Handling the challenges of a zero-risk market

What is special about your costumers? What are their needs?

It is important to understand that battery manufacturers have zero appetite for risk. Let’s take a rather recent event as an example. A large manufacturer produced 2.5 million mobile phones with a new series of cellular batteries. 35 of those batteries turned out to be malfunctioning – they caught fire. Such a failure rate in the ppm range (parts per million) caused a recall of the whole product line, which was catastrophic. Battery manufacturers are therefore very cautious with changing anything in their fabrication process. So, if Battrion wants to get into business it is not enough to demonstrate enhanced performance of batteries produced with our process. We have to offer a manufacturing process as well, which takes the existing process line into account. We show our clients how a scale-up can be done with a minimum of changes to their own already established process line.

How do you convince your clients that your technology is not only the best but also low risk?

Our product is a new graphite anode for lithium ion batteries. We offer an up to twofold increase in charging current, without increased degradation and this all at reduced material cost. This proposition by itself triggers interest among the big players in the cell manufacturing industry and got us already invited to their tables. We talk very openly about our technology and offer samples for testing. In this way, our clients can verify the high standard of our product in their own laboratories. Of course, when you give up secrecy to the extent as we do, there is a risk of being copied. But it is a risk we are willing to take, because we see a unique opportunity to leap-frog the battery market with our technology.

Your clients are in Asia, your headquarters in Switzerland. Have you considered moving your business?

In the future, it is well possible that we expand our business with subsidiaries in Asia. However, our roots are and will remain in Switzerland where we benefit from access to world-class facilities and world-class engineers in order to generate ever new and innovative fabrication technologies.