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IT Solution Providers are becoming more educated on lithium-ion (Li-ion) because the technology offers tremendous benefits for customers while presenting new UPS deployment opportunities, which means more sales for partners. And the good news is Schneider Electric will soon be adding new single-phase Smart-UPS models based on lithium-ion batteries.
Benefits of Li-ion batteries
Previous blog posts on UPS battery life and weight and lowering lifecycle costs have detailed the benefits of lithium-ion technology compared to valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries. Essentially, the benefits can be summed up as follows:
- 3X the battery life as compared to VRLA
- Simplified maintenance
- Up to 65% reduction in weight
- 28% to 45% smaller footprint
- Remote monitoring and management lead to predictable UPS performance
- Li-ion batteries degrade less than VRLA under similar operating conditions
- Lower total cost of ownership (TCO) as compared to VRLA-based UPSs
While you may think that tripling the battery life means fewer battery sales and less revenue, that is not likely to be the case. For one thing, lithium-ion batteries cost more up-front as compared to VRLA batteries, which means more revenue for you on the initial sale. Additionally, the better cycle life of lithium-ion batteries enables new applications that simply were not possible with VRLA, which means new business opportunities.
Examples of use cases for lithium-ion-based Smart-UPS devices
Point-of-sale and back-office systems
UPSs can help retailers, restaurants, and the like avoid outages in their POS systems due to utility power issues, including brownouts, voltage spikes, and outages, providing peace of mind.
Automated teller machines (ATMs)
You’ve probably encountered an ATM that’s not working for one reason or another; it’s frustrating, to say the least. While a UPS can’t stock the ATM with cash, it can protect it from downtime due to power outages or failures. And there are a lot of ATMs out there.
Embedded products
We are in the Internet-of-things (IoT) era, which means just about anything may have a sensor in it that’s sending valuable information to the cloud – so long as it has power. Lithium-ion can extend protection to everything from vending machines to medical devices to smart home systems, and more – lots more.
More information can be found on this web page, but a simple way to get customers interested in lithium-ion is to ask these questions:
- Are you tired of battery replacement needs?
- Have you encountered unexpected battery failures?
- Are you ready to lower your TCO?
If the answer is yes to any of the questions, Smart-UPS with lithium-ion technology may well be a viable solution.
Learn more about Li-ion
To learn more about Lithium-ion, download the free white paper, “Battery Technology for Single Phase UPS Systems: VRLA vs. Lithium-ion.” Get up to speed on lithium-ion, and you’ll be prepared to educate customers on this exciting new UPS technology.
