EnerDel’s business strategy
 
         Maximize advantage of collaborative partners
         U.S. based operations
         Automotive business connection

Automotive HEV battery suppliers will need to have a variety of expertise ranging from basic chemistry to pack system integration. EnerDel’s main business strategy is to stay focused on developing and manufacturing batteries by having a strategic partnership with the three critical stakeholders: material research and development in collaboration with Itochu and a premier US Government Institution such as ANL (Argonne National Laboratories), INL(Idaho National Laboratories), other universities, etc., cell mass production process engineering in collaboration with EnerStruct, Japan, and an automotive system integrator inherited from our Delphi connection. Many material technologies have been developed and patented in private and governmental research institutes such as Mn-spinel, and iron-phosphate. However, the majority of the lithium ion battery expertise in cell assembly and engineering is in Asia where most lithium ion batteries are manufactured. In the early stages of lithium ion battery manufacturing, many Asian companies utilized Japanese mass-production systems and Japanese expertise to successfully develop their production facilities. Similarly, EnerDel has connections to Japanese expertise through its partners Itochu and EnerStruct. In the case of automotive system integration, which is an advanced system, special system integration design and practical experience in the engineering of the battery is required; a characteristic EnerDel possesses from its Delphi background. EnerDel believes that maximizing the advantage from each of its collaborative partners will lead to the successful development of an advanced high power battery system for HEV applications.

The EnerDel plan is to establish a base technology in the U.S. that can compete strongly with the Asian manufacturers in the production of HEV batteries. Many battery companies have transferred their production facilities to China in order to utilize the lower labor costs; however, quality stability is sacrificed due to the use of manual labor. Quality instability is a serious issue for automotive battery pack because one cell failure will ruin whole battery pack. EnerDel plans to produce quality, reliable products in the U.S. by automating many of the processes. This will allow EnerDel to lower the production cost while still maintaining reliable, safe products. It should be noted that large lithium based batteries have severe shipping restrictions which could delay the supply chain and compromise the production schedule of automotive companies. Therefore, having a U.S. based manufacturing facility will reduce complications for shipment and logistics for EnerDel.

EnerDel has strong ties to the automotive manufacturing processes with multiple employees having over 20 years of experience with Delphi. The automotive electronics control needs special requirements and is totally different from consumer electronics device control. The experience includes multiple launches of production startup to carry into the market, product development and integration in lean and high volume manufacturing and assembly systems. The engineering of tools, product development, and production launch philosophy and methods used by Delphi are incorporated into EnerDel’s approach towards battery pack manufacturing. This provides EnerDel with familiarity of the automotive processes and standards that are important when working with automotive manufacturers.