BASF, a chemical company, has inked a joint agreement with FDK, provider of primary and rechargeable batteries, in order to develop nickel-metalhydride (NiMH) technologies for use in stationary power storage applications.
This agreement has been signed by BASF through its recently acquired affiliate Ovonic Battery. An industrial NiMH battery license has been added to Ovonic’s previous license, through this contract.
According to Ralf Meixner, BASF’s Senior Vice President for Battery Materials, BASF’s collaboration with FDK has shown the research potential and technology position of Ovonic in the NiMH market. BASF believes that the close relationship of Ovonic with FDK will expand the NiMH battery materials technology to a new growth market.
Michael Fetcenko, BASF’s Managing Director and Vice President for Ovonic stated that BASF is delighted to form a partnership with FDK. It is expecting a large future market opportunity for NiMH batteries for use in stationary power storage in the UPS and telecommunication fields and better opportunity for the smart grid storage applications. Ovonic will continue the improvement of the NiMH battery technology in order to provide enhanced performance. BASF has considered that FDK is a suitable partner to jointly manufacture and continue these new market opportunities.
FDK’s Corporate Vice President and FDK Twicell’s President, Noriyuki Miyazaki commented that FDK is delighted with the collaboration with Ovonic, since the acquisition of Twicell manufacturing operations of Sanyo, and is expecting to expand the association with BASF. The engineers at FDK are working closely with the technologists at Ovonic for understanding and employing the NiMH technology advances. FDK is looking for the possibility to enter into NiMH batteries market and have chosen Ovonic and BASF to continue the tie-up between the companies.
Source: http://www.basf.com/