Altairnano

Altair Nanotechnologies, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NASDAQ: ALTI
Industry	Electronics Communications
Founded	1973
Headquarters	Reno, Nevada
Key people	CEO Terry M. Copeland
Products	Nano-structured lithium batteries Specialty chemicals Nanotechnology
Revenue	US$ 7.8 million (2010)
Operating income	US$ 22.41 million (2010)
Net income	US$ 22.28 million (2010)
Number of employees	106
Website	http://www.altairnano.com/

Altair Nanotechnologies Inc. is a company specializing in the development and manufacturing of energy storage systems for efficient power and energy management. Altair Nantechnologies designs advanced lithium-ion energy systems and batteries.

Altairnano's best-known product are their lithium-ion batteries, produced by Altair's Power and Energy division. The batteries have an anode made of a lithium titanate oxide formed into a spinel structure. The titanate replaces the graphite anodes of typical lithium ion batteries. The batteries are not the only batteries to use nanomaterials, but other batteries, like those from A123 Systems generally replace the cathode rather than the anode.

The primary advantage of their batteries is that they can be charged very quickly. In testing, a 35 kW·h battery pack was charged in ten minutes. Other advantages include longer life with up to 25,000 deep cycles, higher power density than other nanostructured cells, wider operating temperatures, and greater stability under electrical and mechanical stress (i.e. the cells cannot catch fire). On the other hand, a disadvantage is that they have lower specific energy than other lithium ion cells, 100 versus 120 Wh/kg. They have also been more expensive to produce, at US$2 per Wh, due to low manufacturing volumes.

The chemistry imposes, on the battery industry, a new methodology for evaluating batteries. Traditionally batteries have been evaluated on a nominal dollars/Wh basis. The battery's increased life expectancy and depth of discharge (usable energy) add more scope to the formula changing it from a nominal valuation to a practical, or useful, evaluation. For example, a typical lithium ion battery might have about 160 Wh/kg where Altair's is about half of that, at 80 Wh/kg. However, to optimize the life of a typical lithium ion system it can only be run between about a 30% state of charge and an 80% state of charge, leaving about 80 Wh/kg of useful energy. Altair's system can be run optimally between 10% and 90% state of charge, leaving around 64 Wh/kg or only 20% less than a typical lithium ion. Taking into account Altairnano's increased life expectancy, operational temperature range, and power density the battery relates well to other energy storage technologies.