The new batteries are more efficient and powerful than lithium ion, as well as being safer and more environmentally friendly to manufacture. They are based on the ultra-capacitor principle and feature vertically aligned carbon nanotube electrodes. These have a unique coating which enables the batteries to provide five times the power density than existing ultra-capacitors.
The batteries can be charged and discharged in seconds and can do so over a million cycles without any loss in performance, far in advance of conventional lithium-ion batteries which take minutes, sometimes hours, to fully charge and typically have 5,000 cycle limits.
NAWA Technologies, based in the South of France, has also pioneered a specialised nano-manufacturing process and has begun low volume pilot manufacturing of the batteries. The company believes that key markets for the batteries will include automotive, industrial, defence, aerospace, power tool and personal mobility. They could also play a key role in managing energy across the smart electricity grid.
The company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Pascal Boulanger spent 20 years at the CEA (French Atomic and Alternative Energies Organisation), working across a variety of fields including nuclear energy, solar photovoltaics and smart grids. In 2008, he joined one of the first R&D teams in Europe working on new nanocarbon structures: carbon nanotubes and graphene.
Within two years the team of researchers had shown that nanomaterials could be produced on a large scale and at a competitive cost. And in 2013 NAWA Technologies was born, spun off from the CEA, creating 25 jobs in Rousset, in the south of France.
Co-founder of NAWA Technologies is Sales and Marketing VP Ludovic Eveillard, who has held various senior positions in R&D with companies such as Honeywell. Technical Director is Harald Hauf, who has 23 years’ experience in the semiconductor and solar photovoltaic industries, while General Secretary is Veronique Goudet who brings with her huge experience in management, having worked in finance for Deloitte among other companies, and is a trained lawyer.
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