PowerGenix snags $30M for nickel-zinc batteries

San Diego-based PowerGenix said today it has doubled its venture capital backing with a $30 million equity round.

The maker of rechargeable nickel-zinc batteries plans to use the money to penetrate the electric vehicle market, CEO Dan Squiller told the Cleantech Group. PowerGenix also expects to accelerate product development and expand sales and marketing.

PowerGenix said it has already signed $75 million in multiyear customer agreements in China, Taiwan, the EU and the U.S.—an example, Squiller said, of the “broad market attractiveness of our Ni-Zn technology.”

Those batteries will be used to run power tools, lawn and garden equipment and electric bikes (see PowerGenix scores supply deal, funding). The PowerGenix technology will also be used for retail double-A batteries, he said.

“The new investment assures that the market potential of our technology can be fully realized, which we believe is the replacement of Ni-Cd and Ni-MH battery chemistries,” Squiller said.

The growing market for clean batteries in China and for electric vehicles in the U.S. and Europe represent the biggest changes for the clean battery sector, he said.

Squiller said he thinks PowerGenix’s prospects will only increase with forthcoming legislation in the EU that bans toxic battery chemistries at the end of the month, as well as China’s decision to rescind a 13 percent tax rebate to Ni-Cd manufacturers starting Jan. 1 (see EU readies new battery mandates).

Bessemer Venture Partners led the round, with participation from existing investors Angeleno Group, Advent International, Braemar Energy Ventures, Granite Ventures, OnPoint Technologies and Technology Partners. PowerGenix has previously taken in $30.8 million in three funding rounds.

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