Automatic Guided Vehicle Battery

How to Choose the Right Battery for Your AGV or AMR

 

The right AGV battery comes down to four things: voltage, capacity, communication protocol, and physical fit. Here's how to match a pack to your vehicle.

 

1. Voltage — matched to your AGV's motor and controller. Light-duty carts, tuggers and pallet-moving AGVs typically run on 12V or 24V. Higher-payload, faster, or forklift-type AGVs usually need 48V. Polinovel builds standard 12V / 24V / 48V packs, and custom platforms from 24V up to 144V on request.
2. Capacity (Ah) — matched to your runtime and shift pattern. Single-shift operations can run lower capacity with overnight charging; multi-shift or 24/7 fleets benefit from higher capacity plus opportunity charging. Our range spans 20Ah to 500Ah.
3. Current, not just capacity — matched to your duty cycle. Two packs with the same Ah can behave very differently under load. We build to a specified discharge rate from 0.5C to 5C, so tell us your peak draw during acceleration, lifting or hydraulic actuation — not only your average runtime.
4. Communication protocol — matched to your control system. If your AGV reports battery data to a controller or fleet-management platform, you'll need CAN Bus or Modbus/RS485. All Polinovel AGV packs support these, and Bluetooth or GPRS monitoring can be added.
5. Physical fit & environment — dimensions, mounting, connector, IP rating. The pack has to fit the existing battery bay and connector, and survive its environment. We offer IP54, IP65 and IP67 enclosures in SPCC or stainless steel, with M8, Anderson, REMA or aviation connectors, and custom form factors that typically recover 15–40% of the compartment space a lead-acid tray wastes.

 

Quick reference:

 

AGV type	Typical voltage	Suggested capacity	Communication	What usually drives the spec
Pallet-moving carts / tuggers	24V	20–50Ah	CAN / RS485	Compartment size and connector
Mid-payload warehouse AGVs	24V–48V	50–100Ah	CAN / RS485	Shift length and charging windows
AMRs and autonomous mobile robots	24V–48V	50–100Ah	CAN / RS485 + Bluetooth	Peak current from continuous re-routing, plus onboard compute and sensor load
High-payload or forklift-type AGVs	48V and above	100Ah+	CAN / Modbus	Peak lift current, plus counterweight if replacing lead-acid
Cold-storage / freezer AGVs	24V–48V	Custom	CAN / RS485 + self-heating build	Where the charging dock sits. A standard pack charges from 0°C; the self-heating build charges safely down to −40°C

 

Not sure which fits your AGV? Send us your AGV model or your current battery's specs and we will come back with a recommended pack — our engineering team replies to every inquiry within 12 hours.

Send Your AGV Model — Recommendation in 12h

LiFePO4 vs Lead-Acid for AGV Fleets

 

	Lead-Acid	Polinovel LiFePO4
Cycle life	500–1000	3000+ (80% DOD)
Charge time	8–10 hrs, swaps needed	0–80% in under 30 min, opportunity charging
Maintenance	Watering, equalizing, charging room	Zero maintenance
Usable capacity	~50%	~100%
Weight / payload impact	Heavy, limits payload	Lighter, frees up payload
Lifetime cost	Higher (frequent replacement + labor + downtime)	Lower overall TCO

 

Although lithium has a higher upfront price, the longer life, faster charging, and zero maintenance make it the lower-cost choice over the life of a multi-shift AGV fleet. For a single-shift fleet that charges overnight and never queues for a battery swap, the payback is slower — tell us your duty cycle and we will say so honestly rather than quote you a pack you don't need.

 

 

Custom & OEM AGV Battery Manufacturing

 

As a factory-direct AGV battery manufacturer, we build to your specification — not off a fixed catalog. Over 3,000 custom battery solutions have gone through this process.

 

What we customize:

 

Electrical	Voltage 24V / 36V / 48V / 60V / 72V / 80V / 96V / 120V / 144V · capacity 20Ah–500Ah for AGV packs (up to 800Ah on other platforms) · discharge rate 0.5C to 5C
Communication	CAN Bus · Modbus RTU / RS485 · Bluetooth · GPRS · embedded or wired SOC indicator
Mechanical	Size and shape to your drawing · SPCC or stainless steel enclosure · IP54 / IP65 / IP67 · integrated iron counterweight blocks where a lead-acid tray is being replaced
Connectors	M8 · Anderson · REMA · aviation connectors · power on-off switch · emergency stop button
Environment	Self-heating technology for cold-storage and cold-chain AGVs, allowing safe charging down to −40°C · operating range extended to −40°C–65°C · 15G vibration resistance
Branding	Housing colour · label and silk-screen printing · branded carton · printed manual

