Honeywell has acquired from Nexceris its Li-ion Tamer business, a leading off-gas detection solution for lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries that detects thermal runaway events.
The acquisition enhances Honeywell's portfolio of best-in-class fire life safety technologies within its Building Automation segment and emerged from a partnership with Nexceris over the past five years to strategically address lithium-ion battery system safety.
The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Honeywell's financials.
Demand for li-ion batteries is expected to grow by over 30 per cent annually through 2030 to greater than $US400 billion.
Battery safety solutions are increasingly critical for sectors ranging from renewable energy to cloud computing.
Safe monitoring and early detection enable essential steps to avoid or reduce the effects of thermal runaway – without these solutions, an entire system can be lost once a fire begins in an energy storage system.
By using early warning technology to detect battery off-gassing, which typically precedes thermal runaway, Li-ion Tamer provides facilities with vital time to intervene before a battery fire starts.
With its detection technology that provides a warning up to 30 minutes in advance, Li-ion Tamer is trusted by leading battery OEMs worldwide.
President and CEO of Honeywell's Building Automation segment, Billal Hammoud, said that as lithium-ion battery use grows rapidly across data centres, EV infrastructure, and grid-scale energy storage, the risk of fire is increasing in parallel.
“Li-ion Tamer's early warning technology has been revolutionary for our customers and partners over the last five years,” he said.
“Building on our legacy partnership, the acquisition of this product suite will position Honeywell as a leader in early gas detection and battery fire prevention.
“We expect this tuck-in acquisition to further bolster growth of our fire detection business.”
The Li-ion Tamer product portfolio, which includes more than 30 global patents, will be integrated into Honeywell's Building Automation business, enabling Honeywell to offer a comprehensive suite of fire detection products that complement its existing advanced smoke detection technology and life safety solutions.
Currently, this includes VESDA – a leading solution that detects the earlier signs of a potential fire – and Connected Life Safety Services, hosted on the Honeywell Forge IoT Platform that uses data to deliver the connectivity and intelligence needed for secure, compliant and more efficient fire system management.
Since December 2023, Honeywell has announced a number of strategic actions to drive organic growth and simplify its portfolio, including $US13.5 billion of accretive acquisitions, including the Access Solutions business from Carrier Global.