The ‘U’ in the UPS

Battery, a consumable, has a definite life-cycle that can be enhanced by right selection of the product and its proper usage.

With the rapid advancements in product development and reliability, brought about by the Rs.250 crore Indian battery industry (for UPS products), the perception about battery has been changing fast. The industrial users, especially, are realising that battery is a critical link to ensuring the backup power.

However, more awareness should be created. Even today, the expenses incurred on account of using substandard batteries are not being correctly known. CIOs have been traditionally involved only in the right selection of the "visible" and the so called "backbone" of the IT infrastructure.

The battery, as the users appreciate, is the "U' in the UPS. The cost of overlooking the importance of battery, as the enterprises are realising, is heavy. If there is no effort going in the selection of right solutions for back-up power storage, it can lead to a situation where the complete operation comes to a standstill for as simple a reason as the unavailability of power!

The lack of having the right back-up power storage (battery) solution would mean that the enterprise will have to live just on hope of ‘everything being fine’ (a highly unreliable way to operate) and bear high cost of ownership.

Today, the sealed maintenance free (SMF) battery is the most popular technology used in a host of applications from small "box" UPS to large systems deployed in huge industrial environments.

The SMF battery is broadly divided into three categories:

• Small SMF catering to micro and mini UPS range (4AH to 17AH batteries used with 0.5 to 2 KVA UPS for a back-up of 5-20 minutes)
• Medium SMF catering to mini and mid range (26AH to 200AH batteries used with 1KVA to 80KVA UPS for a backup of 30 minutes to 6 hrs) and
• Large SMF catering to systems above 100 KVA

Banking, insurance and finance companies continue to be the largest segment for battery usage, followed by IT/ITeS and telecom. Other important segments are Small Office Home Office and manufacturing sectors. The market is growing at the rate of a compound annual growth rate of 18% for the last three years and is expected to grow between 18 and 22% over the next five years. In India, the organised market is dominated by two large domestic manufacturers (Amara Raja and Exide) but there are a host of brands - mostly their products are imported - available in the unorganised segment.

Lack of awareness among the consumers about the importance of quality of batteries is one of the main reasons why most manufacturers and marketers do not bother about setting international standards for products, introducing superior technologies or offering quality service.

Battery is a consumable and has a definite service life, which can be maximized by the users, provided they have knowledge in choosing the right category, selecting the right features, ensuring proper installation and ideal usage.

It is a common case in India, even now, where within the lifecycle of a UPS system the users end up paying twice the cost of the UPS for the batteries alone. The removal of anti-dumping duty has meant that a lot of unknown brands from China and the Far East have entered the market and with no mechanism on ensuring product and service standards, the users may be taken for ride for their ignorance of the product category. Companies like Amara Raja Batteries have been trying to promote "knowledgeable" use of the battery by introducing programmes like online battery monitoring to check the health of an installed battery, providing tips on increasing the battery life, organizing user symposiums to select the right battery and technology. As the users become more conscious of the product and its usage, it is certain that the battery market will witness product/technology standardization and dramatic improvement in service standards.