Six local lithium battery manufacturers have formalised the creation of the South African Battery Manufacturers Association SABMA an industry body established in October to coordinate safety, quality and localisation standards across the energy storage sector. The founding Board includes Solar MD, Freedom Won, Creslow Energy Solutions, Maxwell Spark, BlueNova and BalanCell.
South Africa and Freedom Won have been building LiFePO4 BESS since 2010 and are among the oldest manufacturers globally, Louis Serfontein , Head of Business Development at Freedom Won, told Energize . He said SABMA gives structure to work the company has pursued for more than a decade. Freedom Won and Solar MD have systems operating beyond the standard 10-year warranty period, added Serfontein. He also stressed the importance of localisation in donor-funded and development programmes, arguing that current funding flows do not support local skills or capacity development, which is essential for a just energy transition.
Maxwell Spark CEO Clinton Bemont highlighted the need for strong safety requirements aligned with international norms. National standards should enforce multi-layer protection against exceeding all key operating parameters, he said, noting that the companys products meet UL, CE, IP and UN transport standards. The life cycle testing and telematics data from deployed systems show near-zero degradation over four years of operation, Bemont added.
