Jul. 6--A Tucson company plans to have an advanced battery ready for the electric- car market in about two years.

Sion Power Corp. announced it is collaborating with chemical giant BASF to accelerate commercialization of Sion's proprietary battery technology.

Sion also is finalizing terms of an $800,000 grant, announced by the U.S. Department of Energy in June, to further develop the company's lithium-sulfur battery technology.

The grant is part of nearly $11 million in funds that the Department of Energy allocated to seven organizations to work on lithium batteries for electric vehicles.

Most research has focused on lithium-ion batteries. Sion is pursuing lithium- sulfur technology, banking on its theoretical potential for higher energy from a lighter battery, said John Kopera, Sion director of commercial operations.

Sion's approach sounds promising, and the joint development agreement with Germany's BASF is a good step, said Rush Dougherty, president of the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association.

"I think it really comes down to whoever gets the biggest investment to get their battery technology out there first is the one that wins the race," he said.

Most electric vehicles can go only 150 miles or less -- about half the distance of a car filled with gasoline -- before being recharged. Among the other drawbacks, according to the federal government: Batteries are still expensive, heavy, bulky and can take four to eight hours to fully recharge.

Sion expects to demonstrate a battery that overcomes some major performance issues in the next nine to 12 months, Kopera said Thursday.

After that, development can focus on a battery pack for the commercial vehicle market.

Under the agreement, BASF will help develop materials to improve battery life and increase energy density. In turn, BASF gets a customer for those materials.

"We have a very aggressive research plan right now," said Kopera, who envisions a driving range of 300 miles.

"The battery will be ready in a couple of years," he predicted.

Thomas Weber, CEO of BASF Future Business, said in a prepared statement that Sion's technology "offers high potential for significantly longer driving ranges over other technologies currently being considered for electric vehicles."

BASF, which has about 92,000 employees in several countries and bills itself as the world's leading chemical company, also recently formed a lithium-ion consortium.

Sion began its battery research at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park in 1995, when Sion was known as Moltech Corp. The company moved two years ago to a bigger building at 2900 E. Elvira Road, northeast of Tucson International Airport.

Sion also makes small lithium-sulfur batteries for unmanned aerial vehicles and does contract work for the U.S. Air Force. Kopera said the company set a flight record last year when a UAV powered by solar energy in daytime and by battery at night stayed aloft 83 hours.

Dougherty, stressing that viable battery technology already exists, cited a recent agreement between Nissan Motor Corp. and the Pima Association of Governments. They want to promote creation of an electric charging system so Nissan can roll out cars here in 2010. But he said better batteries would be welcome.

"I really hope that a battery comes to the forefront at a price that is acceptable to (the automotive) industry and to people like myself who want to convert their own cars into electric cars," he said.

Contact reporter Enric Volante at 573-4129 or evolante@azstarnet.com.

-----

To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NASDAQ-SMALL:NSANY,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.