GRX 3000 AP battery diagnostic station launched
While the traditional way of battery testing takes about three days, for Midtronics it just takes about three minutes. Since pioneering a new standard in battery testers with conductance technology, Midtronics has remained singularly focused on battery management innovation.
Its diagnostic and charging products for the CV market include battery pack testing, multiple battery routines for upto six batteries, special commercial battery algorithms, and application-specific test parameters for system and cable drop testing.
In the field of battery management, Midtronics holds a 97 per cent market share with all the OEMs worldwide. Unlike the time-consuming and conventional mode of testing, batteries are tested in any given condition and in a much quicker way using its testers, which are designed to be compatible with all advanced technology batteries, be it the flooded type, sealed lead-acid type or the maintenance-free absorb glass mat (AGM) battery.
Some of the new products the company has forayed into are hybrid battery testers, hybrid battery chargers, battery dischargers and discharge balancers. It offers these hybrid solutions to global automotive OEMs like GM, Toyota and Nissan for their hybrid cars.
At the recent Autoserve event in Chennai, Midtronics launched its latest offering – the all-new battery diagnostic station called GRX 3000 AP. In a casual chat, Mr. AurovindoJati, Country Manager, Asia Pacific Operations, Midtronics Inc., told MOTORINDIA that the newly launched product has been effectively developed to quickly charge the batteries without affecting their condition.
This value-added concept has been designed using conductance-controlled process, in which the condition of the battery is initially sensed to determine the difference between a recoverable battery and one that is not, thus helping eliminate the time wasted in charging defective batteries.
Midtronics entered the Indian market in 2007 providing its service operations from its Mumbai office. The company has emerged the sole supplier of testing equipment for Exide, the largest battery manufacturer in India.
Offering customized solutions to its customers, the company has more than 60 per cent market share with the Indian OEMs, with all the battery manufacturers being its primary customers. Says Mr. Jati: “The main challenge in India is to cope with the price sensitivity of the market. In India, battery manufacturers use low-specific gravity technology to meet the climatic conditions. In Midtronics, we have designed the battery testers with special algorithm to suit this need, and the results are found to be good with about 99% accuracy.”
Apart from the back-up provision, the company also provides online servicing to customers while its field engineers make regular visits to customer sites to service batteries.
“We have a good set of distributors to manage our support activities. Our primary distributor is Apple Energy which is based out of Mumbai and markets all over India. SPX India is another distributor partner for us. Apart from these two, we have several small-time distributors under Apple Energy to help us in marketing our products”, he adds.
In the CV segment, Midtronics is closely working with majors like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Volvo Buses and Mercedes Buses and Trucks to offer them customized solutions as per their requirements. All of its battery management solutions are designed and developed after elaborate R&D work for which huge investments have gone in. The products are manufactured out of its facilities in the US and Netherlands with its mother plant in US having a production capacity of about 150,000 battery testers annually.
At the global level, Midtronics has partnerships with several leading battery OEMs like GS-US, Hitachi, Panasonic, Furukawa, Exide and Johnson Control. In 2012, the company targets revenue of about US$1.2 million in the Indian market against the US$1 million clocked in 2011. With its dedicated drive and unique know-how, the company is all set to innovate for the future and maintain its leadership position in battery testing.