Powering tomorrow's missions:
Inside Denchi Group's UK battery innovation

With batteries playing an ever-critical role in mission success, Soldier Modernisation sat down with Jason Holt, Sales Director, and Andrew Jordan, Business Development Manager at Denchi Group, to explore how the UK-based manufacturer is designing, testing and supplying ruggedised power solutions for today's complex defence challenges.

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Q: You've been involved in defence for decades, tell us about Denchi's heritage and where you are today.

A: We're a UK-owned battery specialist, designing and manufacturing batteries and charging systems for defence and security, all from within the UK. Our origins date back to the late 1950s, when we were established as the UK Atomic Energy Authority, with strong links to the UK Ministry of Defence and defence primes.

We've supported defence at home and abroad for over 20 years with operational experience spanning multiple domains, including dismounted soldier applications, unmanned vehicles for land, sea, and air, and high-power lithium-ion batteries for use in combat vehicles.

What sets us apart is our in-house design and engineering teams. We cover the whole stack, from systems, electrical, electronics, mechanical, through to software and testing. This means we can build reliable, mission-ready solutions fast, with a focus on safety-critical applications and advanced battery management systems (BMS).

Q: How has your battery development evolved with the changing needs of defence teams?

A: One of our first major deployments was for the Bowman radio programme, which provided secure, integrated voice and data for dismounted soldiers, vehicles, and command, that many still use today. We designed, manufactured and supplied over a million battery and charge units to support the platform. And we continue to support it today through ongoing support, including obsolescence management, design refresh, and onward supply.

That programme proved our capability, reliability and scale and gave us the springboard to continue evolving. Defence requirements today demand longer-lasting batteries that operate safely in extreme environments and integrate seamlessly with complex systems. We're now working on everything from tech for the dismounted soldier to unmanned aerial, ground and underwater platforms.

For example, we were asked by a prime to re-evaluate a legacy battery that no longer met specifications. It was like being handed a box of knotted shoelaces; it took time to unpick the issues. In the end, we delivered a high-spec solution that could handle high gravitational forces and shock, deliver huge current and power, meet all compliance requirements, and still be safe and usable in the field.

Q: Batteries are the centre of many mission-critical applications. How do you ensure reliability and safety every time?

A: We test to the extremes so that our batteries work on time, every time. Our engineering team has robust qualification and testing procedures in place. We test cells from all our major suppliers without bias, examining power capacity, longevity, shelf life, and more.

This provides us with a performance profile for all available cells. So, when a customer comes to us with a new requirement, we can quickly match requirements with pre-qualified cell types, saving time, money and risk.

From there, we build a prototype and put it through rigorous testing, including baking, freezing, dropping, throwing, setting fire to, or exploding it. It's all about ensuring what we've created is fit for purpose. And this is essential for the defence teams whose application is mission-critical. Our defence clients know the battery will work, without fail, whatever the environment, when it matters most.

Q: What does being UK-based mean for your customers?

A: For customers, it means we can take a lithium-ion battery from the drawing board to the back of a lorry, all within the UK. This provides UK customers with full visibility, improved logistics, faster timelines, and compliance with safety and security standards at every stage.

There's also growing interest across European NATO forces in working with European-based manufacturers. Many of our competitors are based in the US or Israel, but we're ideally positioned to support UK and European programmes. And we can also help US platform developers meet their requirements for UK content when exporting into NATO.

Add to that our long-standing reliability, defence heritage and deep engineering capability, and we're a natural fit for customers all around the world looking for confidence, reliability, trust and expertise.

Q: Let's get into some of your key products. What's the BB-2590, and how is it being used by defence teams today?

A: The BB-2590 powers a range of applications, from crank and bomb disposal robots to radio systems and remote monitoring surveillance equipment, as well as ground-based command and control. It's often used in reconnaissance applications, such as acoustic weapons detection and 3D situational awareness tools that track troop and vehicle movements.

