ArticlesAugust 12, 2021

What vape devices and new cars have in common - and why you should care

If you guessed they both have batteries, then you guessed right!

But there’s more to it than that; something that could have a profound effect on your business, especially if you’re in the business of carrying vape batteries or plan to.

You see, electronics manufacturing is facing a worldwide shortage of semiconductors. That may not sound like a big deal. However, the impact is real and wide-reaching.

Car manufacturing, gaming, telecommunications, home entertainment, and yes, even cannabis vaporizers have all been impacted, as these technologies, and others, are all dependent on the supply of semiconductors for their PCB designs.

Ok. Remind me. What are Semiconductors and PCBs?

If your science classes are but a distant memory of strange symbols and equations, you’re not alone!

Semiconductors, as the name implies, is a material that conducts an electric current between conductors. The vital point to note is that semiconductors are extensively used in circuit boards.

This brings us to protection circuit boards’ aka PCBs. PCBs are considered the “heart” of a Lithium-ion battery pack. They play a crucial role in protecting your battery, keeping them from over-charging, over-heating, over-discharging, and even over-draining.

The PCB also keeps the battery from exploding or catching fire. In other words, they’re a pretty important component!

One of these functions include ACTIVE’s PowerWave technology. An algorithm that manages the voltage preventing your oils from overheating; one of the ways we’re able to preserve your extracts’ rich terpene flavors and cannabinoids.

Science lesson over, what is the current state of the global semiconductor supply?

Right now, the semiconductor supply cannot keep up with demand. In large part as a result of the global production halt, courtesy of the pandemic.

As factories shut down, work-from-homers snapped up available electronics for their home offices and telecommunications. And as an antidote to lockdown boredom, gaming device sales exploded – sucking up lots of available semiconductor inventory.

Now, with the world ramping up again, semiconductor manufacturing is behind and struggling to meet back-orders.

The vape sector is not immune. Like other industries, there is a scarcity of semiconductors. With the knock-on that as components become harder to source, the cost of production may well increase.

So, what should you be doing to get ahead of the vape battery shortage?

By virtue of our control over and strong relationships with our raw material suppliers, ACTIVE has been able to stockpile significant quantities of PCBs.

That said, we encourage you to get ahead of your inventory planning. It’s been estimated that the semiconductor shortage may last for up to two years.

For non-custom ACTIVE Seed, Stik and Alpha batteries, we currently have large inventories in our Sacramento warehouse. If you sell these or wish to add any of these batteries to your inventory line-up, it would be prudent to lock in your order sooner than later.

For custom branded orders, let’s pre-plan your stock requirements. Not only will this put you front-of-line, but it will also ensure we have the raw materials to produce your orders as required over the coming quarters.

For large orders, we can even warehouse your stock.

While it may feel early, you should consider starting your Chinese New Year order planning now.

As always, there is a silver lining beneath every crisis.

The semiconductor shortage is a wake-up call. For our part, we have pushed forward our investment into research and development of new battery materials and technologies.

For now, however, please do not wait to place your battery orders.

Whether you stock branded or unbranded batteries, manufacturers and suppliers relying on a steady battery supply need to consider that there could be delays, sometimes for months on end.

Please contact your account manager or reach out to us here to discuss your battery needs.

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