ReVolt Technology, a developer of rechargeable electric vehicle batteries, has selected a site in Portland for its new headquarters, according to company spokesman Tom Resau.

ReVolt plans to have its battery development operation under way at 12021 N.E. Airport Way, suite G, by October. It expects to hire 150 employees over the next five years.

“ReVolt is a very international-oriented business,” Resau said. “The proximity of the space to Portland International Airport was definitely an attraction.”

The technology company has received a total of $6.8 million in loans and tax credits from the Portland Development Commission and via the Oregon Department of Energy’s Small Scale Energy Loan Program and the Business Energy Tax Credit program. The U.S. Department of Energy in April awarded a $5 million research grant to ReVolt so the company could expand in Oregon.

The company’s Zinc-air flow battery, currently in the research-and-development phase, will use zinc suspended in liquid that is then transported through reaction tubes to discharge and recharge the battery. ReVolt expects its battery to last three times longer on a single charge than lead-acid or lithium-ion vehicle batteries. ReVolt CEO James McDougall hopes to have a market-ready battery in five to 10 years.

ReVolt first announced in September 2009 that it had selected Portland as the location for its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing center. The Airport Way Urban Renewal Area was formed by the PDC in 1986 with the mission of creating 20,000 jobs in the area by this year. At 2,726 acres, it is the city’s second largest urban renewal district.

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Gasoline-powered vehicles still have two big advantages over electrics: lower cost and greater range.

But Swiss company claims its rechargeable zinc-air battery technology will provide a solution to both problems. And with ReVolt choosing Portland as the location for its U.S. headquarters and a research-and-development facility, Oregon’s burgeoning electric-vehicle industry could benefit significantly.

“We chose Portland because of its progressive stance on energy and its well-educated populace,” ReVolt CEO James McDougall said. “Our system combines the simplicity of a battery with the high energy density of a fuel cell at a low cost in a safe package using a material that is globally abundant.”

Of course, many other companies across the country, and around the world, are competing with ReVolt. And many of them, including powerful corporations like IBM and Toyota, are striving to achieve a common goal: development of a rechargeable, zinc-based battery for use in electric vehicles.

“There are a lot of reasons to believe that Oregon is poised for takeoff (into the electric-vehicle industry),” said Jeff Cogen, chairman of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. “But we’re still poised. We’re not taking off. (ReVolt) is betting on a next-generation battery with a lot of competitors. It’s too early to know who the winners and losers will be.”

ReVolt Technology last week received a $5 million award from the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy to settle in Portland and begin three years of work to develop a battery prototype for use in field trials. The Zinc Flow Air Battery will use zinc suspended in liquid that is then transported through reaction tubes to discharge and recharge the battery.

McDougall said the Zinc Flow Air Battery will run three times longer on a single charge that lead-acid or lithium-ion batteries. And because the battery uses zinc, a widely available material, it will cost far less than a lithium-ion one, which costs about $1,000 per kilowatt-hour.

“This is the quickest solution we have to get to market,” McDougall said. “There have been several attempts to do this by numerous start-ups. But we are in a good position regardless of how the industry falls.”

One start-up that could push ReVolt, however, is Fluidic Energy, an Arizona State University spin-off that late last year received a $5.13 million research grant from ARPA-E to develop a metal-air battery. Fluidic Energy’s technology suspends a metallic material in a liquid salt. Previous attempts to create metal-air batteries used water, which would eventually evaporate and lead to battery failure. The company has established headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Spain.

But Fluidic Energy hasn’t come out with a prototype yet. And Jeremy Bronson of Arcimoto, an electric vehicle start-up company based in Eugene, said that electric-vehicle developers are hungry for batteries with alternatives to lead acid and lithium ion. Arcimoto’s prototype vehicle, the Pulse, uses a lead-acid battery.

“We are hard at work on our next prototype vehicle that will incorporate advances in technology,” Bronson said. “The downfall of lead acid is low power density for the weight of the battery and a low cycle life. Our principals have met with (ReVolt) and we’re very excited to see if that’s a viable option for us in the future.”

“Any electric-vehicle company is looking to see what is coming down the road from MIT and how soon it will be commercially available,” said Adrian Stewart, spokesman for Brammo, an electric motorcycle start-up in Ashland. “At the moment we use a lithium-ion battery from Valence Technology in Texas. But we’re developing other motorcycles.”

McDougall said he expects the Zinc Flow Air Battery to be ready to hit the market in five to 10 years. But even if ReVolt doesn’t revolutionize its industry, Cogen said the company’s presence here means others may give Oregon a second look when they enter the research-and-development phase.

“We’ve been chasing industries across the board to locate their R and D here,” Cogen said. “This is a nascent industry, but it builds our brand as a sustainable place to do business and makes it more likely we will be home to future big winners.”

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Updated: ReVolt spokesman Tom Resau contacted me Friday evening to say that though ReVolt originally registered as a business at a residential address (the home of one of their senior managers), it does operate an office at One World Trade Center, 121 Southwest Salmon Street, 11th Floor, in Portland. The company has postponed changing the address on their business registration until it has found a suitable facility for its US headquarters and research and development facility.

Resau also forwarded this statement from ReVolt chief executive officer James P. McDougall:

“All of the ARPA-E [U.S. Dept. of Energy R&D agency] stimulus R&D funds we will receive will be spent in the US – plus several million of our company’s own money.”