 

How it works:

1. Needs discovery — reply within 12 hours. Send your AGV model, voltage, capacity or runtime target, compartment dimensions, connector, operating environment and charging strategy. A photo of the existing battery label or a drawing is enough to start.
2. Component engineering. Cells, BMS, enclosure, connectors and protection components are selected and reviewed against your electrical and mechanical requirements before anything is built.
3. Prototype and validation. We build a sample for you to fit, run and validate on your vehicle. Prototype through to mass production typically runs 4 weeks.
4. Certification, where your market needs it. Tested to UL, CE, IEC, UN38.3 and MSDS. Indicative certificate lead times are listed in the compliance section below, so you can schedule around them instead of discovering them late.
5. Qualified manufacturing and compliant shipping. Inspection at every production phase, then packing and insulation per UN3480 for air and sea transport.

 

See the full range of customization options on our custom AGV battery manufacturing page.

 

Get a Custom Quote — Send a Drawing or Your Old Battery Specs

 

AGV Battery MOQ, Lead Times, Warranty & How to Order

 

Most suppliers make you write an RFQ before they tell you whether they can take your order. These are our actual commercial terms, published so you can qualify us first.

 

MOQ and sample orders

 

Minimum order quantity	No fixed MOQ on standard platforms. Pricing improves with volume, so tell us your annual quantity rather than only your first order.
Sample orders	Accepted. We build samples on the production line to the production BOM, so what you validate on your AGV is what you receive in volume.
Private label / branding	Available from a single unit — housing colour, label, silk-screen, carton and printed manual.
Payment	Confirmed in the quotation. Production is scheduled from payment confirmation, which is the date the delivery window below is counted from.

 

Lead times

 

Stage	Typical time
First reply to your inquiry	Within 12 hours
Prototype through to mass production	4 weeks
Production delivery after payment confirmation	3–5 weeks, depending on order quantity
Shipping	Express or air for small volumes, sea freight for bulk. All packs packed and insulated per UN3480.

 

Where your destination market needs a new certificate for your specific configuration, that testing runs in parallel wherever possible — see the certificate lead times in the compliance section below so you can plan the schedule up front.

 

Warranty

 

Polinovel offers tiered warranty terms by product series and application, up to a maximum of 5 years. The term that applies to your AGV pack is stated in the sales contract, not just on a web page — ask for the warranty document with your quotation so it is agreed before you order rather than after a failure.

 

What to send us for an accurate quote

 

Send these seven items and we come back within 12 hours. Send fewer and we come back with questions, which is what actually delays most projects.

 

1. AGV or AMR model and manufacturer — or a photo of the existing battery label
2. System voltage and the controller's allowable voltage window
3. Required capacity in Ah or kWh — or payload, duty cycle and target runtime per shift, and we work it out
4. Peak and continuous current draw, including lift, acceleration and any hydraulic load — this sets the C-rate, and it is the number most RFQs leave out
5. Battery compartment dimensions, mounting points and connector type
6. Charging strategy — overnight, opportunity charging, auto-docking station or hot swap — plus the model of the charger you already own
7. Communication requirement — CAN Bus, Modbus RTU or RS485 — and which fields your fleet software needs to read

 

Quantity, destination country and any required certifications complete the picture.

 

Common objections, answered plainly

 

"Is lithium worth it if we only run one shift?" Often not on TCO alone. A single-shift fleet charging overnight recovers the price gap slowly. The case gets strong at two shifts and is close to automatic at 24/7 with opportunity charging. We will tell you if your duty cycle doesn't justify the switch.

 

"Can we keep our existing charger?" Sometimes — but voltage alone doesn't settle it. We need the charger's output voltage, charging current, charging profile, connector and whether it expects to communicate with the battery. Send the model number and we check before you order.

 

"Is a lead-acid to LiFePO4 swap a drop-in?" Treat it as a project, not a part swap. Voltage window, charger profile, compartment space, weight distribution, connectors and vehicle control requirements all have to be checked. Where removing the lead-acid tray costs you stability, we build integrated iron counterweight blocks into the pack — the same approach we used replacing a 300Ah NCA pack on a Toyota BT forklift. This review is part of the quotation, at no cost.

 

"What if we need one pack now and a hundred next year?" That is the normal path. There is no fixed MOQ, so start with a sample, validate it on the vehicle, then scale.

