Cobasys, a corporate cousin of Energy Conversion Devices has been awarded the contract to supply
batteries to
General Motors for the new
Saturn Aura Green Line
hybrid. Cobasys is a joint venture between ECD and Chevron Technology Ventures. The battery for the
Aura is a nickel metal hydride unit that Cobasys sells under their
NiMHax brand. This battery will be a 36V unit that is integrated with control electronics and liquid cooling, that's designed as a plug and play system for
hybrid vehicle applications. Cobasys designed the system to be easily scalable for different vehicle applications. The NiMH technology is obviously not as advanced as lithium ion solutions, but it's a lot cheaper and less prone to "
runaway thermal incidents."
[Source: ECD Ovonics]
[Source: ECD Ovonics]