Schneider Electric is expanding its use of Li-Ion technology for its single-phase Smart-UPS portfolio, with APC’s new line of Li-Ion Battery UPS.

Increasingly, business-critical applications and IoT systems are being moved closer to the edge of the network to reduce latency, enhance connectivity and improve performance. As a result, the criticality of these distributed IT environments has become paramount to everyday business operations.

While effective power management is essential, these sites often lack dedicated IT staff with the proper expertise to tackle the task at hand. This means regular maintenance of power protection equipment, such as an uninterruptible power supply (UPS), can be overlooked, potentially leading to unplanned downtime that can affect business performance and lead to costly replacement due to poorly maintained equipment.  

Li-Ion battery technology offers a host of benefits that make it an attractive and affordable option for a growing set of businesses reliant on distributed IT infrastructure. End users need better performance in a smaller footprint with easier maintenance, all while lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) over the life of their device. For this reason, Schneider Electric is expanding its APC Smart-UPS portfolio with a Li-Ion battery option for its single-phase offer.

Smart-UPS powered by Li-Ion

For years, Schneider Electric has featured Li-Ion across its portfolio of power protection solutions, including its three-phase UPSs and APC Back-UPS offer. Now, it is expanding its use of Li-Ion technology for its single-phase Smart-UPS portfolio with APC’s new line of Li-Ion Battery UPS.

With Li-Ion embedded technology, Smart-UPS On-Line offers several maintenance and cost saving benefits:

• Longer life span: Li-Ion batteries can have a service life upwards of 10 years
• Smaller size and weight: Due to higher energy densities, Li-Ion batteries have a much smaller footprint and weigh about 30% less than sealed lead acid batteries.
• Lower maintenance and total cost of ownership: With double the battery life, the amount of maintenance and associated costs required over the life of the UPS is reduced by up to 53%.
• Safety: APC’s proven record of safety and best-in-class design and adherence to safety regulations (UL 1973, UL1642/IEC62133) provides added peace of mind.
• Better performance at higher temperatures: Li-Ion batteries can operate at higher average temperatures (e.g. 40°C/104°F) without degradation to UPS performance of runtime.
• Extended runtime: Smart‑UPS On‑Line can be configured with multiple Li-Ion battery packs to meet aggressive runtime demands based on IT and business needs.
• Remote management capabilities: Available with a preinstalled Network Management Card (NMC) option, this solution can enhance visibility of edge environments with monitoring and control capabilities.

The solution can also connect to Schneider Electric’s cloud-enabled EcoStruxure IT platform, which allows customers to leverage data-driven insights about the health and status of their UPS devices to simplify maintenance and optimise performance.