South 8 Signs 3-Year Deal with Galvion to Supply Cold-Weather Battery Cells for Arctic SoloPack
Summary
South 8 Technologies has converted a July 2025 letter of intent into a three-year master supply agreement with defense firm Galvion, whose SoloPack Arctic soldier power system will use South 8's AE35 18650 cells. The deal marks South 8's shift from development to commercial production, with its San Diego line scaling toward 5 MWh of annual capacity by 2027 for cells operating from minus 60°C to plus 60°C.
South 8 Technologies Signs 3-Year Supply Agreement with Galvion to Power Arctic SoloPack
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–South 8 Technologies, a U.S. manufacturer of lithium-ion battery cells for extreme environments, has signed a multi-year master supply agreement with Galvion, a defense technology company specializing in integrated head systems and soldier power and data solutions. South 8’s AE35 cell will power SoloPack™ Arctic, Galvion’s new extreme cold weather soldier power solution that will make its debut at AUSA 2026 in Washington, D.C., October 12–14.
The agreement converts a Letter of Intent signed by the companies in July 2025 into a commercial supply framework and marks another step in South 8’s transition from technology development to scaled production and customer delivery.
The agreement comes as South 8 moves its ARCTIC™ AE35 18650 cell into commercial production at its San Diego headquarters. The company’s new manufacturing line has begun production, scaling toward 5 MWh of annual production capacity in 2027, equivalent to approximately 450,000 AE35 cells per year.
The AE35 is South 8’s first high volume 18650 cell. Powered by the company’s proprietary LiGas® electrolyte technology, the AE35 will charge and discharge from −60 °C to +60 °C (−76 °F to +140 °F) and uses the familiar 18650 form factor. Cells will be produced at South 8’s San Diego facility, providing customers with a domestically manufactured battery cell and a defined pathway toward meeting applicable National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) sourcing requirements once those rules are finalized.
Jungwoo Lee, CEO of South 8 Technologies, said:
Partnering with Galvion to bring LiGas technology into the field is an important commercialization milestone,
“This multi-year supply agreement demonstrates that our technology is moving beyond development and into mission-critical applications where reliable power in extreme cold can make a real difference. Galvion’s proven SoloPack platform is an ideal application for AE35, and we’re proud to help deliver the performance and resilience warfighters need in the world’s most demanding environments.”
SoloPack Arctic extends Galvion’s soldier power portfolio into extreme cold environments at a time of increasing focus on Arctic readiness. As the system advances toward broader deployment, evaluation of SoloPack Arctic will be happening in field exercises in Alaska, where reliable power in extreme cold is a critical operational requirement.
Jonathan Blanshay, Founder and Executive Chairman of Galvion, said:
When we began working with South 8, we saw an opportunity to combine their innovative cell technology with our proven SoloPack battery to address a very real challenge for operations in extreme cold,
“SoloPack Arctic is the result of that collaboration, and this agreement marks an important next step as we move from development into field evaluation and commercialization.” For South 8, SoloPack Arctic represents the next stage of commercialization: bringing the AE35 into production, seeing the cell integrated into a customer product, and converting an earlier LOI into a commercial supply agreement supporting market launch.
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