Battery manufacturer GS Yuasa has made a contribution to the fight against Coronavirus by supplying power to the NHS Nightingale hospitals and other key medical projects.

Since the beginning of the outbreak, GS Yuasa have supplied Yuasa-branded Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) system batteries to the new NHS Nightingale hospitals in London, Birmingham Manchester, Bristol, Glasgow and Newcastle, which will treat COVID-19 patients. The largest hospital at The ExCel Centre received its first patients recently and has the capacity to expand to up to 4,000 beds.

Yuasa VRLA (valve regulated lead acid) batteries are used as standby backup power in UPS systems which ensure the power remains on in the event of a mains electricity failure. The batteries are supplied directly to customers who are installing the UPS systems on site.

GS Yuasa have focused all their resources on supporting critical infrastructure and medical projects during the outbreak. Orders associated with the fight against the virus are being prioritised over all others, with stock and production ringfenced to ensure good availability and fast delivery is maintained at all times.

James Hylton, Managing Director of GS Yuasa Battery Sales said, “We are proud that our batteries have been chosen to back up these key NHS Nightingale hospitals and humbled that because of the quality of our batteries we are able to make a small contribution to the effort.”

The UPS systems installed in hospitals, and many other applications, rely on VRLA batteries to supply electricity in the event of a mains power outage. This power bridges the gap between a mains failure and the moment an emergency generator kicks in. The UPS system ensures that critical systems remain active despite the failure. Each UPS system typically contains hundreds of batteries assembled on specialist racking.