A123 Venture Technologies Agrees to Collaboration with MIT Start-up SolidEnergy

A123 Venture Technologies a subsidiary of A123 Systems LLC, announced its collaboration with MIT startup SolidEnergy Systems Corp.. This strategic partnership leverages SolidEnergy's transformative solid electrolyte technology enabling the safe and practical use of lithium metal anodes for high energy density batteries in a wide range of applications. It is also the first publicly announced agreement under A123's expanded R&D model introduced earlier this year.

Together the companies will gain competitive advantage by accelerating a safer high-energy battery chemistry with the potential of four times the energy density compared to conventional lithium ion batteries. SolidEnergy decided to partner with A123 Venture Technologies for its world-class labs, innovation and rapid scale-up experience, and battery design expertise. A123 Venture Technologies’ incubator business model was launched last spring at MIT's Knowledge Foundation conference as a way to provide start-ups with access to its development facilities, battery know-how, and market access in exchange for services revenue, equity and cooperation on commercialization. A123 and SolidEnergy both began with MIT research making this partnership a natural fit.

This partnership combines SolidEnergy’s novel battery technology called Solid Polymer Ionic Liquid (SPIL) electrolyte originally developed at MIT with the mature cell design and prototyping capabilities of A123. “We are excited to embark on our respective new journeys and to commercialize this technology in the fastest and most efficient way," said Qichao Hu, President and Chief Technology Officer of SolidEnergy.

The companies plan to jointly produce consumer electronics battery prototypes within the next year, followed by electric vehicle battery prototypes, and SolidEnergy staff will also be hosted in A123’s Waltham, Massachusetts development facility. Test results are expected to be ready for discussion with target customers in the latter part of 2014. Mujeeb Ijaz, President of A123 Venture Technologies, said, "A123 is delighted that SolidEnergy selected us as a development partner and we look forward to providing them with the ecosystem needed to bring this important technology to market in leading edge products.”