ZAF Energy Systems has been quietly developing a new battery system design at its laboratory near U.S. 2 between Columbia Falls and Kalispell.

Inside the building’s modest exterior, chemical engineers and machinists work in a secure facility on what could change the future development of battery power for everything from cellphones to trucks and airplanes.

“Nickel-zinc is the most recent project we’ve been working on and it’s ready for manufacturing today,” ZAF President David Wilkins said. “What we’ve invented here is the best nickel-zinc placement product in the world.”

The system is two battery designs in one package. The nickel-zinc battery, when paired with the zinc-air battery created by the ZAF Energy Systems team a few years ago, creates a combination that offers both power and longevity. The new system, Wilkins said, could retire the most widely used battery systems today, lithium and lead-acid, if ZAF is successful in introducing nickel-zinc and zinc-air batteries into the industrial market.

“If you look at a Boeing aircraft, right now they have a lithium and a lead-acid battery; that’s what the incumbent technologies are,” Wilkins said. “We believe the future is a zinc-air replacement for lithium, and lead-acid is the starter battery, which can be replaced by nickel-zinc.”

The zinc-air battery is disposable, lightweight and low-cost ­— a quarter of the cost of lithium. Nickel-zinc provides the power required to operate machinery and heavy equipment. Nickel-zinc has been available for several years but came with its own challenges in battery life.

Wilkins said ZAF is currently delivering the battery systems for demonstration to many of the largest battery companies in the world. Wilkins said ZAF’s strategy for getting the nickel-zinc and zinc-air battery system to the market is joint-venturing with these companies to reach a global deployment of the new product.

“That’s our first opportunity at going to market,” Wilkins said.

ZAF Energy Systems was born from Zinc Air, a company founded in 2009 that split in 2013.

Some company leaders went to ZAF while others formed ViZn Energy Storage to focus on large-scale energy storage.

Since the breakup, ZAF has picked up top-class consultants such as Allen Charkey, who has been granted 21 patents on battery systems in the United States, and Dennis Corrigan, who worked on battery solutions for General Motors for several years.

ZAF Chief Executive Officer Bill Burger spent 30 years in the marketing world in Silicon Valley. He has been instrumental in reaching manufacturers and companies who can bring ZAF’s product to market, as well as building the staff of chemists and chemical engineers with Ph.Ds. Burger said it hasn’t been much of a challenge convincing a qualified staff, totaling 15 employees today, to move to the Flathead Valley.

“This is a research organization. We’re doing fundamental new development in battery chemistries that are game-changing,” Burger said. “We’re not in the tech center of the world, but you’ve got great companies here.”

Wilkins said ZAF will soon deliver its first prototype battery to one of the largest cellphone providers in the world, although he wouldn’t say which company.

“The validation of both technologies will enable the next level of engineering,” Wilkins said. “They’re all looking for additional benefits.”

In the coming months, the ZAF staffers will see if their product gains traction and becomes the next shift in battery technology.

To find out more about ZAF Energy Systems, visit zafsys.com.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.