Lithium Werks and Exro Technologies team up on battery efficiency

Industrial battery and portable power provider Lithium Werks said Tuesday it has agreed to collaborate with electric motor and generator technology vendor Exro Technologies Inc. in an effort to improve the way batteries are controlled under variable conditions.

The partnership comes at a time of soaring demand for lithium-ion battery technology, as customers seek smaller, lighter, safer, and more durable sources of energy, Lithium Werks CEO and co-founder T. Joseph Fisher III said in a statement. By combining those features with Exro's technology, the partners will target applications with cutting-edge requirements and new markets, he said.

Lithium Werks, with U.S. offices in Austin, Texas, produces lithium-ion batteries and equipment for the material handling, stationary energy storage, medical, and commercial marine markets. Vancouver, British Columbia-based Exro Technologies says its products can accelerate the transition to clean energy by improving the efficiency of electric motors and generators and by improving the performance of batteries that store energy for that equipment.

"We will combine our technologies to develop flexible battery voltage input and output solutions for applications ranging from large-scale energy storage for the grid to everyday consumer goods," said Mark Godsy, CEO of Exro Technologies.

Working together, the partners hope to create benefits such as reconfiguring battery assemblies so they can be successfully charged or discharged at different voltages, resulting in system efficiency gains; expanding energy storage by simply adding more batteries, without having to add additional control or power conditioning equipment; swapping batteries while in operation; and controlling energy output and input for any given battery at any given point in time.

The move is the latest step in Lithium Werks' growth, following the company's acquisitions earlier this year of battery producer Valence Technologies Inc. and of certain battery manufacturing plants from A123 Systems.