Building on the existing award-winning Argonne-Envia collaboration, the Argonne license contributes complementary technology to Envia’s development of industry-leading lithium-ion battery solutions. General Motors announced today it will invest $7 million in Envia to provide its ​“battery engineering team with access to advanced lithium-ion cathode technology that delivers higher cell energy density and lower cost.”

In a separate announcement today, Envia Systems said that its High Capacity Manganese Rich cathode material for advanced batteries is available in limited quantities for pilot vehicle programs.

“Today we are once again seeing the benefits for the American people that come with federal investments in science and innovation. With this new agreement, a battery technology, originally developed at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, is making its way into the market. By supporting American innovation, commercialization and manufacturing, this partnership is helping to boost U.S. competitiveness and create the jobs of the future,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

“At Argonne, we are proud that our energy research is giving powerful support to the U.S. automobile industry and revitalizing battery production in this country, creating good new jobs here at home and increasing our economic competitiveness world-wide,” said Jeff Chamberlain, who heads Argonne’s Energy Storage Initiative. ​“The transfer of this technology to a Silicon Valley start up like Envia demonstrates the extraordinary impact and value of the Department of Energy’s investment in basic research, and shows the very real contribution the national laboratories make to our country’s prosperity.”

GM, LG Chem, Ltd., BASF and Toda Kogyo have also licensed the Argonne-developed technology.