Exide Technologies optimizes energy storage with conNXT

From battery manufacturer to innovative energy solutions provider

Exide Technologies started out as a manufacturer of lead-acid batteries in 1888. Since then, the company has grown into an international supplier of battery and energy storage systems for automotive and industrial applications. From the first American base in Antarctica to NASA’s first lunar lander, all relied on Exide batteries. In 2021, Exide Technologies acquired the Dutch energy storage company ATEPS, which became its Customized Energy Systems division, developing lithium-ion battery systems for energy storage. “We first turned to ICT Group back in 2018, when we were still ATEPS,” recalls Dirk Kok, R&D Manager at Customized Energy Systems. “We brought them in to help develop new controller software for batteries. That initial collaboration was a positive experience right from the start.”

In 2024, Exide was looking for a new solution to monitor and manage its battery systems remotely. “That brought us back to ICT Group,” Kok explains. “The conNXT IoT cloud platform from ICT Applied Solutions offered the right solution at a competitive price, with the flexibility we needed.” Exide began migrating to conNXT in 2025.

A flexible platform and productive collaboration

The flexibility of conNXT was a key consideration for Exide. The company installs a wide variety of battery systems, all of which generate large amounts of data, including cell voltages and temperatures, current, State of Charge (SoC) and more. Larger systems can involve hundreds or even thousands of parameters. “With conNXT, we can now monitor and manage all these systems more easily and update their firmware over the air.” conNXT gives Exide access to more data about its battery systems than many other commonly used approaches, providing greater visibility. According to Kok, the platform also helps identify patterns and analyse problems: “If something goes wrong, we can easily look back over the previous week or month.”

According to Kok, the migration to conNXT went very smoothly. “What stands out most is that all our agreements with ICT Group were reached in a pleasant, collaborative atmosphere,” says the R&D Manager. “Projects like these always come with challenges, but there was always an open dialogue.” Kok also praises ICT Group’s solution-oriented approach: “We never heard ‘That’s not possible’, only ‘Let’s see how we can solve that’. It was a very constructive and positive working relationship.”

“Previously, customers had to call us to switch off a battery system when they needed to carry out electrical work at their factory. Now they can use the E/ Mega CTRL app (available on Apple App Store and Google Play) to de-energise the system themselves and switch it back on once the work is complete.”

In the next phase, Exide plans to expand the app with additional functionalities for installers. For relatively simple systems, installers could then activate the system through the app after installing the battery system and connecting the electrical interfaces.

A future-proof platform

With conNXT, Exide now has a flexible platform that enables further optimisation of its battery systems. One improvement currently being developed involves reducing the amount of data transmitted. “Our battery systems use SIM cards to connect to a mobile network and transmit their data. Thanks to conNXT, we now have full control over which data we send, allowing us to reduce data usage and save on mobile subscription costs.”

Exide is also exploring the possibilities of predictive maintenance. The data conNXT collects from all installed battery systems can be used to train an AI model. “This will allow us to predict how our battery systems behave and determine the best maintenance measures to take in response,” Kok explains.

Exide is establishing partnerships with universities to gain deeper insights into its battery systems. The company has several research projects underway, including projects focused on cell monitoring and balancing, and has recently started developing its own Battery Management System (BMS). “The information we obtain from conNXT is extremely valuable in defining the requirements for our BMS,” Kok notes.

conNXT, and therefore ICT Group, plays an important role in all of Exide’s future plans. Kok concludes: “We expect our successful collaboration with ICT Group to continue for years to come.”