Ener1 (Nasdaq: HEV) is an alternative energy technologies holding company. The company's interests EnerDel (
www.enerdel.com), a lithium battery company, 49% of Enerstruct, a Japanese lithium battery technology company in which Ener1's strategic investor ITOCHU owns 51 %, wholly owned subsidiary EnerFuel, a fuel cell testing and component company (
www.enerfuel.com) and wholly owned subsidiary NanoEner, which develops nanotechnology-based materials and manufacturing processes for batteries and other applications (www.nanoener.com). For more information, visit
www.ener1.com.
Itochu Corporation
ITOCHU is one of the largest corporations in the world and one of Ener1's major shareholders. It has annual revenue of more than $90 billion and 160 offices in more than 80 countries. It has been in business for 145 years, including 85 years in the United States. ITOCHU has interests in almost every aspect of commerce and industry, including energy.
USABC operates under the auspices of the United States Council for Automotive Research (USCAR), an consortium organization formed by DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors to strengthen the technology base of the domestic auto industry through cooperative research.
Argonne National Laboratory--America's first national laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is one of the U.S. Department of Energy's largest research centers. It is also the nation's first national laboratory, chartered in 1946. Today, the laboratory has about 2,900 employees, including about 1,000 scientists and engineers, of whom about 750 hold doctorate degrees. Argonne's annual operating budget of about $475 million supports upwards of 200 research projects, ranging from studies of the atomic nucleus to global climate change research. Since 1990, Argonne has worked with more than 600 companies and numerous federal agencies and other organizations.
Rechargeable lithium batteries have become very popular as power sources for consumer electronic devices, because of their high energy density relative to nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries. Lithium-ion batteries also are being developed for other uses, including energy storage devices for electric and hybrid electric vehicles, biomedicine, and space. As battery developers work to create better lithium-ion batteries, they are faced with numerous challenges such as safety, cost, and calendar life. The Battery Technology Department, in the Chemical Engineering Division at Argonne, is addressing these challenges with a world class team of scientist and engineers.
NanoEner
NanoEner, Inc., a subsidiary of Ener1, Inc., has developed a proprietary technology for the production of nanostructure thin and thick coatings.