Saft won contracts to supply over 45 million primary lithium batteries for smart meter installations in China. These major successes have been achieved thanks to two of Saft’s distributors, Royalty and Sonic, for key projects to power electricity, gas, water and heat meters deployed by local utilities. Deliveries are scheduled for completion by the end of 2016.

Smart grids are fast emerging as a vital element in China’s developing utility infrastructure and this is driving the growth in demand for smart meters. By the end of 2013, a total of 370 million smart meters had been installed in China, and this figure is expected to hit 500 million in 2015.

“The size and fast growth of China’s smart meter market means that it is of crucial strategic importance for Saft and winning these latest major orders are further confirmation of our leadership position. They also demonstrate the major progress we have made since winning our first orders in this market,’ said Cecile Joannin, Market Manager for Metering in Saft’s Specialty Battery Group.

To continue to meet fast-growing demand in this market, Saft will transfer its production into a brand new, best in class factory. This production facility is planned to open during the first quarter of 2016, and will enable Saft to double its production capacity.

Saft has used field and laboratory data collected over more than 30 years to develop a unique life‐time model that enables the expected life of primary cells in this demanding application to be predicted accurately by considering the specific utilization profile. Data used by this model includes base current, pulse currents, cut‐off voltage and temperature range. Calculated results are combined with results from bench tests, which sometime require years to conduct, to produce the most accurate life prediction.