On the face of it, it is a generic battery product because of the internationally recognised standard size required for many of these applications. What sets them apart is what goes inside. The Denchi BB-2590 offers better, smarter power in a standard format.

It offers the highest power capacity and energy density in its class, more Watt-hours than any other battery on the market, all designed and manufactured in the UK. It's dual-voltage (12V/24V), semi-intelligent, and provides system feedback on charge level, remaining run-time, and condition. It's compact and rugged enough for dismounted soldiers and is currently in active use by the MoD and allied forces across Europe, with growing interest from NATO.

Q: Why is the M1 family of lithium primary batteries best suited for endurance?

A: Our M1 family of lithium primary batteries are single-use, designed for high mission-critical power and energy density, reliability across broad operating temperatures, and is eminently portable despite being ruggedised in a fully weatherproof enclosure.

Today, they're operationally deployed by Special Forces and non-standard or smaller groups. Lithium primary batteries are very well suited for these teams who operate in remote or difficult locations, and have a requirement to either carry power sources or deploy them for later use.

Our lithium primary batteries can operate at both very low and very high temperatures, where lithium-ion batteries would start to struggle, making them ideal for operations in desert heat or sub-zero climates. This also allows for a much greater scope of extracting energy from the battery when necessary.

The M1 family has a massive shelf life. That means they're ideal to be buried with other equipment and activated weeks or even months later. The M1 can sit dormant, then spring to life at full power exactly when it's needed.

Q: What are the main advantages of the lithium-ion 6T battery?

A: The 6T is a standard battery footprint used in military vehicles such as jeeps and trucks. Historically, these were heavy acid batteries prone to short lifespans and overdischarge, especially under shock and vibration.

As a lithium-ion specialist, we replaced that with new technology. The advantages are a 40% weight reduction, 30-50% more power, and significantly improved durability. A single lithium-ion 6T battery replaces two acid batteries and offers real-time charge and health monitoring. The case for a lithium-ion solution is unarguable.

It's ideal for silent watch missions, for example. Crews can monitor communications for hours without engine noise or heat signature. Even when the charge appears “virtually zero”, the battery holds enough reserve to start a cold engine.

There are also long-term cost savings, logistical benefits, and waste reduction. The lifecycle (or the charge to discharge cycle) of an acid battery is around 300-350 cycles, which is about six months to one year, before it has to be replaced. Often it's sooner since there's no way of telling when the battery will run out, and defence teams can't be caught short so that they may replace early. With a lithium-ion battery, the life cycle is 10 times that. That's gone from at best one year to 10 before it needs replacing, meaning the downtime for maintenance is phenomenal.

During the Gulf War, a mountain of old acid batteries was dropped, illustrating the vast amount used. When you think of the logistics of getting those batteries delivered in, that's lorries turning up every week with more batteries. Cutting that down by 10 times means logistics can focus on bringing in more important kit and other supplies.

Q: What's next for Denchi, and where is battery development heading in the coming years?

A: There are two strands. One is continuing to deliver proven, robust, reliable, safe, high-performance battery products commoditised in form factor, but far from generic in performance.

The other is innovation. Our customers need power. We've got it. We will continue to innovate to build the right solution for their specific needs. This includes the development of custom batteries for new platforms and emerging technologies. We've worked with special teams in unique ways and environments to develop bespoke solutions where size, power and endurance needs are radically different.

That's increasingly aligned with growth areas like unmanned vehicles and autonomous systems. And because of our in-house capabilities, we can take a project from concept through development to a qualified product, collaborating closely with the customer to balance power, space, and delivery demands.

Collaboration and confidence are critical when working with our primes. We work closely to understand the requirements, application and environments, and the primes are in turn confident in our deep heritage, expertise and knowledge to provide the best advice and solutions from a power and energy perspective. Whether they know the energy required and need help fitting it in, or are aware of their space constraints and need us to maximise output, we can consult, design, and build the optimal battery for their mission.

For more information please visit:
https://denchigroup.com