Planar Energy plans battery line for 2009

Orlando, Fla.-based Planar Energy Devices is seeking $12 million to enter the market with its solid-state, thin-film batteries by early 2009.

Planar designs and manufactures batteries based on a semiconductor process. CEO and founder Scott Faris told the Cleantech Group the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are expected to produce the company's first revenue early next year from military and smart-card applications.

The startup previously raised $4 million in Series A financing from Battelle Ventures when the company launched in July 2007. Planar received $1.3 million, with another $2.7 million committed in milestone payments (see Batteries charge up with VC cash).

Faris said Planar's low-cost manufacturing technique uses a single liquid-phase deposition method with continuous roll-to-roll production for the battery, which has increased yield, energy density, power density and safety.

"Capacity demands are outstripping capability for safe lithium-ion batteries," Faris said. 

The thin-film battery market is expected to reach 10 billion units, or $11 billion, by 2012, according to a report by Wintergreen Research in 2006.

Thin-film, solid-state batteries can be deposited directly onto semiconductor chips or plastic, making the batteries flexible and durable. The batteries can operate in a wider range of temperatures than traditional batteries.

Planar says its PowerBlade battery can operate from -30 degrees Celsius to 50 degrees Celsius. Additionally, Faris said, the batteries are safer than traditional lithium ion and less susceptible to water damage.

Faris said Planar's battery has about 200,000 rechargeable cycles, compared to about 500 for a traditional lithium-ion battery.

Similarly, Toronto-based electric vehicle maker Zenn Motor (TSX: ZNN) is planning to license EEStor's solid-state electrical energy storage unit, which is expected to be longer lasting, lighter, more powerful, and environmentally friendly than current battery technologies (see Zenn gearing up for EEStor-powered car).

Planar is responding to demand from the secondary energy storage market, including fixed network applications, mobile network applications and transportation energy infrastructure, Faris said at the Dow Jones Alternative Energy Innovations conference in Redwood City, Calif.

The company is a spinout of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and has licensed 40 technologies from various research institutions. The company's founding senior research scientist Roland Pitts joined Planar from NREL.

Faris said a 4.8 volt battery would sell to the consumer for about $20.

The company expects to have an in-house pilot production line for its PowerBlade batteries by mid-2009 and a full production line by 2010, when it will seek an additional $20 million for scale manufacturing facilities, Faris said.

If the company reaches its milestones, it plans to be profitable by 2011 and go public in 2012, Faris said.

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