Companies now vying for up to $1 million in NRCan funding to help bring their battery prototypes and related technologies to market
Companies now vying for up to $1 million in NRCan funding to help bring their battery prototypes and related technologies to market
Five companies focused on advancing battery technology for electric vehicles and other applications were announced this week as finalists in the Impact Canada Charging the Future challenge.
According to Seamus O’Regan, federal minister of natural resources, the finalists were chosen because their projects could “substantially” help lower greenhouse emissions.
The battery value chain is also seen as a major economic opportunity — the global market is expected to reach $90 billion in the next decade — and a critical element in Canada’s transition to electrified transportation.
“We consider the battery technology sector to be a highly strategic industry for Quebec and Canada as a whole,” says André St-Pierre, director general of InnovÉÉ, a Quebec agency that promotes electric innovation and a challenge partner, in a statement announcing the finalists.
Significant funding
As finalists, each company could receive up to $700,000, with the winner receiving $1 million from Impact Canada, a government initiative designed to accelerate development and market implementation of cleantech technologies that will benefit Canadians.
The five companies are:
- Agora Energy Technologies Ltd.: Based in Vancouver, Agora is working on a non-metal, long-life battery that stores and uses CO2 to generate clean electricity
- Calogy Solutions: Based in Sherbrooke, Que., Calogy is designing thermal management technology to combat EV performance issues in colder weather
- e-Zinc: Toronto-based e-Zinc is making a long-lasting, zinc-based energy storage unit that is fire-resistant and recyclable
- G-Batteries: Based in Ottawa, G-Batteries is developing technology to improve the efficiency and cost of lithium-ion batteries for use in EVs and other applications
- Salient Energy: Based in Dartmouth, N.S., Salient Energy is working on a zinc-ion battery that is both cheaper and longer lasting that those currently available for energy storage applications.
“These finalists will help us integrate more renewable power onto our grids and help make electric vehicles more practical at getting people where they need to go,” says O’Regan.
Real impact
Adds Dominic LeBlanc, president of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada: “As the Government of Canada’s champion for Impact Canada, I am proud of the inventive work that we are doing here in Canada that will have a real impact on our economy and the environment.”
Charging the Future is one of six cleantech challenges from Impact Canada. The others are Women in Cleantech, The Sky’s the Limit, Power Forward, Crush It! and the Indigenous Off-diesel Initiative.
