Breathe levels up VARTA’s Easy Blade battery series
(E-Mobility Engineering) Battery manufacturer VARTA has partnered with Breathe Battery Technologies to improve the charging performance of its lithium-ion battery systems. By integrating Breathe’s adaptive charging software into VARTA’s Easy Blade 48 V battery, the collaboration demonstrates how advanced software can significantly improve battery performance without changing the underlying hardware.
The Easy Blade battery is designed primarily for use in small and medium-sized electric vehicles and industrial machines, including automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and forklifts. These applications rely heavily on fast charging and efficient energy use to maximise operational uptime, making improvements in charging speed and battery efficiency particularly valuable.
At the centre of the collaboration is Breathe Charge, Breathe Battery Technologies’ charging optimisation software. The software uses advanced algorithms to control the charging process dynamically, allowing the battery to charge more efficiently while maintaining safety and long-term performance. Instead of relying on fixed charging rules, the system adapts the charging behaviour to the condition of the battery in real time. This allows it to push the battery to charge faster without compromising its lifetime or reliability.
When applied to the Easy Blade 48 V battery system, the results show significant improvements in charging performance. The time required to charge the battery to 80% state of charge (SOC) has been reduced by 27%, saving around 23 minutes compared with the previous charging profile. The software also delivers faster charging at other points in the charging cycle. Charging to 50% SOC is 43% faster, while charging to 100% SOC is reduced by 16%. These improvements demonstrate how software-based optimisation can meaningfully accelerate charging times across the entire charging curve.
In addition to faster charging, the integration of Breathe Charge also increases the amount of energy that can be stored within the battery cells. The updated system enables the Easy Blade battery to store around 3% more energy, effectively improving the usable capacity of the battery without requiring any changes to its physical design. Importantly, these performance gains do not negatively affect battery lifetime, meaning that operators can benefit from faster charging and higher energy availability while maintaining the same durability.
Another advantage of the solution is its scalability. The software can be applied across all versions of the Easy Blade battery series, enabling VARTA to roll out the improved charging capability across multiple products without redesigning its battery hardware. This demonstrates the potential for software-driven battery improvements to accelerate innovation in electric mobility systems while keeping manufacturing complexity and costs under control.
Following the successful implementation of Breathe Charge in the Easy Blade platform, the two companies plan to expand their partnership further. They intend to explore additional opportunities to deploy the technology more widely, bringing faster charging and improved energy utilisation to a broader range of battery systems and applications.
Overall, the collaboration highlights the growing role of intelligent battery software in the electrification industry. By optimising charging through algorithms rather than hardware changes, companies like Breathe and VARTA are demonstrating how software innovation can deliver faster charging, improved efficiency and better battery performance for electric vehicles and industrial electrification.