Battery technology

The good, old combustion engine driven by fuel or gasoline is still a thing in ice resurfacing. But the signs are clear: there won’t flow much water down the river until the market turns fully electrical. That is happening for pretty good reasons: combustion engines are deafening, emit polluting exhaust gases, and will one day no longer be affordable as oil reserves dwindle. But we will still turn the corner before the last oil reserve has been drained dry: even the automotive industry is gradually accepting the change to -mobility.

LPG engines are combustion engines and dominate the ice rinks in the United States. And for good reasons: the US has high gas reserves; therefore, the stock and reasonable prices are secured for a long time. However, the states are perceiving the wind of change, not least because of the recent European shortage of natural gas, and its implicit consequences have not gone unnoticed overseas. Even the last person in the States has come to the conclusion that natural gas is a finite resource and that e-mobility has become a central aspect of future mobility scenarios.

Lead acid and lead gel batteries are iconic of the rapid development that e-mobility has taken in just a few years, especially in the logistics sector. Just as they have become standard in ice resurfacers, they are already a phase-out product for the industry. Lithium-based batteries are slowly but surely overtaking them. Why? We will explain that later.

WM technics don’t cope with phase-out products. When we develop new technologies, we only work with state-of-the-art; hence, in terms of battery-powered e-drive in ice resurfacing machines, only with lithium iron phosphate batteries. High cycle stability is only one of the advantages that all lithium technologies have in common: no combustion gases, no unpleasant odors, and no noise.