The United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has assigned California-based lithium polymer battery maker Seeo with a $298,700 contract to test the company’s battery cell technology for electric vehicle applications.
Under the nine-month assignment, Seeo will deliver its ‘DryLyte’ battery modules to the USABC. The modules use proprietary non-flammable polymer electrolyte and provide an energy density of 220Wh/kg. Each module provides 1.65kWh storage capacity.
“Next year, we are looking at cells in excess of 300Wh/kg,” said Seeo president Hal Zarem. “The range depends on how the vehicle manufacturer specifies their product and how many watt hours of battery they chose to put in there.”
The company says that its batteries are smaller, but capable of maintaining the same performance regardless of outside conditions like temperature.
The contract, part of USABC’s battery technology and development programme, is co-funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and includes a Seeo cost-share of 50%.
Seeo recently closed a $17m funding round led by Samsung Ventures, the investment arm of Samsung Group.
USABC is a subsidiary of the United States Council for Automotive Research. USABC’s mission is to develop electrochemical energy storage technologies that support commercialisation of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles.
