New Over the Air (OTA) updates with UgoWork batteries

Making battery work harder and smarter than ever before

In today’s high-pressure material handling operations in the food and beverage, third-party logistics, warehousing, manufacturing and pulp and paper industries, managers are looking for solutions that work for them, certainly not batteries that require special care and attention.

In collaboration with some of the most demanding industry players, UgoWork’s new Over The Air (OTA) has been developed to unlock unprecedented features in energy management applied for the specific challenges of the material handling industry. In our quest to revolutionize this industry, take a deep dive in this game-changing advancement and learn how UgoWork can work harder and smarter than before, for you.

This blog explores how OTA will change battery and energy management, and ultimately your bottom line.

What is OTA technology?

You may be wondering what OTA technology actually is. In general, OTA refers to the wireless transmission of data to remote devices, enabling updates, configurations, or programming changes to be sent and applied without needing physical access to the device.

Originally created in the mobile phone industry for updating device security or software fixes, OTA technology has expanded its applications to various fields, including automotive systems, smart appliances, and industrial equipment—like forklift batteries.

In a nutshell, OTA technology allows for the efficient, scalable, and secure management of device firmware across multiple units.

Why is UgoWork’s OTA such a game changer?

UgoWork’s distinctive OTA battery update feature has been developed to streamline the process of maintaining and enhancing battery firmware remotely without the need for physical interaction with each battery unit. This technology allows firmware updates to be sent directly to battery systems installed in material handling equipment across various locations.

A forklift battery can perform on its own. But what about teamwork? OTA unlocks a level of consciousness of the battery to its environment. Before OTA, UgoWork batteries were sending data driving actions, such as fleet reduction or throughput improvement. What OTA unlocks is a bi-directional communication channel that will allow you to instruct your batteries to do things that are valuable to your operations; stop charging to avoid grid peak surcharge, unlock more capacity on specific units because of a higher workload, and so on. And yes, benefit from the latest advancement in safety science.

UgoWork’s latest feature is a natural evolution of our one-of-a-kind strategy for managing lithium-ion forklift batteries.

UgoWork has already pioneered the material handling sector thanks to its Energy as a Service approach and charging infrastructure. When you acquire UgoWork lithium-ion batteries and opt for our pay-per-use pricing, you can notably reduce energy consumption, boost operational efficiency, and increase savings.

However, in addition to these advantages, our UgoPilot battery and energy management platform, along with our Customer Success and Technical Support teams, enables users to leverage data-driven intelligence to monitor their forklift batteries to guarantee their peak performance and minimize unnecessary downtimes.

Equipping our forklift battery ecosystem with OTA updating was the next logical step.

Benefits of UgoWork’s OTA battery updates

UgoWork’s OTA battery updates offer a direct path to improved battery management. Let’s explore the benefits.

• Continuous performance optimization: With each OTA update, UgoWork introduces optimizations that improve energy efficiency and incorporate our latest features into the battery’s firmware. This means that you can extend the useful life of your batteries. And it is all done remotely, in a completely hands-off way.

• Unlocking value: Battery configurations such as activation of the Universal Thermal Management System, increase of usable kWh capacity or charging power can be managed remotely and seamlessly, thanks to OTA. In the future, it opens the door to unlocking even more value added features such as peak shaving or intelligent charging capabilities. 

• Scalability: For companies managing large fleets of forklift batteries, particularly those spread across multiple locations, OTA offers an invaluable benefit: scalability. Updates can be distributed massively, or in phases, to any number of batteries, regardless of location. This capability is particularly beneficial for fleet managers tasked with maintaining uniform standards across all sites.

• Better maintenance resource allocation and minimized downtimes: Stop wasting time coordinating with service technicians to access your thousands of forklifts to hook a computer to the batteries and install the latest firmware version. OTA firmware updates are executed seamlessly while you sleep or when your forklifts are taking a break between work shifts, so that you can focus on other tasks that offer greater value and are more mission-critical.

UgoWork’s OTA battery update is a paradigm shift in how battery management is conducted. By providing an efficient, cost-effective, and reliable solution, OTA meets the current and future needs of the material handling sector. If you’re interested in learning more, get in touch with our experts.