The company has also received the grants from the State of Pennsylvania to advance demonstrations of the same battery in HEVs, plug-in electric vehicles (PHEVs) and EVs. Both new grants deal with work on energy storage, energy density, inexpensive battery technology options, and the diminution of carbon emissions.
Axion Power chief executive officer Thomas Granville commented, ‘The prestige of this ALABC grant is an important boost to us at Axion Power. ALABC is comprised of the largest battery companies in the world – you name the company, and they are members. It is generally conceded these days that carbon added to lead-acid batteries may be the key to eliminating corrosion, and this grant recognizes that our research into this phenomenon, together with our substantial patent portfolio in the area, is authoritative. We are pursuing these same initiatives on our own, and are also being assisted by grants from the State of Pennsylvania, and the US Department of Energy and Department of Defense.
‘We believe,’ Granville said, ‘that our PbC and lead-carbon technologies are the keys to making electric vehicles affordable, dependable and safe. Clearly we have the attention of the world’s leading battery companies, and that is rewarding in and of itself. It takes on added significance when you consider that our long range business plan calls for us to eventually sell our proprietary negative electrodes to these same lead-acid battery companies. This next step will occur as we begin to max out our own battery production capabilities.’
Granville continued, ‘For the most part, the media is fixated on newer applications of more exotic and more expensive batteries that have, mainly, been adapted from smaller applications – such as cell phones and computers. Our US-developed and US- manufactured batteries are a natural evolution of time-tested automotive technology, and as a direct result can be made anywhere in the world, with readily available and inexpensive raw materials, and on standard lead-acid battery lines. They are also much more affordable than the exotic and expensive batteries that are imported from the Far East.’
The grants are directed through the International Lead Zinc Research Organization acting on behalf of the ALABC. The first grant seeks to find the mechanism by which the optimum specification of carbon, when included in the negative active material of a valve-regulated lead-acid battery, provides protection against accumulation of lead sulfate during high-rate partial-state-of-charge operation.
The second grant seeks simply to characterize Axion’s PbC Battery in HEV-Type Duty-Cycle Testing. The work on the objectives of the grant is set to begin in near future.
