Energy Storage Challenges in Extreme Cold Environments

In high-latitude regions such as North America and Northern Europe, winter temperatures often drop below -20°C and can reach as low as -40°C. Many devices have traditionally relied on battery-powered systems, but they now face significant new challenges: conventional batteries suffer severe capacity degradation in low-temperature environments, making it difficult to sustain continuous device operation.

With the large-scale global deployment of IoT and smart metering devices, energy storage components are undergoing a critical transition from “standard room-temperature applications” to “all-climate adaptability.” In addition, the European Union’s new Battery Regulation (EU 2023/1542) imposes stringent requirements on carbon footprint reporting, recycled material content, and due diligence obligations. For battery manufacturers, this results in complex and costly certification processes, with these expenses ultimately passed on to customers. Furthermore, batteries are classified as hazardous goods, leading to higher costs and more complicated procedures for export transportation and warehousing. Continuous regulatory updates also introduce long-term compliance uncertainty and potential future risks of non-compliance.

YMIN‘s Solution: SLR Series Hybrid Supercapacitors

Shanghai Yongming Electronic Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as YMIN) directly addresses these challenges by leveraging material system innovation and structural optimization design. The company has introduced the SLR Series hybrid supercapacitors with wide-temperature adaptability. Even under extreme cold conditions of -40°C, the series maintains stable operation, providing all-weather and highly reliable power support for outdoor applications such as IoT terminals, smart meters, automotive electronics, container tracking devices, and telecom tower monitoring systems.

1）Ultra-Wide Operating Temperature Range for Extreme Cold Applications

The product supports an ultra-wide operating temperature range of -40°C to +85°C, with a low-end limit down to -40°C, enabling reliable operation in extremely cold winter environments in high-latitude regions. This temperature range design allows outdoor deployments in cold climates to achieve cold start and continuous operation without additional heating systems, fundamentally addressing the industry challenge where batteries fail due to electrolyte freezing and loss of functionality at low temperatures.

2）Reliable Capacitance and ESR Performance in Low-Temperature Conditions

At -40°C extreme cold conditions, conventional energy storage devices typically experience significant capacitance degradation and a sharp increase in equivalent series resistance (ESR). Through optimized electrolyte formulation and electrode structure design, YMIN products maintain stable and recoverable capacitance performance under low temperatures. At room temperature, capacitance deviation is controlled within -10% to +30% (measured at 25°C). At -40°C, capacitance degradation is kept below 30%, ensuring sufficient energy storage capability for reliable device startup in extreme cold conditions.

ESR controllability: Under rigorous high- and low-temperature performance testing, the ESR variation is required to remain within four times the initial value. This parameter indirectly validates structural stability of the material system after thermal cycling, ensuring that ESR does not increase uncontrollably in low-temperature environments.

3）Avoidance of Regulatory Barriers for Batteries

Supercapacitors are classified as capacitors under EU regulations rather than batteries. Therefore, they are not subject to the EU Battery Regulation requirements, including carbon footprint declarations and due diligence processes. This significantly simplifies export certification procedures and reduces both time and compliance costs.

4）Ultra-Long Lifetime Eliminates Replacement Challenges

Based on physical energy storage mechanisms, the product achieves an ultra-long cycle life of over 250,000 charge-discharge cycles, far exceeding that of batteries. It supports a design lifespan of up to 10 years, effectively addressing lifecycle cost challenges for end-use devices.

Low-Temperature Endurance Challenges in Container Tracking Devices

1) Challenge
In high-cold shipping routes at -40°C or in cold-region land transportation, conventional batteries used in container tracking devices experience more than 50% capacity degradation. This leads to tracking interruptions, data loss, and high maintenance costs due to frequent battery replacement.

2) YMIN’s Solution
YMIN’s 3.8V SLR Series hybrid supercapacitors are adopted to address these issues. The products ensure stable operation at -40°C with a capacitance retention rate of ≥70%, a cycle life exceeding 100,000 cycles, and low self-discharge characteristics. In addition, they offer inherent safety with no risk of explosion or fire.

3) Result
Enables uninterrupted tracking throughout the year in extreme cold environments, while reducing operational and maintenance costs by more than 60%.

Low-Temperature Challenges in Tower Monitoring

1) Challenge
Tower monitoring equipment is exposed to extreme cold down to -40°C for long periods. Conventional batteries suffer capacity degradation of over 50%, leading to frequent power outages, data loss, and a vicious cycle in operation and maintenance.

2) YMIN’s Solution
Adopt YMIN’s SLR Series single-cell hybrid supercapacitors:

• Wide operating temperature range from -20°C to +85°C.
• 10× higher capacitance than conventional supercapacitors of the same size.
• Supports 20C charging, 30C discharging, and 50C peak pulse discharge.

1. Result
   Enables 24/7 uninterrupted operation, reduces manual inspection frequency by 80%, and completely eliminates low-temperature power outage concerns.

Authoritative Certifications and Global Support

YMIN’s SLR Series hybrid supercapacitors are специально engineered for extreme low-temperature environments. The products have obtained multiple authoritative certifications, including third-party AEC-Q200, certification from the State Grid Metrology Center of China, third-party UN38.3 safety certification (air transport compliant), and UL810A certification. All materials used comply with stringent environmental standards such as RoHS and REACH, ensuring eco-friendly, safe, and reliable performance from the source.

For detailed datasheets, low-temperature test data, or sample requests, please feel free to contact us. We provide customized solutions for a wide range of extreme low-temperature application scenarios.
Welcome to visit YMIN’s official website ( https://www.ymin.cn/ ) or reach us via email at ymin-sale@ymin.com .