Jump-start the stimulus: Build a better battery

During recent Congressional hearings concerning America’s troubled automotive industry, much of the criticism lodged against Detroit centered around the Motor City’s generations-long unwillingness to embrace fuel efficiency and environmentally sound practices. Attempting to redress that imbalance, President Obama’s economic stimulus and recovery package yokes the nation’s financial future to greener and more environmentally sound practices. Included in this landmark piece of $787 billion legislation is a $40 billion provision intended for energy efficient and renewable programs, including $2 billion earmarked for advanced battery systems.

“Lighter, more efficient batteries could hold the key to a more economically and environmentally sound future,” says William Robinson, chairman and CEO of Bellingham-based Integral Technologies Inc., a development-stage company that may have created a new building block for a better Detroit. “While you can’t change the basics of how a battery works, you can change the materials that are used to create it.”

Integral has done just that, developing a moldable conductive plastic named ElectriPlast, a polymer blend that can be used to conduct electricity. ElectriPlast consists of small single pellets design compounded with metal fibers that, when poured into a molding machine and shaped, may help streamline production of batteries and electronics.

With ElectriPlast replacing lead or stainless steel, batteries could be created that would be 20 to 30 pounds lighter than traditional batteries used today; on average most components would weigh 80 percent less than standard metal counterparts. Lighter doesn’t only mean faster, it also means greener. Today, decreased vehicle weight translates into lower fuel consumption. Tomorrow, a better, more efficient battery likely holds the key to widespread popularity of hybrid and electric cars, and the nation curbing its dependence on fossil fuels.

After spending years perfecting hundreds of formulations and blends of the material, Integral is actively showcasing ElectriPlast to various industries. There are more than 118 patents filed around the product and its use. Along with their official manufacturing partner, Jasper Rubber Products, Integral is currently working to apply their innovations toward the creation of antennas, apparel, appliances, audio and visual devices, automotive products, batteries, cables, computers, electrical and heating systems, and more.

“Given some of the surreal figures being tossed around as part of the stimulus, it is important to note that ElectriPlast is not just a theory but proven technology,” says Robinson, “we know we’re onto something special.”