Grids

ActaCell Awarded $3 Million From The U.S. Department Of Commerce

ActaCell, Inc. announced today it has been awarded up to $3 million over a 3-year period in funding from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The funding will focus on production scale up of nanocomposite alloy anode materials for lithium-ion batteries to be used in electric vehicles and other demanding applications.

ActaCell won one of nine awards from NIST and is the only energy storage company recognized. The funding will come through NIST’s Technology Innovation Program (TIP). The competition focused on technologies that could scale up advanced materials and significantly improve critical manufacturing processes. TIP promotes technological innovation by providing funding support for transformative, high-risk, high-reward research projects that address critical national needs.

“This funding and recognition will help us reach the next level with this exciting technology we have recently exclusively licensed from the Material Sciences and Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin,” said Bill Ott, president and CEO of ActaCell. “The challenge with all cutting edge technologies is the ability to scale up production. We are very confident that, through this project, we will be able to bring a whole new approach to batteries to the emerging pure electric vehicle industry.”

This new electric vehicle technology is in addition to the company’s initial lithium-ion technology targeted at the Hybrid Electric Vehicle Market. Recently, ActaCell identified the medium-to-heavy duty hybrid truck market as the initial best fit for its technology based on a set of rigorous tests run in conjunction with AVL Powertrain, an engineering, solution and testing company for the automotive industry. Additionally, ActaCell was awarded a $179, 015, 16-month technology assessment of high-power cells to meet requirements specified by USABC for power-assist hybrid-electric vehicle (PAHEV) applications. The primary purpose of the USABC contract will be to assess the performance, cycle life and accelerated calendar life of ActaCell’s HEV batteries.

ActaCell is commercializing this new lithium-ion anode technology based on its ability to deliver substantially lower cost and improved safety for materials used in pure electric vehicles. ActaCell continues to leverage the work done by Professor Arumugam Manthiram and his team in the Materials Science Lab at the University of Texas at Austin. Professor Manthiram is a world-renowned scientist with more than 20 years of experience in lithium-ion battery technology. To date, ActaCell has received nearly $7 million in funding.

ActaCell is an Austin-based technology company developing Li-Ion technologies for motive applications. The initial innovation is focused on HEV/Power applications with subsequent efforts in high capacity materials for battery electric vehicles. The company has a world-class team and facilities in place along with a close relationship with UT Austin’s Materials Sciences and Engineering program.

www.actacell.com/