Axion Power gets $1.2M to develop military battery

The company is working on making hybrid vehicles more affordable.

STAFF REPORT

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A New Castle-area company has been awarded $1.2 million to develop a better battery for the military.

Axion Power International, on Clover Lane in Neshannock Township, received a check Monday morning from U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire of McCandless, D-4th, as employees gathered outside its building looked on.

Altmire secured the funding in the continuing resolution H.R. 2638, passed by the House on Sept. 24 and signed into law Sept. 30.

The money is part of more than $20 million Altmire secured in the resolution to support job and economic growth in western Pennsylvania.

Axion, which moved to the New Castle area from Toronto in February 2006, will develop a better battery using a patented lead-carbon technology. The goal is to reduce the weight and increase the power in military-assault and silent-watch vehicles. The technology offers several advantages: less lead, high-power delivery rates, improved low-temperature performance, faster recharge rates and a longer-life cycle, the company said.

Axion’s chief executive officer, Tom Granville, said the company applied for a grant but needed an advocate.

“So we went to Congressman Altmire and explained the technology and jobs it would create,” he said.

He said the project will create dozens more jobs, mostly in research to start.

Though the project isn’t going to result in an alternative fuel source for the military, Axion is working on that as well.

Ed Buiel, vice president and chief technical officer, said the company is working on making hybrid vehicles more affordable, and a more aggressive program aims at vehicles that don’t use gas at all.

The company displayed a pickup truck that was converted to run on a battery. It can be driven 45 miles before being recharged, he said.

The Axion Power Cube, another of the company’s products, can store energy from wind and solar power, he said.

Granville said that eventually, the company could sell its batteries to car companies and to individuals who want to convert their vehicles. He said a conversion could be done for “$10,000 or less.”

Granville said Axion has talked to companies such as Wal-Mart about having plug-in stations for battery-run cars. He also said the company is working with a hybrid that would allow the driver to control when it switched over to gas. That way, the car would be available while the battery was recharging.

“We do believe in what you’re doing,” Altmire told employees gathered in front of him.

“We need alternative energy,” he said. “Drilling only goes so far.”

Altmire said the new battery for military vehicles will make them safer, cheaper, more durable and more environmentally friendly.

He lauded the company’s potential impact on everyday use for civilians as well.