Toronto company makes a non-toxic battery for green cars

Electric vehicles for The Green Highway today and for the foreseeable future all require lithium ion batteries.

Manufacturing them is expected to be a $100-billion industry in less than 20 years. Today, Japanese companies like Sony, Panasonic and Toyota are leaders in a $9-billion business. South Korea isn’t far behind with Samsung and LG and China, of course, is investing massively in lith-ion R&D and production. Let’s not forget the United States, where President Barack Obama announced a goal of ending dependence on Middle East oil by 2018. His stimulus package handed the Department of Energy $167-billion for “innovations.”

It’s Electrovaya Inc., which has been working on lith-ion technology since 1996. The company was recently awarded two contracts to supply Chrysler with Lithium Ion SuperPolymer battery systems for 25 Plug-In Hybrid minivans and 140 Plug-In Hybrid pickup trucks.

“Lithium-ion batteries have their dirty little secret – except for Electrovaya they all use massive quantities of toxic chemicals for manufacturing. We are probably the only one who doesn’t use any toxic chemicals,” said Sankar DasGupta, Electrovaya’s CEO.