A new Australian battery casing company, Vaulta, is working with Quickstep, the nation’s largest independent aerospace advanced composites manufacturer, to develop smarter technology for renewables, manned and unmanned drones and electric flight.
The two Australian companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to pair Vaulta’s groundbreaking cell casing technology with Quickstep’s manufacturing capability and market reach as it looks to move further into the high-growth market of electric-powered land and air vehicles.
The two companies will be actively working together on a joint proposal for Australian Defence.
Vaulta founder Dominic Spooner has worked to create a shift in battery casing technology that reduces the number of parts needed to house the batteries used in electric vehicles from about 20 down to just a few.
“The work Quickstep is doing in aerospace is all about lighter and better vehicles and we are looking forward to matching our innovative casing system with their new projects,” he said.
“We love designing and building the new casings that will help fulfil the visions of those forging into a new space, particularly in defence.
“The work we are doing at Vaulta will help meet the needs of Quickstep with specially-created batteries that are significantly lighter and stronger,” Mr Spooner said. “Our casings are also designed to reduce waste and contain more reusable parts.”
Vaulta is a battery casing technology company based in Brisbane, Australia. Its world-first design allows electric vehicle manufacturers to save money, time, weight and space in their vehicles, while greatly increasing efficiencies in safety and workforce deployment.
Spooner saw an opportunity to reinvigorate battery casing design which had languished. The new designs, made to fit customers’ requirements, use a unique blend of graphene and polymer.
These ingredients, along with other composites, allows for dramatic improvements in weight, strength and thermal and electrical conductivity.
A reduction in the number of parts and the size also delivers a greatly reduced cost to market as well as greater opportunity for reuse and recycling of parts.
Quickstep CEO Mark Burgess said: “This MoU will see Quickstep continue on our path looking at new opportunities to disrupt and increase our presence within key sectors.
“We were really keen to work with Vaulta because of what we believe they have to offer to the market, their Australian pedigree and the smart technology it provided in a new and high-growth field,” he said.
“This year we are moving further into investing in collaborative research and development and this is leading that approach.
“Consumers and the wider market are showing a stronger interest in electrical vehicles and electric flight, and to cater for this we need more sophisticated systems in casing and batteries.
“We identified this as a segment that we wanted to focus more on, as it’s a critical space across all the markets we operate in,” Mr Burgess said.
“This technology will aid us in assisting existing clients and future clients in our core areas of electrical, drones, ground and air.”
Quickstep has recently also signed an MoU with US company Volsani, a leader in vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) middle-mile drone delivery services.
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