ZAF Energy Systems Inc. (ZAF), a developer of next-generation battery technology, has announced a technology breakthrough in their nickel-zinc (NiZn) battery technology that extends cycle life and improves reliability to disrupt the rapidly growing industrial battery market. This announcement comes on the heels of Dr. Kurt Salloux joining ZAF's executive team as its new Chief Technology Officer.

Randy Moore, ZAF's president and CEO, said, "Kurt's industry knowledge and technical expertise has changed the trajectory of our development team. He has led the team on an innovative electrode design, which resulted in the potential to double our projected cycle life. The magnitude of this improvement is that it will allow nickel-zinc to compete with lithium-ion without the safety hazards in many applications."

Kurt Salloux holds a Ph.D. in materials science/electrochemistry with over 30 years of experience in science, engineering, research, development and construction of advanced power and energy storage systems. Dr. Salloux was a research manager for Hughes Space and Communications working on the lithium-ion battery program for Hughes and later Boeing's next-generation satellite systems. Kurt was most recently involved in building advanced power and monitoring control systems for global telecommunication carriers.

"I initially joined ZAF as a technical advisor to conduct due diligence on the NiZn technology for projects I was working on," Kurt Salloux said. "After working with the technology development team, I saw an opportunity to introduce this innovative electrode process to drive improved cycle life. We rapidly validated the performance and I saw an opportunity to impact the telecommunication, data center and utility markets with NiZn batteries. This led to the discussions with the leadership team to join ZAF as the Chief Technology Officer. We are now in the process of moving this innovative technology out of the lab and into our Joplin production facility and expect to be delivering batteries in Q3 to key customer projects."

Randy Moore stated, "We continue to build a world-class team and we are pleased that Kurt has brought his years of experience and industry connections to the company. His background in telecommunications, data centers, utility and microgrid/distributed power provides us a unique opportunity to more effectively tailor our engineering and development efforts into these key markets."

ZAF's NiZn batteries have direct uses in a wide range of applications including: heavy trucking, remote telecommunication, data centers and renewable energy. NiZn batteries are uniquely positioned to disrupt the $50 billion + conventional lead-acid battery market and the rapidly growing $30 billion lithium market.

ZAF Energy Systems | www.zafsys.com