Echion has won the Battery Pack Innovation of the Year award at the 2026 Battery Show Awards held in Detroit, Michigan on 13 October. The award was presented in recognition of its innovative XNO® battery pack developed in collaboration with Switch Technologies and Elemental Energy.
The award winning 28.5kWh battery pack has been configured into a 3-pack, 1 MW charge/discharge capable system that is designed to service heavy-duty applications in the most demanding environments. It delivers continuous charge and discharging at 10C without excess heat generation, over 300kW peak power and a projected cycle life of above 50,000 cycles.
The performance of the pack, which exploits the symmetric charge/discharge high power capabilities of Echion’s XNO® chemistry, has been proven in a real-world application trial. The system forms part of a hybrid retrofit of a CAT 785 water truck, facilitated by Switch Technologies’ subsidiary, HD Hybrids and operated by PLS in Western Australia. Even under extreme use cases, the award-winning battery pack enables rapid energy recover during braking, and hill climbs at approximately twice the speed of its diesel counterparts. Importantly, the system can fit well within the same volume as a conventional long-range fuel tank, enabling retrofitting without the need for significant structural changes to vehicles.
Jean de La Verpilliere, CEO of Echion, said: “Packs that charge at 10C continuously without excess heat generation, deliver unrivalled performance, and occupy the same space as incumbent fuel systems, totally change what heavy-duty equipment can achieve. Seeing XNO® play a role in delivering this on an active mine site is hugely gratifying, and we’re excited to scale pack production with our partners so more operators can follow.
“Thank you to the team at the Battery Show Awards for their recognition of our project, and to all colleagues at Echion, Switch Technologies, Elemental Energy and PLS for their commitment and belief in the power of XNO®.”