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AUGUST 2008 PROJECT OF THE MONTH Picatinny Technology Innovation Center (PTIC) Company may be the Power Behind Tomorrow's Hybrids 
Lightening Energy, based at Picatinny, gets $500K grant
BY MICHAEL DAIGLE • DAILY RECORD • JULY 9, 2008 ROCKAWAY TWP. -- A small township company is developing advanced battery technologies that could one day help motorists drive away from the gas pump. Assisting the company, Lightening Energy, in that effort will be a $500,000 Edison Research and Development Fund grant from the New Jersey Commission on Science and Technology. The competitive award, announced last week, will help Lightening accelerate the development and commercialization of its advanced batteries for hybrid electric motor vehicles, the state commission said. Lightening Chief Executive Officer and President Michael Epstein said the Edison award was "another affirmation" of the work the company is doing. "It holds the promise of generating a new industry in New Jersey as well as advancing key requirements for national energy security and the environment," Epstein said. Two other Edison awards went to Carbozyme Inc. of Monmouth Junction to assist its development of a system to capture carbon dioxide, and to Niiki Pharma Inc. of Hoboken for pre-clinical trials of a cancer tumor-cell treatment. The state commission, in announcing the award, said, "the batteries emerging from Lightening Energy provide extremely high power modules that satisfy the most crucial needs for introducing advanced plug-in hybrid electric vehicles: assured safety, low acquisition and operating cost, compact packaging and high power." Epstein said the company, housed in the Picatinny Arsenal Innovation Center since August 2007, has been focusing on developing new batteries that are less costly, and provide more and longer power. At the same time, he said, the company is working on a fuel cell project for the military. The goal of the Picatinny Innovation Center is to give emerging companies space to develop products that have joint military and commercial uses. The market, Epstein said, has automakers scrambling to provide alternative fuel vehicles to drivers paying $4 a gallon for gasoline. Epstein said cost, weight and length of service are the issues with batteries designed for use in current hybrid vehicles, which operate with both gasoline engines and electric motors, and the next generation of hybrids called plug-ins. A plug-in is a vehicle with a primary electric motor backed up by a gasoline engine. The battery can be charged by plugging the vehicle into a common source of electricity. Toyota is expected to have a plug-in Prius hybrid on the market by 2010. General Motors could have its first plug-in production vehicle, called the Volt, in showrooms by 2010 or 2011, and Ford displayed a model at a recent car show in Detroit. USA Today reported that consultant J.D. Power and Associates said that General Motors could sell 60,000 or more Volts, if the cost was $30,000 or less. A new less costly battery "is a necessary component in the goal to develop new fuel efficient cars," he said. "When designing a product for consumers, cost effectiveness is a key element." The state commission in its award notice said that a battery that allowed 100 miles between recharging would be "sufficient to support the majority of commuters and households in America." Christopher Dyer, Lightening's chief technology officer, said that the road to a fully electric car and a battery that would support it will be an evolution of technologies. Development of a popular fully electric car, he said, will be a matter of cost. One current model by a California company called Tesla is priced at $80,000. Current batteries create power from chemical reaction based on a nickel-metal platform. The batteries currently under development are a Lithium-ion combination. Dyer said Lightening is working on Lithium-ion batteries but is also studying many combinations of engineering and chemical answers as it seeks to build a better battery. The effort has attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy, which this year offered $30 million for projects that increase the range of hybrid batteries. Republican presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, has proposed a $300 million reward to the inventor of a next-generation battery that could power electric vehicles, and the Bush administration has already pledged $1.2 billion toward research on hydrogen fuel cells. Dyer said that most batteries used in cars are made overseas but that the development of new highly efficient and less expensive batteries for a new generation of vehicles could reestablish the industry in the United States. Michael Daigle can be reached at (973) 267-7947 or at mdaigle@gannett.com.  Click Here For More information
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