A123 Systems - History

History

In November 2005, the company announced a new, higher power, faster-recharging lithium-ion battery system based on doped nanophosphate materials licensed from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In December 2006, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the company a US$15 million development contract to optimize A123 Systems' proprietary doped nano-phosphate battery technology for hybrid electric vehicle applications with a focus on power, abuse tolerance, durability and cost. USABC is an organization composed of Chrysler LLC Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation.

BAE Systems announced that, from 2008, it would offer A123 Systems' lithium-ion battery technology as part of its HybriDrive Propulsion System used in the 2008 version of the Daimler Orion VII hybrid electric buses. As of September 7, 2009, more than 3,000 of the buses were in service.

In May 2008, the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the company a US$12.5 million grant to develop its lithium ion battery technology for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

On March 5, 2008, General Electric, the company, and Think Global announced that the three firms had entered a partnership to enable global electrification of transportation. GE invested US$20 million in the company to help it roll out batteries for Think. The company and Think at the same time signed a commercial supply agreement. The partnership was announced at the 78th annual international Motor Show in Geneva.

In January 2009, the company applied to the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP) for US$1.84 billion in direct loans to support the construction of new lithium-ion battery manufacturing facilities in the United States, locating the first plant in southeast Michigan near Detroit. The application was still pending as of early 2012, the company estimated that it might be allowed to borrow up to US$233 million from the program.

In April 2009, Chrysler Corp. announced a contract with A123 to supply batteries for their ENVI EV vehicles.

In August 2009, the company received a US$249 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP) to build production facilities in Romulus and Livonia, Mich. after it received a US$125 million in tax credits and incentives from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. in spring and a US$10 million grant from the state in fall 2008.

In September 2009, the company raised US$380 million after going public on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Chrysler's ENVI division was disbanded by Nov 2009.

In December 2009, the company formed a joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), the largest automaker in China. This was the first joint venture between a Chinese automaker and a non-Chinse battery supplier. The new venture is called Advanced Traction Battery Systems (ATBS).

In August 2010, A123's co-founder Professor Yet-Ming Chiang spun off a new company from A123 named 24M Technologies, which makes technology that combines concepts in current lithium ion batteries with flow batteries, where tanks of liquid electrolytes combine to create an electrical current.

In September 2010, the company opened the largest lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in North America in Livonia, Michigan. When fully operational, the factory is expected to be capable of producing battery packs for the equivalent of up to 30,000 electric cars per year.

In March 2011, the company received its third contract from the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): an US$8 million advanced battery development contract to continue developing its Nanophosphate® lithium ion battery systems to meet USABC’s target application for a Power-Assist Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PAHEV) Low-Energy Energy Storage System (LEESS).