“ReVolt’s CEO, CTO and COO are all Americans.  We spent over 6 months researching the best location in the US to reestablish our world HQ and selected Portland for its progressive stance on the environment and strong commitment for developing a clean-tech sector benefiting the same.”

“We expect to have our US team in place in Portland by October of 2010.”

“The ARPA-E R&D Award is a grant for development of next-generation energy storage technology for electric vehicles, not production of existing technology, such as ReVolt or others’ existing battery designs.”

Updated: A commenter has located an address for ReVolt at , in Portland. But the Google Street view of the site shows a residential neighborhood. I’d imagine ReVolt would only have one or two employees working in the U.S. at this point and it’s not unheard of to work out of a home. But a call to the number listed for ReVolt at that address showed the line is no longer in service.

Yesterday I wrote about ReVolt Technology, a battery company with aspirations for the electric vehicle industry. ReVolt received $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its facilities in Oregon. But a few people (this reporter included) are having trouble tracking down the company’s Portland office.

In a statement sent to the 91ÊÓƵ by ReVolt spokesman Tom Resau, ReVolt CEO James P. McDougall said the company has opened an “initial Portland office” but will now begin considering sites for larger future facilities.

A Portland address isn’t listed on the company’s website. A yielded no fruit. And a search of both the state’s and the city of Portland’s business license directory also came up with zilch.

Radio personality Lars Larson brought this up on his show yesterday and also emailed me today saying the company’s lack of address raised a red flag in his mind.

“At this point it appears they haven’t even produced the hearing aid batteries that are supposed to come out this year,” Larson wrote, “yet they’re getting millions as ‘an Oregon based company.'”

I am supposed to get a call from the company sometime next week. State officials have been buzzing since yesterday about this $5 million investment in Oregon. But is ReVolt really an Oregon company yet? And if they indeed don’t have any roots here yet, what’s to stop them from going elsewhere?

The post Where in the world is ReVolt? appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Updated: ReVolt spokesman Tom Resau contacted me Friday evening to say that though ReVolt originally registered as a business at a residential address (the home of one of their senior managers), it does operate an office at One World Trade Center, 121 Southwest Salmon Street, 11th Floor, in Portland. The company has postponed changing the address on their business registration until it has found a suitable facility for its US headquarters and research and development facility.

Resau also forwarded this statement from ReVolt chief executive officer James P. McDougall:

“All of the ARPA-E [U.S. Dept. of Energy R&D agency] stimulus R&D funds we will receive will be spent in the US – plus several million of our company’s own money.”

“ReVolt’s CEO, CTO and COO are all Americans.  We spent over 6 months researching the best location in the US to reestablish our world HQ and selected Portland for its progressive stance on the environment and strong commitment for developing a clean-tech sector benefiting the same.”

“We expect to have our US team in place in Portland by October of 2010.”

“The ARPA-E R&D Award is a grant for development of next-generation energy storage technology for electric vehicles, not production of existing technology, such as ReVolt or others’ existing battery designs.”

Updated: A commenter has located an address for ReVolt at , in Portland. But the Google Street view of the site shows a residential neighborhood. I’d imagine ReVolt would only have one or two employees working in the U.S. at this point and it’s not unheard of to work out of a home. But a call to the number listed for ReVolt at that address showed the line is no longer in service.

Yesterday I wrote about ReVolt Technology, a battery company with aspirations for the electric vehicle industry. ReVolt received $5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its facilities in Oregon. But a few people (this reporter included) are having trouble tracking down the company’s Portland office.

In a statement sent to the 91ÊÓƵ by ReVolt spokesman Tom Resau, ReVolt CEO James P. McDougall said the company has opened an “initial Portland office” but will now begin considering sites for larger future facilities.

A Portland address isn’t listed on the company’s website. A yielded no fruit. And a search of both the state’s and the city of Portland’s business license directory also came up with zilch.

Radio personality Lars Larson brought this up on his show yesterday and also emailed me today saying the company’s lack of address raised a red flag in his mind.

“At this point it appears they haven’t even produced the hearing aid batteries that are supposed to come out this year,” Larson wrote, “yet they’re getting millions as ‘an Oregon based company.'”

I am supposed to get a call from the company sometime next week. State officials have been buzzing since yesterday about this $5 million investment in Oregon. But is ReVolt really an Oregon company yet? And if they indeed don’t have any roots here yet, what’s to stop them from going elsewhere?

The post Where in the world is ReVolt? appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

An award announced today by the U.S. Department of Energy will allow electric battery company ReVolt Technology LLC to expand in Oregon.

The company, which is developing a rechargeable zinc-air battery for electric vehicles, announced in September 2009 that it had selected Portland as the location for its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing center.

Now, with a $5 million research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, chief executive officer James McDougall plans to begin considering sites for larger, future facilities in Oregon. Currently, the company only maintains one office in Portland. The company was founded in Norway. The company is based in Switzerland.

“McDougall expects to proceed on facility decisions and operations in the coming months,” said Tom Resau, spokesman for ReVolt Technology LLC. “Most of the U.S. team will be in place in Oregon by October 2010. We are pleased to have the U.S. Department of Energy recognize the potential of ReVolt’s battery technology.”

ReVolt is currently developing a battery for electric vehicles that uses zinc, a widely available material. The battery is expected to allow hybrid and all-electric vehicles to go longer between charges.

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