Christina Lampe-Onnerud, the CEO of Boston-Power, is also making an effort to establish the production line for Swing in the United States. The manufacturing facility will be in Auburn, Mass., modeling the company’s factory in Hsinchu Industrial Park in Taiwan. This establishment will create 600 jobs locally and 2,000 total jobs globally as the production triples over the next three years.
The Swing car battery is designed for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) and Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). It deploys the same lithium-ion battery technology as Boston-Power’s new generation notebook battery, Sonata. Swing’s sustainable power exceeds the USABC (United States Advanced Battery Consortium) standard PHEV-40 by 25–30 percent.
Despite the economic downturn, Boston-Power successfully raised $55 million in January 2009, bringing its total investment to $125 million. In addition, the state of Massachusetts offered $9 million in forgivable loans for this new development. Lampe-Onnerud expressed her gratitude saying, “There has never been so much capital and so much willingness to support clean technology.”As a rising star in the battery industry, Boston-Power is on a fast track. Founded in 2005, the company signed a contract with Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2008 to produce Sonata battery cells for HP’s Enviro series; reached a 5-year agreement with battery manufacturing giant GP Batteries in March of this year to mass produce Boston-Power batteries in Taiwan; joined forces this May with Mr. Battery, the largest notebook battery distributor in Taiwan; and successfully applied its Sonata battery technology to the Swing car battery in June.
Dressing in blue, Lampe-Onnerud is as energetic as the battery she invented. She foresaw the problems and dangers of early lithium-ion batteries. Many lithium-ion batteries in small electronics such as cell phones and notebook computers only perform as specified on the first use, and then lose power in a few months. They require longer charging time, and the capacity can fade entirely in a year.
Once a portable device runs out of power, it loses mobility. More dangerously, manufacturers also attempt to compress more energy into a limited space. These over-engineered batteries can go out in flames. There have been more than 1 million laptop battery recalls so far and many with injury reports.
As a former partner at Arthur D. Little consulting firm, Lampe-Onnerud could only make suggestions, but could not execute her ideas. She was frustrated with providing patch after patch to resolve battery issues. She observed that companies were not interested in innovation and did not take users’ needs into consideration. Lampe-Onnerud heard her calling then. Finally, in 2004, she decided to re-evaluate standard battery structure and reconsider her career goals.
Making the Change
That winter, Lampe-Onnerud gave up the secure, high-paying job and the luxurious corporate life to redesign lithium-ion batteries. It was a risky choice, especially for a mother of two small children. Her husband, Per Onnerud, said supportively, “I’ll keep my job.” Then Lampe-Onnerud started her experiment in the garage of her carriage house in Framingham, Mass.
While the space for notebook batteries is limited, the structure within is changeable. Lampe-Onnerud’s design replaces the traditional structure with three rectangular cells in series. Her innovations also include changing the chemical mixture and eliminating the use of heavy metal. Therefore, it ensures safety, increases capacity, and shortens charging time.
Lampe-Onnerud found a battery manufacturer in China willing to provide the facility for her experiments. She planned for two years at Hangzhou Future Power Technology, but developed the prototype Sonata in just six months.
Sonata can last at least three years, consistent with the average life of a notebook computer. It can retain 80 percent of its original capacity after 1,000 cycles, reach 40 percent capacity in 10 minutes of charging, and reach 80 percent capacity in just 30 minutes. The quality and performance exceed competitors whose batteries on average last 150 cycles.
Why do these big companies with generous funds produce batteries that go out in flames, but Lampe-Onnerud was able to develop sustainable and safe batteries with limited resources in a few months? She explained that proposals can be ignored easily in the corporate world.In order to ensure the non-negotiable safety policy will not be compromised in a big company, she insisted on manufacturing her own products instead of selling a license to do so. Now the research and development center at Boston-Power’s headquarters in Westborough, Mass., can resolve technical issues within 48 hours.
Impacting the Industry
“If all of us leave the earth today, it will take 50 years to recover.” Lampe-Onnerud emphasizes the importance of preserving our environment. She believes that change comes from individuals, and change occurs when everybody supports an initiative. Boston-Power is committed to be eco-friendly.
Sonata batteries do not contain heavy metal or PVC (polyvinyl chloride). The technology is the first and only battery technology that has received the Nordic Ecolabel symbol, the most challenging accreditation to receive. Sonata also received Chinese Ecolabel certification.
Lampe-Onnerud stresses that the true meaning of eco-friendly is not just using biodegradable materials but also reducing the material used in the first place. Sonata can last the lifetime of a notebook computer, so users need fewer batteries. This reduction in usage contributes the most to saving the earth. Lampe-Onnerud hoped to improve lithium-ion batteries, create a product to better people’s lives, and establish a happy work place. Now, she has done it.
Boston-Power has a production line in Hsinchu Industrial Park in Taiwan (the so-called Silicon Valley of Taiwan). Supply chain expert Max Fang oversees the production of several hundred-thousand cells per month. Fang built the first International Procurement Organization for Dell. As the CEO of his own investment company, Maxima Capital Management, he has an eye for success. He believes in Boston-Power and its exciting products.
From Music to Mass Production
Born in Sweden, Christina Lampe-Onnerud grew up in a family with deep roots in music. She wanted to be a ballerina at age 4, had an opportunity to attend Mozarteum School in Austria at 15, and was accepted to a prominent medical school. She took her father’s advice to keep her interest in performing arts on the side and chose science.
Looking back, she has no regrets. Now she is a mother, an entrepreneur, a CEO, a scientist, and is still a musician. Her desire to deliver happiness through music remains. In her spare time, she directs the Stardust Show Chorus. Her love for music extends to her enterprise. It is no wonder that the Sonata and Swing batteries both have names related to music.
There are many lithium-ion technologies that exist today. MIT announced the virus-built battery technology in April of this year. Lampe-Onnerud, who did post-doctoral study at MIT, said that developing a technology is just the first step. Being able to mass produce is the key for transforming a technology into a real solution.
The study of car batteries started in 1850, and scientists have been searching for alternative energy for cars. An episode of Nova on PBS pointed out that electricity is a plausible clean-energy solution because it can be generated by wind or solar power. The entire system can be eco-friendly. General Motors (GM) has developed an electric car VOLT, but it cannot run yet. GM’s Vehicle Line Director Anthony Posawatz says, “We will be ready when that battery is ready,” in the Nova episode titled “Car of the Future.” Boston-Power is now ready with the car battery technology.
A successful company needs to be one step ahead of its competitors. Lampe-Onnerud thinks that Boston-Power is more than one step ahead. In four short years, it has gone from a small startup to a technology leader with major corporate contracts and 61 patent applications. Lampe-Onnerud says, “We want to be part of a solution and not part of the problem.”
Kitty Huang is a freelance writer in the Boston area.
