NEW YORK-Targeting the growing wireless device marketplace, Ultralife Batteries Inc., Newark, N.J., and Lithium Technology Corp., Plymouth Meeting, Pa., are gearing up for commercial production of rechargeable batteries using next-generation, solid state, lithium polymer technology.
Both companies promised their products will be cost-competitive, in addition to offering advantages pertaining to: greater safety for users than other available lithium-based batteries; better environmental protection than many other types of rechargeable batteries now sold; greater design flexibility, smaller size, lighter weight and longer useful lives and run times than other rechargeables now on the market.
In its prospectus for an add-on stock sale, Ultralife projected the global small cell battery market will grow to $6.1 billion by 2001 from $3.7 billion at the end of 1997.
“Worldwide, there is growth in demand for advanced rechargeables with much longer run times, lighter weights and lower costs, which are environmentally friendly; [we] believe lithium-ion polymer technology may be able to meet those demands,” Lithium Technology said in an earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ultralife announced May 7 it had completed a secondary public offering of 2.5 million shares of common stock at $12.50 each through an underwriting syndicate led by Lehman Brothers Inc. Ultralife stock trades on the Nasdaq National Market.
The company said it will use the capital to increase production capacity at its Newark plant, to equip its facility in Abbington, England, to turn out the new batteries and to establish a third manufacturing facility, probably in Asia.
Ultralife said its lithium-ion solid-polymer technology employs a proprietary “prismatic” design and lithium-manganese dioxide technology.
“The company’s batteries are better for the environment than other competing batteries because they don’t contain metallic lithium, a flammable liquid electrolyte or any toxic or heavy metals,” Ultralife said in its prospectus. Metallic lithium also “is subject to the growth of dendritic structures, which can limit significantly the number of achievable (discharge) cycles,” the prospectus added.
On the same day that Ultralife closed its add-on stock offering, Lithium Technology announced it had hired R & R Capital Group Inc. as its exclusive investment banker and corporate finance adviser for a $20 million private placement of debt or equity. Lithium Technology’s stock trades on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board. Proceeds of the planned offering will be used to acquire a 51-percent stake in a joint battery manufacturing venture with Elite Material Co. Ltd. of Taiwan. The companies hope to begin commercial production late next year.
Lithium Technology said it has patented a proprietary low-cost manufacturing process and composite cell construction design, which “uses a high-performance fiber web and a flexible solid-polymer electrolyte.”
Compared with conventional liquid electrolytes now used in rechargeable batteries, solid-polymer electrolytes have an advantage because they are made of thin, solid plastic for reduced weight and volume, Lithium Technology said.
Lithium Technology said it has been providing battery samples to selected original equipment manufacturers since the second quarter of last year.
Ultralife said it has obtained initial production orders for its new batteries from a micro-notebook computer manufacturer and is in discussions with other OEMs about the use of its batteries in cellular phones and other portable consumer electronics devices.
