By Nick Morrison

Tuesday, 2nd April saw a presentation by AGM Batteries given  over at the ICIT campus . The talk was hosted by OREF (Orkney Renewable Energy Forum).

Colin Arnold of AGM Batteries Ltd

AGM company is 20 years old they have a few locations in the British Isles one of which is at Thurso where they employ 250 people in high tech jobs which makes it a very important local employer .

They  “are a company that manufactures advanced Lithium battery cells, develops and supplies AGM branded rechargeable Li-ion and non-rechargeable Lithium cells.”

AGM as a company are not interested in the volume lithium battery market that is sewn up by the Chinese companies . Instead they have concentrated on flexibility .

An instance was quoted where the Chinese company gave notice to a European company that they were discontinuing a particular line of battery . This is where AGM can step in .

Lithium ion batteries were invented in the British Isles but sold for peanuts to a Japanese company . AGM is working at the cutting edge of new technology and is determined that will not happen again .

The current problem with disposal of lithium ion batteries is likely to be solved by smart cells . These smart cells can record what has happened to the battery during its lifetime .

At one point they were asked by Land Rover to make an all electric Land Rover . They made a few which Land Rover took to all  the shows .

We can look forward to more cooperation between ICIT campus and AGM .

Lithium ion battery assemblers do not grow on trees , AGM have found that they need to train people from the bottom up . One of their locations in the south concentrates on talking to colleges and the like . We were shown a photograph of a young one from Thurso who was previously a hairdresser is now one of the best lithium ion battery makers in the business .