Battery technology breakthroughs from the Ukraine

Automotive Industries, Spring, 2008 by Alan Tran

The Ukraine is the ninth-largest automotive market in Europe with nearly 400,000 new cars sold in 2006. This is good news for Ukrainian automotive companies as well as auto parts manufacturers such as battery maker, National Accumulator Corporation (NAC) ISTA. The company started business in 1995, making lead-acid accumulator batteries for automobiles, industrial applications and communications and UPS systems. Since then, the company started a second factory in 2001, and set up a third plant to make polypropylene boxes for batteries in 2006. NAC ISTA has the capacity to make five million accumulator batteries every year. NAC ISTA's product range, amongst others, includes starter batteries for use in cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, agricultural and special vehicles and trains.

Automotive industries (AI) interviewed NAC ISTA Managing Director Kirill Bilyk.

AI: What are some of the innovations NAC ISTA has made in accumulator batteries?

Bilyk: We have used computer modeling to develop a potential field of a surface of an electrode. Together with the area of a surface of plates, this potential surface of an electric field defines the potential volume of a lattice and describes the full electric, geometric characteristics of plates. On the basis of the given development, the sizes and weight characteristics of electrode plates for the achievement of maximum energy-conversion efficiency are optimized. Then, special alloys are developed for the manufacture of electrode plates.

AI: What challenges does NAC ISTA face in terms of keeping up quality standards?

Bilyk: The biggest challenge is maintaining a stable quality of production. On our assembly lines we use special equipment so that 100% quality assurance in welding is established. We have developed a system of internal audit for our basic suppliers.

AI: How much of your business comes from the auto sector?

Bilyk: The Ukrainian market is made of factories and the car assembly enterprises such as AvtoZAZ (Zaporozhye), Bogdan (Lutsk, Cherkassy), Joint-Stock Company Europenalties (Zakarpatye region), the Kremenchug car assembly factory, the Factory of public transport (Lvov) and others. Automotive manufacturing in the country is up from 19 000 pieces in 1998 to 403 000 pieces in 2007. NAC ISTA has a strong presence in the market with 40% of vehicles exported from here equipped with our accumulators.

ZAZ and Bogdan are the biggest customers of our accumulators. We have a long-term contract with the Renault Group and with the Open Society Avtoframos (Russia). Plus we enjoy a long-term relationship with both Minsk tractor and automobile factories as well as Gorki and Ulyanovsk AZ.

AI: What are some of the emerging markets NAC ISTA is looking at doing business in?

Bityk: NAC ISTA is an export-oriented company with about two-thirds of our sales coming from foreign markets. The biggest export market for us is Russia which is the biggest and fastest-growing market in the region. Owing to our wide assortment of high quality accumulators, we enjoy 4% of the secondary market. We have long-term, mutually advantageous relationships with clients in Belarus and Kazakhstan, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Work with European partners is under way through our trade mission in Berlin (Germany).

AI: Tell us about how the growth in the Ukrainian auto market is impacting your company.

Bilyk: Both the domestic as well as export markets are growing--for both automobile manufacturers as well as for auto parts makers. We also have an increasing number of new and second-hand foreign cars in our country which means better business for our accumulators.