Hydro-Québec, in collaboration with the French National Research Centre license Bathium Canada to use lithium iron phosphate in manufacture of lithium-metal-polymer batteries

The use of lithium iron phosphate in battery manufacture offers a very high safety coefficient—an important factor in the development of batteries for markets. In addition, the license guarantees Bathium freedom of supply of this material, which is strategic for the batteries it manufactures. The batteries are used in the Bluecar, the electric car used by Autolib’, the world’s first electric car sharing service, launched in Paris in December 2011 by the Bolloré Group.

“We are very pleased to note the interest shown by a major French industrial group in the lithium iron phosphate technology developed from French and Québec expertise, in collaboration with the Université de Montréal and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,” said Élie Saheb, Executive Vice President, Groupe Technologie at Hydro-Québec.

“It is highly gratifying to see Bathium industrial choice for LMP, a technology born from several decades of close collaboration between CNRS and its Québec partners,” remarked Pierre Gohar, director of the Direction de l’Innovation et des Relations avec les Entreprises (DIRE) at CNRS. “We are confident that the Bolloré Group, a pioneer with its Autolib’ service and many other initiatives, will ensure broad dissemination of this environmentally friendly technology.”

According to Jean-Luc Monfort, General Manager of Bathium Canada, “This agreement is the tangible result of the collaboration between Hydro-Québec and the Bolloré Group since the inception of Bathium in March 2007. We are happy to have exclusive world rights to the use of lithium iron phosphate for lithium-metal-polymer (LMP) solid-electrolyte batteries. We are now guaranteed with a supply of this material for our stationary applications as well as for the Bluecar and Bluebus electric vehicles.”

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