Wirtz Manufacturing, a global leader in equipment design, has made a strategic investment in ZAF Energy Systems Inc., a developer of next-generation battery technology. The investment will expand ZAF’s manufacturing capacity from hundreds of batteries per month to thousands of batteries per month at ZAF’s Joplin, Missouri, facility.
The investment by Wirtz follows a $600,000 investment commitment ZAF received last year from Missouri’s Department of Economic Development Fund. These investments are being used to hire employees, expand production and forge strategic partnerships. This additional production capability will further enable ZAF to accelerate licensing and joint venture negotiations and commercialize its NiZn batteries on a global scale.
ZAF’s NiZn batteries have potential uses in a wide range of applications including: automotive, heavy trucking, remote telecom and renewable energy. NiZn batteries are poised to disrupt the $50 billion conventional lead-acid battery market with its ability to provide twice the storage capacity and three times the power of legacy lead-acid batteries in a smaller, lighter package.
Wirtz has a long history of driving new technology innovations in the battery industry. “We became very excited in partnering with ZAF when we experimented with the ZAF electrodes and found that we could produce plates at similar production rates as lead-acid technology after seeing the performance improvements and cost-savings being delivered by nickel-zinc battery technologies, and we are proud to invest in ZAF to bring its next-generation technology to the marketplace,” said John Wirtz, CEO of Wirtz Manufacturing.
“The investment from Wirtz, a respected leader and innovator in the battery industry, offers further validation of the company’s NiZn battery technology. As ZAF continues to commercialize our technology it is vital to have a partner like Wirtz,” added ZAF Energy Systems President and CEO Randy Moore.
ZAF’s batteries are helping to meet customer demands for powerful, cost-effective and environmentally friendly battery solutions. “We’re seeing our technology perform well in rigorous battery performance testing by major commercial trucking, telecommunications and large-scale data storage companies,” Moore added. “Customers are ready to place orders as soon as our manufacturing capacity is available, and this investment will help us do that. We believe our partnership with Wirtz provides ZAF with best-in-class manufacturing equipment lines to ensure our quality is both excellent and consistent worldwide.”
