Funding for the program comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Industrial Technologies Program and EERE’s Vehicle Technologies Program, along with in-kind matching contributions from the four other participating companies.
The companies responded to an industry proposal and were chosen by an independent council comprising ORNL and DOE representatives. Accordingly, the Michigan Economic Development (MEDC) is also providing funding to ORNL’s overall battery research effort.
The collaborative research activities at ORNL, which is managed by UT-Battelle for the DOE, began in February and will continue for an 18-month period.
Scott Faris, president and CEO of Planar Energy, said: “This program allocates $400,000 to help advance the commercialization of our breakthrough solid-state battery technology. The company’s energy cells and batteries are substantially smaller, cheaper and safer, and can deliver more power than any existing rechargeable chemical battery technology.
“That fundamental materials breakthrough coupled with Planar Energy’s proprietary low-cost manufacturing process will allow solid-state battery fabrication that will enable manufacturers to increase their capacity by 200-to-300%, while reducing costs more than 50%.”
