The United States Advanced Battery Consortium Wednesday announced the award of a $12.9 million plug-in hybrid electric battery technology development contract to Compact Power Inc. of Troy.

USABC formally awarded the contract earlier this year, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, which previously announced the award, pending agreement on all terms and conditions. The 27-month cost-shared contract is for the development of battery cell, module and pack technology for plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle applications.

USABC is a division of the United States Council for Automotive Research LLC. Enabled by a cooperative agreement with the DOE, USABC’s mission is to develop electrochemical energy storage technologies that support commercialization of fuel cell, hybrid and electric vehicles. 

The CPI contract is to develop lithium-ion batteries for 10-mile range PHEVs using high-energy and high-power chemistry. 

The new CPI contract follows research previously conducted with USABC on lithium-ion battery cell development, which focused on improving life cycle, calendar life, cold-cranking power, abuse-tolerance, and low-temperature performance, as well as creating designs for a new cell pouch and separator.  Module development also included lithium-ion thermal issues, battery module electronics, cell interconnections and abuse testing.

Founded in 1992, USCAR is the umbrella organization for collaborative research among Chrysler LLC, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. The goal of USCAR is to further strengthen the technology base of the domestic auto industry through cooperative research and development.

More at www.uscar.org.