More and more giant corporations are buying into printed electrics by acquiring companies partly or wholly in the field.
The world's second largest chemical company Dow bought Rohm & Haas (materials), 3M bought into Printechnologics (printed patterns read by mobile phones) and DuPont bought Innovalight (nanosilicon layers to increase photovoltaic efficiency).
Now there is interest in traction batteries for electric vehicles, where the third generation technology, that with the highest energy density and little if any dependence on rare metals, increasingly involves solid state assemblies made by printing reel to reel. Oxis Energy in the UK is developing polymer lithium sulphur technology for example as an independent startup. However, Sion Power in the USA has other forms of lithium sulphur battery actually driving Unmanned Aerial vehicles AUVs and military land vehicles.
The press release says that Sion Power Corporation, the global leader in the development of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, based in Tucson, Arizona, recently announced that BASF invested $50 million to acquire an equity ownership position in the company.
This equity partnership expands upon an existing joint development agreement that BASF Future Business GmbH established with Sion Power in 2009 to accelerate the commercialization of Sion's proprietary Li-S battery technology for electric and plug-in electric vehicles and other high-energy applications over the next decade.
John Kopera, Sion's Vice President Commercial Operations, expressed, "The light weight and high energy characteristics of Sion's lithium sulfur battery technology, that enabled the achievement of the unrefueled flight endurance world record for unmanned aerial vehicles, will be keys to success for the next generation of electric vehicles."
"Advanced cathodes, anodes and other battery materials are key enabling technologies for battery performance," noted Ralf Meixner, BASF's Senior Vice President, Battery Materials. "Through our investment and collaboration with Sion, we are positioned to take a leadership role in developing next-generation battery material solutions, further supporting the effort to make electric cars affordable, environmentally friendly and sustainable."
For more attend Electric Vehicles Land Sea Air USA 2012,where Phoenix International - A John Deere Company (leader in agricultural vehicles), BMW (cars etc), Mitsubishi Motors (small commercial vehicles and cars), Daimler AG (commercial and military vehicles and cars) and Toyota (leader in electric forklifts, cars, buses) will present. Uniquely, a large number of electric vehicle manufacturers not seen in conventional EV events will present including WheelTug airliner electrification on the ground, Pipistrel manned electric aircraft, University of Michigan unmanned solar aircraft, SolTrac electric farm tractors, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute Autonomous Underwater Vehicles AUVs. Many manufacturers of industrial, commercial, military, e-bike, cars and other EVs will be there. At last you can meet those responsible for the majority of the hybrid and pure electric vehicle market and they all need components!! Most are prosperous growing businesses not reliant on government support that can be withdrawn at any time.
For more read: Hybrid And Pure Electric Cars 2012-2022 and Electric Vehicle Traction Batteries 2011-2021.
