ISE Corp. and Altair Nanotechnologies recently announced that they have entered an agreement to jointly develop and commercially supply lithium rechargeable battery packs for use in hybrid electric and all electric heavy-duty vehicles. Altairnano is a developer and manufacturer of electrode materials, NanoSafe lithium battery cells and power storage products. ISE Corp. is a developer and manufacturer of electric and hybrid-electric drive systems and components for heavy-duty vehicles.
Under the agreement, Altairnano will provide NanoSafe cells and batteries for the battery pack based on their proprietary lithium titanate electrode materials, and data on the proper care and management of their cells and batteries. ISE will design the system utilizing its data on operating environments, vehicle shock and vibration criteria, vehicle duty cycles and proprietary software and control electronics. Other cooperative areas will include cell equalization and packaging of the commercial product. The goal is to develop and commercially supply high-quality, cost-effective lithium battery packs for heavy-duty buses, trucks, military vehicles and airport ground support equipment.
“We believe that Altair’s NanoSafe power storage products combined with ISE’s control electronics and heavy-duty vehicle packaging experience will enable our partnership to provide excellent product solutions to the heavy vehicle industry, a new market for Altairnano,” says Dr. Alan J. Gotcher, president and chief executive officer of Reno, Nev.-based Altairnano.
“ISE intends to continue to be a leader in the development of energy storage solutions for heavy-duty electric and hybrid electric vehicles,” says David Mazaika, president and CEO of San Diego-based ISE. “We are excited to have partnered with Altairnano and feel that Altairnano’s unique nano technology yields power storage solutions with high power and extremely long life that are ideally suited to maximize the performance of heavy-duty hybrid vehicles.”
