U.S. Manufacturing of Li-ion Batteries
There are many other examples of work by U.S. researchers that directly affected advanced battery systems. However, the United States has no large volume manufacturers, with only a few firms producing small volumes for specialty and military applications. U.S. companies, although global leaders in primary battery production and technology, were unable to take advantage of this early technological success. Their Southeast Asian counterparts have captured a dominant position in Li-ion battery manufacturing. Huge investments have been made in Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, and other countries in Southeast Asia by both companies and government friendly policies for investment in competitive efforts to capture glob-al market share for rechargeable batteries for telecommunications, wireless, and computer products.
The two major U.S. battery manufacturers, Duracell and Eveready (now Energizer Holdings), began R&D efforts in Li-ion technologies around 1992, with the intent of ultimately manufacturing Li-ion batteries.
According to several senior staff interviewees, Duracell and Energizer both initiated programs for production of Li-ion batteries. In 1997, Energizer built a manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Florida outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment to produce Li-ion batteries, with production slated to start in 1999-2000. They licensed a Goodenough patent from Sony and built on their own advantaged IP positions in several areas. They had several years of experience with manufacturing Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd) and Ni-MH cells in Gainesville for several cellular phone and notebook computer companies. They prepared to establish a sales and marketing group in Japan to have access to the market, knowing it would take 5 years to be accepted. When the Gainesville Li-ion plant was in the "prove-in" stage, nearly ready for production, the world market price for Li-ion cells abruptly declined. The company reassessed the profitability of their investment and found it was marginal at the low cell prices. They could buy cells from Japan at a lower price than their manufacturing costs. The decision to exit Li-ion manufacture followed swiftly. The news of the low return to manufacture of Li-ion cells spread to Duracell, and they stopped their project. (Energizer sold its Gainesville facility to Moltech Corporation in 1999 after it sat idle for two years. In 2002, Moltech sold the plant to U.S. Lithium Energetics, which is seeking capital to enter production.)
