by Anne McIvor
The original intention when this publication on batteries was envisaged was to compile profiles of 100 battery companies. However, there was so much interesting information to include that we decided to extend the list to closer to 130 companies. This has allowed us to include information on a number of companies for which batteries are not the ‘core’ business, but which have interesting battery, or battery related, technology. Examples include large multinationals which have technology in the battery space such as IBM (which is working on lithium air technology) and ExxonMobil (which has developed battery film technology).
There are at least eight large joint venture companies in the battery space. The parent companies sometimes also merit inclusion in their own right, so extending the list to 100 + ensures that we avoid the risk of double counting.
In terms of investment, the list includes some 30 venture capital or privately funded companies. Excluding the non-core battery companies (such as IBM, ExxonMobil or large automotive OEMs who also make batteries), our list includes more than 40 stock market-quoted companies. These are predominantly US-quoted (over half of the listed companies are traded on the NYSE, NASDAQ or OTC Bulletin Board). Almost 20% are quoted in Tokyo and close to 15% on a Chinese exchange. The European markets are home to very few listed battery companies: Saft, in France, is the largest. However, there are a number of quoted European companies included amongst the OEMs or component suppliers (e.g. Continental), for which batteries form a significant part of the business.
In terms of the technologies, we have included profiles of over 50 companies working with lithium technology of some form or other – not surprisingly, lithium-ion is the predominant technology. We have included profiles of 16 companies which are developing micro batteries using thin film and nano technologies.
From a geographical perspective, close to half of the companies are located in North America (there are 43 US companies profiled in total). Of the remainder, 35% are based in Asia (the number of Japanese companies profiled is just slightly higher than the number of Chinese) and 16% of the companies are European.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
