Maxwell Tech, Tianjin Lishen team up on batteries

San Diego, Calif.-based Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL) said today that it formed an alliance with Tianjin, China's Tianjin Lishen Battery to produce energy storage products that combine their respective ultracapacitor and lithium-ion battery technologies.

Maxwell Technologies said the companies see a large market opportunity for products that use the complementary strengths of the two technologies.

"We believe that the products we envision will give end-users the best of both worlds in terms of the long cycle life, rapid charge/discharge characteristics and low temperature performance of ultracapacitors and the large energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries," said David Schramm, president and CEO of Maxwell.

Schramm said Maxwell plans to move some of its Boostcap product assembly to Lishen in order to leverage their joint process engineering capabilities.

Lishen is expected to conduct development and qualification testing on battery electrode material produced through Maxwell's proprietary dry process.

Maxwell said Lishen currently produces more than 130 million lithium-ion batteries annually in its 860,000 square foot production facility.

Lishen supplies rechargeable batteries to cell phone manufacturers, including Motorola and Samsung, and consumer electronics makers, including Apple.

The two companies said they have identified a number of initial target applications for the new hybrid energy storage products, ranging from quick-charge cordless tools to electric vehicles.

They expect production and delivery of the first product samples in early 2008.