Electrovaya Inc. is a developer and manufacturer of portable Lithium-ion batteries and battery management systems for the automotive, warehousing, autonomous guided vehicles, power grid, medical, and mobile device sectors. The company is based in Mississauga,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada.

Overview

The company was founded by Dr. Sankar Das Gupta and Dr. Jim Jacobs in 1996 after beginning their research into battery technologies in 1983. The company went public in 2000, and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol EFL. Electrovaya owns over 100 patents (issued and pending) pertaining to electrode and electrolyte materials, battery architectures, battery system designs, battery management systems, and battery manufacturing methods. In addition to developing batteries for electric vehicle and grid storage applications, Electrovaya were among the first developers of mobile battery chargers for electronic devices, releasing the Powerpad in 2001. This technology was the predecessor to the battery used in the Scribbler

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...

series. Electrovaya technology has also been used by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

in their

EMU The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

system.

Electric vehicles

In 2003, Electrovaya released the Maya-100, a prototype

Zero-emissions vehicle A zero-emission vehicle, or ZEV, is a vehicle that does not emit exhaust gas or other pollutants from the onboard source of power. The California definition also adds that this includes under any and all possible operational modes and conditions ...

powered by lithium-ion batteries. The Maya-100 debuted at the 20th International Electric Vehicle Symposium at Long Beach, CA, and won the Technology Innovation Award at the Tour de Sol in 2004. In January 2008, Electrovaya launched the prototype Maya-300, a low-speed electric car for city driving.

Tata Indica EV

Electrovaya has partnered with

Tata Motors Tata Motors Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing company, headquartered in Mumbai, India, which is part of the Tata Group. The company produces passenger cars, trucks, vans, coaches, buses. Formerly known as Tata Eng ...

and Miljø Grenland/Innovasjon to manufacture batteries and electric cars using Electrovaya’s Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery technology. The Tata Indica EV was scheduled to be launched in Norway in 2009 and India in 2010, projected to have a range on a full charge and a top speed of .

Car-sharing

The first all-electric

car-sharing Carsharing or car sharing (AU, NZ, CA, TH, & US) or car clubs (UK) is a model of car rental where people rent cars for short periods of time, often by the hour. It differs from traditional car rental in that the owners of the cars are often pri ...

program in the U.S. debuted at Baltimore's

Inner Harbor The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the city of Baltimore, Maryland. It was described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as "the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the world". Th ...

with Electrovaya offering its Maya-300 for rent at the

Maryland Science Center The Maryland Science Center, located in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, opened to the public in 1976. It includes three levels of exhibits, a planetarium, and an observatory. It was one of the original structures that drove the revitalization of the ...

. The car could go up to on one charge of its

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also s ...

system, and had a top speed of .

Daimler

Electrovaya purchased Daimler's 700 MWh/year battery factory in Europe in 2015 to produce batteries for Daimler's

Smart electric drive The Smart EQ Fortwo, formerly Smart Fortwo electric drive, ''smart ed'' or Smart Fortwo EV, is a battery electric vehicle variant of the Smart Fortwo city car made by Smart. The Smart EQ Forfour is an electric variant of the larger Smart Forfou ...

car from 2015-2018.

Electric Lift-Trucks

In 2017, Electrovaya released heavy-duty Li-ion batteries designed for near continuous use in electric lift-trucks. In 2019 and 2020, the Raymond Corporation (a 100% subsidiary of

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

) announced strategic agreements to use Electrovaya batteries as part of their electric forklift and battery product line.

Autonomous Guided Vehicles

Electrovaya developed and produced batteries suitable for smart-charging Autonomous guided vehicles, and partnered with

Jabil Jabil Inc. is an American worldwide manufacturing services company. Headquartered in the Gateway area of St. Petersburg, Florida, it is one of the largest companies in the Tampa Bay area. Jabil has around 100 plants in 30 countries, and 260, ...

to release an autonomous robot at ProMat 2019.

Energy Storage Systems

In 2013, Electrovaya delivered 25 stationary battery energy storage systems to

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (the trading name of Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution Limited, Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc, Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution plc and Southern Electric Power Distr ...

ranging from 12-80 kWh for integrating renewable energy into power grids. In 2015, Electrovaya installed a 450 kWh energy storage system for Glencore's microgrid at a remote mine in Northern Canada, allowing the use of alternate energy sources and reducing the use of diesel generators. In 2016, Electrovaya completed a pilot project with

Toronto Hydro Toronto Hydro Corporation is an electric utility that operates the electricity distribution system for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of 2018, it serves approximately 772,000 customers and delivers approximately 19% of the electricity ...

to develop a containerized 600 kWh battery to balance grid loads. Electrovaya also developed a transportable energy storage system for ConEdison capable of storing 800 kWh of energy to use during grid blackouts.

References

{{automotive industry in Canada Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Battery manufacturers Electric vehicle battery manufacturers