Battery maker ReVolt lands $5M stimulus grant

Enlarge Image

ReVolt battery layers diagram

Swiss battery-maker ReVolt Technology LLC on Thursday received a $5 million federal stimulus grant which the company will use to move forward on its plans for a Portland manufacturing and research center.

ReVolt announced in September that it had chosen Portland for its U.S. headquarters, where it would eventually employ 250 in a research and manufacturing operation to develop zinc-air batteries that can be used in electric vehicles among other applications.

CEO James P. McDougall said the company set up an initial Portland office and began looking for larger sites.

“Now, with this Recovery Act stimulus award, we expect to proceed on facility decisions and operations in the coming months, and to have most of our U.S. team in place in Oregon by October 2010,” he said in a prepared statement.

The news was announced Thursday by the U.S. Department of Energy, which issued $106 million in grants to 37 different energy research projects through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, dubbed ARPA-E.

ReVolt is developing a zinc-air battery technology that can deliver twice the energy of conventional rechargeable battery technologies, such as lithium-ion. Using an abundant resource such as zinc — which is already used to power products such as computers and cell phones — lowers manufacturing costs and cuts pollution since it can degrade into environmentally-friendly substances, the company said.

ReVolt in September said it would initially employ 75 in Portland while in development stages and will grow to 250 once it reaches pilot and production phases.

Its development was largely contingent upon receiving federal funds. In September, the company said it was applying for $30 million in stimulus money to accelerate the commercialization of its batteries.

U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-Ore.) helped created the ARPA-E program as a member of the House Committee on Science and Technology.

“Once again Oregon has proven that it is a leader in developing cutting-edge energy technologies,” Wu said in a news release. “When I helped create ARPA-E to fund exciting, innovative energy projects, this is exactly the kind of transformational technology that I envisioned supporting.”