On Tuesday, the Department of Energy made official announcements regarding the recipients of $11 million in funding that will go towards the development of advanced batteries for electric drive vehicles.  Many companies were in line, but the government dwindled down the list to just a few.

Some notables companies to receive advanced battery funding include A123 Systems and EnerDel.  A123 Systems will get up to $1.1 million to develop a high throughput electrode fabrication process for their lithium ion battery technology.  While EnerDel will get up to $3.3 million to develop a chemical shuttle agent that will eliminate the danger of overcharging lithium-ion batteries developed for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and electric vehicles. 

 The entire list of those receiving funds from the Department of Energy is included in the press release below.

The goal of the DOE is to advance research in areas pertaining to electric vehicles.  They intend to appropriate funding into areas that are deemed important to the advancement of battery technology.  The funds from the DOE will be directly used by the various companies for research and development only.  Additional funding will come from private sector investors bringing total funding to $19.36 million.

The companies to receive funding listed below are in addition to three companies that the DOE announced previously.  The previously announced companies in the battery materials and manufacturing category  include BASF, 3M, and FMC Corporation.

We remain hopeful that additional funding will spark research into batteries of the future and pave the way for the electric vehicles of tomorrow.

Source:  Press Release

DOE Announces Nearly $11 Million in Projects for Research, Development, and Demonstration of Electric Drive Vehicle Battery Technologies


June 16, 2009




The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of seven cost-shared research projects for the development of advanced batteries for electric drive vehicles. The total DOE investment for these projects is up to $10.96 million over three years, subject to annual appropriations. Private sector contributions will further increase the financial investment for a total of up to $19.36 million. The selections announced today are part of DOE's continuing work to develop high-efficiency electric drive vehicle battery technologies and will directly support DOE's goal to protect our national and economic security by promoting a diverse supply and delivery of reliable, affordable, and environmentally sound alternative energy.



The projects, being funded by base annual appropriations, will focus on improving battery material performance, developing manufacturing processes to increase performance, and decreasing the cost of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) batteries. PHEVs are hybrid vehicles that can be driven in electric-only mode and recharged from a standard electric outlet. These vehicles provide fuel diversity and decreased petroleum consumption. The acceleration of lithium-ion battery development is a key step in the successful commercialization of PHEVs, which will be capable of traveling up to 40 miles without recharging.



These projects were selected under the battery materials and manufacturing topic area from the Vehicle Technologies Program Wide Funding Opportunity Announcement released on February 29, 2008. In December 2008, DOE announced the initial selection of three battery materials and manufacturing projects for negotiation of award from the FOA, including: 3M Company (St Paul, Minnesota), BASF Catalyst LLC (Iselin, New Jersey, and Elyria, Ohio) and FMC Corporation (Charlotte, North Carolina). These three contracts total up to $13.9 million in cost-shared cooperative agreements; DOE share of up to $6.85 million, subject to annual appropriations. The additional selections announced today include:


  • A123Systems, Inc of Watertown, Massachusetts, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $1.1 million for a project to develop a high throughput electrode fabrication process for their lithium ion battery technology.
  • Angstron Materials LLC of Dayton, Ohio, teamed with Applied Sciences Inc. of Cedarville, Ohio; K2 Energy Solutions of Henderson, Nevada; General Motors Corporation of Detroit, Michigan; and HST Auto of Escondido, California; has been selected for negotiation of a three-year award of up to $3.2 million with a DOE share of up to $1.6 million, project to develop hybrid nano carbon fiber/graphene platelet-based high-capacity anodes for lithium batteries.
  • EnerDel Inc. of Indianapolis, Indiana, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $3.3 million for a project to develop a chemical shuttle agent that will eliminate the danger of overcharging lithium ion batteries developed for plug in hybrid electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and electric vehicles.
  • MaxPower Inc. of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $500,000 for a project aimed at adapting MaxPower's present battery management systems (BMS) for lithium-ion batteries to recognize the imminent appearance of an internal short and to take action to operate the battery in a safe state.
  • North Carolina State University of Raleigh, North Carolina, teamed with American Lithium Energy LLC of San Marcos, California, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $1.35 million for a project to develop high-energy composite nanofiber anodes for materials for lithium ion batteries.
  • SION Power Corporation of Tucson, Arizona, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $800,000 for a project aimed at demonstrating the viability of their lithium sulfur (Li-S) rechargeable battery chemistry for electric drive vehicles.
  • TIAX LLC of Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been selected for negotiation of an award for up to $2.36 million for a project aimed at understanding and preventing internal short circuits in lithium ion cells. Results from the proposed program will help develop guidelines to enable development of technologies for safe battery packs, guidelines that will permit original equipment manufacturers to develop their own proprietary technologies for mitigating short-circuit induced safety incidents.