nir-vana innovation network

A Japanese manufacturer of environmentally friendly cotton-based carbon batteries is seeking distribution and agency partners in the EU. They are primarily looking for partners in the fields of mobility, power storage, and robotics. The Japanese company developed their product in collaboration with a prestigious national university and in their domestic market they are currently partnering with an e-bike manufacturer with plans to distribute 10,000 units annually.

In the EU potential partnerships are expected to be long-term collaborations, with the goal to both sell directly to the partner company and to collaborate for direct sales to end-users. The Japanese company prides itself in the high performance and sustainable nature of the batteries despite not using transitional metals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese. This has the following benefits:

- It decreases the long-term operation costs of devices using the batteries because they last longer
- Allows for an alternative to rare earth metals, reducing the dependency on these materials, and providing a stable supply chain of organic materials and carbon
- Reduction of the recycling cost, due to the usage of organic materials

Conventional ILB (ion lithium batteries) in comparison have shorter life cycles, are prone to explosions, and have a high manufacturing cost. The Japanese company provides an alternative that is more suitable for long-term use and allows for safe recycling.

The ideal EU partner would represent the Japanese company in the form of a commercial agency or distribution services agreement. The partner should be able to sell the products and promote the benefits of using the batteries in existing application. The Japanese company hopes this will result in a mutually beneficial relationship where the EU partner can use the Japanese companies’ products to increase the performance of their existing products. They would like to work with distributors, local producers, and governmental institutions to promote and sell the products.

Advantages & innovations

The company prides itself in using carbon made from organic materials. The usage of carbon allows the batteries to naturally absorb heat, meaning they do not need transitional metals such as cobalt or nickel. The benefits of using organic materials in the batteries can be summarized as follows: - Long lasting performance (more than 8000 cycles) - Quick charge (10 times faster than conventional ion lithium batteries, for example, e-bikes can be charged within 10-20 minutes) - Recyclability (reasonably lower cost and easy recycling process because carbon is used instead of transitional metals, so there is no toxic waste) - Safety (their batteries are non-explosive) - Operation in extreme temperatures (no need for cooling or heating systems)

Stage of development

JAPAN

Partner sought

The ideal EU partner would be capable of supporting the market entry of the Japanese company with a capacity to provide technological support and advice regarding regulations. The partner would ideally have connections in the following fields: 1. Shared mobility (e-bikes, e-scooters, e-boats) with possibility of implementation of their batteries 2. Portable power storage distribution, implementation of their batteries 3. Research organisations, universities, involved in development of dual carbon batteries 4. Agents for sales of the products