UK-based ‘carbon-ion’ developer Zap&Go is to build a new R&D facility in Oxford as it moves toward taking its next generation fast-charge technology to market.
CEO Stephen Voller told BEST Battery Briefing the ‘Make Like Production Facility’ at the Harwell Campus will allow the company to develop the next generation of its battery tech.
The facility will feature “the largest drying room in Europe” and construction is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2019.
Research conducted at the facility will assist Zap&Go in bringing its fast-charging carbon-ion technology to market, to then be manufactured by China’s Li-Fun Technology— a large-scale manufacturer of lithium-ion polymer rechargeable batteries in Hunan Province.
Commenting on the fast-charge attributes of Zap&Go’s batteries, Voller said: “Because they use an electro-static reaction, not an electro-chemical reaction, they can be charged as fast as your connection will allow. So, in comparing C-rates we test in the lab at hundreds of Cs.”
Meanwhile, Harwell Campus itself has reported that its EnergyTec Cluster, launched last May, has since grown 17% and now includes 35 industry, academic, and public organisations— including the Faraday Institution, located adjacent to Zap&Go’s new R&D Centre— working on the Campus, collectively employing around 900 people.
“Harwell Campus is an energy powerhouse with all the components available in one place to fast-track a company’s R&D and commercial growth”, said Harwell Campus director Angus Horner.
