Zoomi Life

In 2006, ExxonMobil Chemical made the news when it was announced that they, along with their Japanese affiliate Tonen Chemical, had developed a prototype separator for use in lithium-ion batteries. This new technology, they claimed, would boost the power:density ratio by at least 40%.

Well, they were wrong. It now boosts it by up to 70% instead. That’s wrong in a good way, for sure.

The technology centers around a new nano-technology breakthrough in thin film separators which has several implications. First, the separators are using a polyethylene-based film that is strong enough to lend great stability to the battery itself.

The real news, though, is in the layering itself. These separators are layered into multiple films, each of which can be tuned to be performance-specific for an application. So for batteries made for electric vehicles, like the new Maya 300 from Electrovaya’s sister company Maya Electric, the layers can be tuned to the specific needs of the EV at low, medium, and high speeds.

For other applications, they could be targeted for higher-torque applications, faster power delivery, or for maximization of the battery’s longevity.

Electrovaya is exploiting this new ExxonMobil tech in their Lithium-Ion Manganese Oxide battery packs, backing away from phosphorous-based batteries for several reasons. One of those is the much higher energy density that can be achieved by packing ExxonMobil Chem’s separators with the MN-series batteries, achieving 50-70% higher energy density without increasing costs.

During a conference call promoted by Electrovaya today, in which industry press spoke with representatives from the companies involved, we learned first hand not only how the new Maya 300 (more on that car later) will be promoted, but how this technology can be exploited in other venues.

ExxonMobil’s representative, Pat Brant, Chief Polymer Scientist at ExxonMobil Chemical, made it clear when asked that there are no exclusivity agreements with Electrovaya, so this technology could be used in many other applications. “We’ll sell it wherever it’s wanted,” he said.

Sankar Das Gupta, President and Charman at Electrovaya, was also excited about the future prospects of his company’s drive-train technology for this battery system. When I asked, he acknowledged that Electrovaya is working on deals with several EV and PHEV makers regarding everything from two-wheelers to heavy industrial applications.

Here’s another great tidbit: the company is also working on a larger-application battery system that will output 100kw/h!

Electrovaya’s battery system which uses the ExxonMobil separators is being called the Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery.

Electrovaya is a Canadian company based near Toronto which also has facilities in New York State. The company is currently promoting their Maya 300 NEV, which will cover in another segment.

ExxonMobil Chemical is, as Mr. Brant describes it, “the world’s largest chemical company that nobody’s heard of.”