Fuji Heavy Licenses Li-ion Capacitor Technology to Nihon Micro Coating

6 February 2006

Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), the manufacturer of Subaru vehicles, announced that it has signed a five-year agreement to license its lithium-ion capacitor (earlier post) technology to Nihon Micro Coating.

Under the license agreement, Nihon Micro Coating will non-exclusively be able to develop, prototype, manufacture, use, and market lithium-ion capacitors based on FHI’s technology. The company had been producing the electrodes for the capacitors.

Fuji Heavy is exploring their use in hybrid and electric vehicles.

The FHI Li-ion capacitor’s negative electrode uses newly developed Li-ion occlusive carbon material. Pre-doping enables occlusion of a large amount of Li-ion on the negative electrode, boosting its capacity and increasing the electrical potential difference. This in turn enables high voltage without deterioration in positive electrode performance.

The Li-ion capacitor dramatically enhances energy density, while retaining the inherently superior capability of instantaneous charge/discharge and the high durability of regular capacitors.

FHI says that the application of certain new materials to the positive electrode, combined with the pre-doping technique of the Li-ion capacitor, will theoretically double the estimated accumulation capacity of capacitors available in today’s market.

The capacitor work is the outgrowth of a joint partnership between FHI and Kanebo Limited. The two began developing high-performance ultracapacitor technology in 2002. Fuji Heavy purchased the Electric Double Layer Capacitor business from Kanebo Ltd for an estimated ¥100 million (approximately US$900,000) in 2005. Kanebo decided to sell its stake in the project in an effort to turn around its mainline business. (Earlier post.)

Nihon Micro Coating has manufactured lithium-ion capacitor electrodes for FHI since 2002. The company will now work on the commercial production of the Li-ion capacitor cells. FHI will continue to work with other companies on researching the capacitors.