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UK startup’s secret material has big battery potential
June 22, 2009 - by Lisa Sibley, Cleantech Group
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UK-based Fife Batteries has a stealthy new material it thinks could revolutionize the electric-vehicle and consumer-battery markets.
“Our technology hits both spaces,” CEO Geraldine Neat told the Cleantech Group.
The company specializes in research and development of low-cost, high-performance lithium-ion materials and cells for the electric vehicle and hybrid-electric vehicle markets, as well as portable electronics.
Incorporated in Scotland, the company operates out of a £4.5 million ($7.4 million) lithium-ion R&D facility in Oxfordshire. The company was founded by Neat’s late husband and has 15 managers, scientists and technologists, in addition to consulting agreements with researchers.
The company has a prototype but needs another two years to finalize and optimize the design before it begins licensing and scaling up. Fife is currently seeking a £5 million round of funding, which it hopes to complete later this year. The company has previously raised £3.2 million from Scotland government agency ITI Energy, which is interested in stimulating growth in the energy and other sectors.
A subsequent investment of £20 million would be used to build a pilot cell manufacturing and battery assembly plant for European original equipment manufacturers.
Without naming the key lithium-ion battery material, Neat said it’s generally not been used in the battery industry because it’s been difficult to make inexpensively. Ruling out possibilities, Neat said Fife’s technology isn’t lithium cobalt, mixed metal oxides, or a phosphate, like its competitors are using.
Companies including A123Systems and Valence are working in the phosphate space, but their technologies could never be used in a laptop, Neat said. A123 recently secured $69 million in private equity from General Electric to expand its battery cell and system production facilities (see A123 secures $69M for smart grid, car batteries).
Corporations like Johnson Controls, Panasonic, Toyota Motor and Mitsubishi Motors are focused on mixed metal oxides. Johnson Controls has a joint venture with France's Saft for plug-in hybrid electric battery development (see Johnson Controls-Saft gets $8.2M for battery project).
Fife thinks it has found a cheaper way to make its material than its competitors, while offering higher energy density, and enhanced safety and performance, Neat said. Fife has two patents filed on the material’s synthesis.
Fife has been in discussions with undisclosed big names in the Japanese battery market, which are already excited about the prospect of the technology, Neat said. Fife would license the technology.
The company expects licensing agreements to generate revenue of £100 million during a 10-year period starting in 2013. The company’s business model also includes developing relationships with Far East and U.S. partners to exploit the material in those markets, Neat said. The lithium-ion battery market represents a $9 billion opportunity that’s expected to grow to $32 billion by 2018, according to the company.
Fife Batteries is one of 20 potential new investment opportunities the Cleantech Group added to its innovation pipeline this week, available exclusively to members of the Cleantech Network. Members can click here to search the database.
Interested in emerging cleantech innovations? Here are two new companies added to the Cleantech Group's database this week also looking for funding:
- Chelmsford, Mass.-based FRX Polymers is seeking $5 million in Series A funding followed by $5 million in Series B financing to reach break-even. The company develops a patented, non-halogen, non-burning family of transparent high-flow thermoplastics in the flame-retardant plastics market. FRX said it is the first company to commercialize a phosphorus-based plastic that can be used as a flame retardant additive or as a plastic.
- Copenhagen’s Aquaporin is seeking $6.4 million to improve water purification and desalination through industrial biotechnology. The company develops a new water membrane technology on naturally occurring proteins called aquaporins that form pores in the membranes of biological cells. The company said its technology reduces energy costs by about 80 percent compared to reverse osmosis.
Seeking capital, partners or customers? Submit to the Cleantech’s innovation pipeline.
Browse past pitches here.
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Comments
Secret battery material better allow fast recharging.
Submitted on June 22nd, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)Claims of a low cost li ion battery doesn't say much. If it needs two years to develop, then I'd say it's very iffy.
Why so secretive ?
Submitted on June 23rd, 2009 by Unregistered user (not verified)Enerize and FiFe Batteries to Develop Li-Ion Batteries for HEV Applications
22 August 2007
Enerize Corporation and FiFe Batteries Limited, a developer of lithium-ion battery technology, have announced a partnership to develop safe, low-cost, high-energy Li-ion rechargeable batteries for various applications including hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs).
These batteries will feature advanced electrode materials based on new types of TiO2 used by FiFe Batteries, as well as high conductivity/high tap density MnO2 and low-cost modified natural graphite developed by Enerize Corporation.
Enerize has synthesized a LiMn2O4 using high density MnO2 as a starting material. Cathodes based on this spinel have a bulk density of 2.4 g/cm3, and a specific discharge capacity of 110-130 mAh/g LiMn2O4. The coating technology developed for making the electrodes provides a discharge capacity up to 80 mAh/g (spinel) at a discharge rate of 20C.
The company is working on additives for increasing stability the of spinel-based Li-ion batteries during storage and cycling make them lower in cost while maintaining high conductivity and excellent thermal stability. Production capability is currently in the pilot stage.
Enerize has also developed new anode materials from modified graphite characterized by high discharge capacity which can be used without binder.
In combination, these new materials have the potential to deliver significantly improved durability, reduced self discharge and lower cost than conventional Li-ion batteries.
The new materials will be complemented by other proprietary Li-ion technologies developed by Enerize Corporation and FiFe Batteries, including electrolyte additives for increased cycling stability and new electrode coating process that will allow the batteries to deliver more power on demand.
During manufacture, new nondestructive test systems from Enerize will be used for quality control. Enerize nondestructive methods and systems can also be applied for real-time in-line quality control at the facilities of other battery manufacturers.
Enerize Corp., based in Florida, develops advanced designs and high-performance, low-cost materials used in lithium and lithium-ion batteries, solar cells, fuel cells and supercapacitors.
FiFe Batteries Limited operates a Li-ion R&D Center in Oxfordshire, England. Its facilities include a 350m2 dry room complex of four interconnected rooms equipped with a range of Li-ion cell fabrication equipment. FiFe Batteries has the capability to make both 18650-type cells and soft-pack (or polymer) 383562-type cells using a stacking design.
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