul transportation networks that rely upon this alternate fuel option. Tracking such information can be a complex task, and companies increasingly rely on telematics to help them collect and process essential data. But installing a telematics network that is focused on critical battery performance and analyzing the data it generates has challenges of its own.

Now, in a bid to streamline battery tracking options for customers with a single-source solution, XALT Energy has developed XALT Battery Viewer (XBV), a telematics system that is sold as a companion tool for the heavyduty lithium-ion batteries the company provides to commercial fleet manufacturers. XALT Energy, a part of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, is a Midland, Mich.-based global developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion technology solutions.

XBV offers customers access to sophisticated system data in a simple-toinstall-and-use telematics package. A user-friendly portal provides access to critical operational information. State-of-the-art hardware and software, developed in partnership with HED, Inc., a Wisconsin-based telematics company, also allows XALT to monitor the system data to analyze needs like the actual energy required to optimize vehicle performance.

Advanced Telematics Development at XALT

At its heart, telematics combines GPS, wireless technology and on-board diagnostics with data analytics to track any number of vehicle variables – speed, distance, direction, location, stops, and performance, among others. A vehicle transmitter relays system information to a network receiver via WiFi access points or cell towers. Raw data is processed through back-end software and compiled it into useful vehicle system information for fleet manufacturers and owners to track. 

XALT Energy began pursuing telematics system technology in 2015 as a means for tracking data on the performance of the premium, lthium-ion batteries it was supplying commercial vehicle manufacturers, said Casey Hourtienne, Telematics Manager, XALT Energy.

“Our initial telematics efforts were geared toward trouble-shooting customer systems out in the field,” Hourtienne said. 

But starting in 2018, XALT took its pursuit of telematics to a new level of sophistication. Fleet owners needed performance data about how its batteryelectric vehicles were being charged and driven, and XALT decided to provide complete telematics service to its customers in a bid to help.

A Telematics Partnership

XBV was developed in strategic partnership with HED, a leading provider of intelligent vehicle controls and telematics systems. It features multiple connectivity options, is easily integrated into new and existing configuration designs and uses an adhesive mounting system to quickly and easily attach the telematics antenna. HED's CANect® portfolio of hardware, software, cellular, and portal solutions provided the two companies with a high-tech path to support XBV development.

“The success of the XBV project was made possible by a clear objective from XALT. The company wanted to provide advanced battery management 3 Internal information to customers by leveraging HED’s CANect configurable toolset,” said Chad Repp, Business Development Manager, Telematics, HED. “XALT’s knowledge of battery systems and controls paired well with HED's CANect Telematics. The system has been developed for market leaders like XALT, who know what they want to offer their customers but need dynamic tools to provide it.”

The XBV system tracks critical information like charging status, energy generation and consumption, maximum and minimum cell and string voltages, temperatures, state of charge, diagnostic occurrences, location tracking and route map views. Information is accessible on a global basis through an XBV portal that uses intuitive dashboards to view critical battery data at all times.

“By working in partnership with HED, we are able to provide our customers with a substantial variety of telematics tools including Wi-Fi, Ethernet, cellular and dedicated portals,” said Hourtienne. “HED has been growing with us on this project, approaching every feature of the system with a forward-thinking perspective. This has resulted in some very interesting telematics innovations.”

The Superior XBV Advantage 

The familiar task of filling a commercial vehicle at the diesel pump is changing. Today’s battery electric powertrains require charging stations to refuel. They also require fleet drivers who have been trained to optimize vehicle performance between charges to avoid overcharging the battery – and potentially voiding the system warranty.

In a unique innovation, XALT and HED have designed the XBV to allow municipalities and fleet owners to access dashboards that monitor the drive cycles, routes and charging times of individual vehicles on the road. This data can be extrapolated by XALT technicians to determine the size of the battery system an individual vehicle actually needs to optimize performance.

Because XBV is focused on providing battery-specific data to customers, Hourtienne pointed out, XALT technicians also track diagnostics codes to alert municipalities and fleet owners anywhere in the world about potential issues on a 24-7 basis. This collaborative approach helps customers to address maintenance and repairs proactively and results in less vehicle down-time.

“Data accuracy and visualization simplicity were critical to XBV's success given its relationship to the electric vehicle battery management system,” said Repp. “In working with XALT, we utilized an engineering mindset to define the data strategy while retaining an information architect’s visual skillset in order to build out logical dashboards.”

The complex telematics capabilities that have emerged out of the XBV development process are impressive, Hourtienne agreed, and have led to important applications for the data generated by the system. 

“The most complex component of an electric vehicle is the battery, and understanding energy requirements is no small task,” Hourtienne pointed out. “We can now offer customers trustworthy data that shows energy usage and energy requirements so they can design an optimum battery system for their application. Such data may show, for example, that they could reduce the original design of the battery system size by 20 percent for a particular use case. This saves money for our customers and enables them to sell their product at a lower price point.”

An Additional Customer Value

As manufacturers, fleet owners and municipalities continue to invest in sustainable transportation solutions like battery-electric vehicles, their familiarity with this new technology will grow. As it does, so will their ability to identify and request unique system designs to resolve their specific transportation challenges.

Information collected by XBV units will serve a crucial function in helping XALT technicians and engineers apply actual field data to address these requests. Detailed technical reports from XBV data are already helping XALT focus its product development efforts on specific areas of the battery. As the world pursues green commercial vehicle options, such a body of scientific knowledge will prove invaluable to industry and individual customers.

“We have a data-driven means for focusing our engineering and development efforts going forward,” Hourtienne concluded. “When we can optimize our battery designs based on actual data, it’s a significant benefit to industry and to customers. They will get more satisfaction and value from every system they install.”

About Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is a longstanding technology expert and market leader for sophisticated and novel applications in sealing technology and electric mobility solutions worldwide. With its unique materials and technology expertise, the company is a proven supplier for demanding products and applications, as well as a development and service partner to customers in the automotive industries and in general industries. In 2018, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies generated sales of about €2.3 billion and employed approximately 15,000 people. More information at www.fst.com.

The company is part to the global Freudenberg Group which has four business areas: Seals and Vibration Control Technology, Nonwovens and Filtration, Household Products as well as Specialties and Others. In 2018, the Group generated sales of approximately €9.4 billion and employed more than 49,000 associates in around 60 countries. More information is available at www.freudenberg.com. 

About XALT Energy

XALT Energy has been an innovator and leader of advanced lithium-ion energy storage technologies since 1998. The company’s research and development capabilities and fully-integrated and automated manufacturing processes guarantee premium battery system product quality across multiple industry sectors. XALT Energy can handle any energy storage requirement anywhere in the world. XALT Energy is helping the world meet the need for clean transportation technology in the marine, rail, commercial transportation and other sectors. The company’s advanced lithium-ion technologies and products are a clear and proven choice among 6 Internal manufacturing customers. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is majority owner of XALT Energy and the XALT brands. More information at www.xaltenergy.com