 

Request a Quote — Reply in 12h Request a Sample Quote

Sourcing a custom pack for the first time? Our guide on vetting a custom lithium battery supplier covers what to check before you commit.

 

 

Technical Specifications

 

Polinovel AGV batteries are available in a range of specifications to meet diverse application requirements. Our team can also develop custom solutions tailored to your specific needs.

 

Where these packs do not fit

 

Knowing the boundary saves you a failed trial. Three cases where a standard Polinovel AGV pack is the wrong answer:

 

Situation	What to do instead
The charging dock sits inside a freezer or cold-store zone, below 0°C	A standard pack will refuse to charge below 0°C, and forcing it plates lithium onto the anode — permanent capacity loss that compounds every cycle. Either move the dock to a warmer staging area, or specify the self-heating build, which warms the cells before accepting charge current and works down to -40°C. It is built into the enclosure and cannot be retrofitted, so it has to be decided at RFQ.
The AGV draws sustained high current — frequent lifting, hydraulics, steep ramps	The standard 1C continuous / 3C peak configuration will trip protection or age prematurely. Send us your measured current profile and we build to a higher C-rate, up to 5C.
The vehicle needs an ATEX or IECEx certified enclosure for an explosive atmosphere	Our AGV packs are not certified for explosive atmospheres. Tell us the zone classification at inquiry stage and we will say up front whether we can serve the project.

 

AGV Battery Certifications & Export Documents

 

Certification is usually the thing that moves a delivery date, and almost nobody publishes how long it takes. These are our indicative timelines, so you can build them into your project schedule instead of finding out after you place the order.

 

Certificates we hold and can arrange

 

Document	What it covers	Indicative lead time for a new configuration
MSDS / SDS	Health, handling, storage and emergency information. Needed for customs clearance and for your own EHS file.	About 1 week
CE	Conformity for placing the product on the European market.	About 2 weeks
UN38.3	Transport safety qualification — altitude simulation, thermal cycling, vibration, shock, external short circuit, impact, overcharge and forced discharge. Required for air and sea shipment of every lithium pack.	About 4 weeks
UL / IEC	Safety standards for industrial and motive lithium battery systems. Often required by OEM customers and by insurers for fleet deployments.	About 10 weeks
UN3480 packing	Dangerous-goods packing and insulation for lithium batteries shipped on their own.	Standard on every shipment

 

Certification cost covers two things — the sample and the testing — and both are quoted against your exact battery specification. Where testing is needed we run it in parallel with tooling and pre-production wherever the schedule allows. Tell us the destination market and the certificates your customer requires at inquiry stage, and we build the calendar around them.

 

A note for buyers shipping into the European Union

 

Under the EU Battery Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2023/1542), which replaced the old Batteries Directive as the basis for CE marking, the obligations that apply to a battery depend on its energy in kilowatt-hours, not its amp-hour rating. The dividing line for rechargeable industrial batteries is 2 kWh. Reading it against our standard AGV models:

 

Model	Energy	Above the 2 kWh industrial battery threshold?
Polinovel-AGV12V100Ah	1.2 kWh	No
Polinovel-AGV24V50Ah	1.2 kWh	No
Polinovel-AGV24V100Ah	2.4 kWh	Yes
Polinovel-AGV48V50Ah	2.4 kWh	Yes
Polinovel-AGV48V100Ah	4.8 kWh	Yes

 

Batteries above 2 kWh carry additional obligations under the regulation, including a carbon footprint declaration per battery model per manufacturing plant, and from 18 February 2027 a digital battery passport accessible through a QR code. These requirements apply to batteries placed on the EU market regardless of where they were manufactured, and the underlying data has to be collected during sourcing and production rather than assembled after the fact. If your AGV project ships into the EU, raise it at RFQ stage and we will scope the documentation with you before the bill of materials is fixed.

 

Request the Certificate Pack for Your Configuration

 

Building an automated warehouse from the ground up? Our engineering brief on lithium battery requirements for automated warehouses covers duty cycles, charging strategy and communication in more depth. If your fleet also includes manned trucks, see our electric forklift lithium batteries.

 

Request a Quote — Reply in 12h Talk to an Engineer About Your AGV Platform

 

Polinovel manufactures AGV and AMR battery packs in our own facility — no trading layer. Wholesale, OEM and private-label programmes run with no fixed MOQ, 3–5 week production delivery, and the full UL / CE / IEC / UN38.3 / MSDS document pack. For pricing, send your AGV model and quantity.

We're professional agvs battery manufacturers and suppliers in China. If you're going to wholesale customized agvs battery, welcome to get more information from our factory. For price consultation, contact us.