The partners suggest that Maxwell’s expertise in ultracapacitor cell design, manufacturing processes and market-leading capacitive energy storage product designs combined with Corning’s expertise in high-performance materials, analytical capabilities and technology innovations should enable the two parties, working in collaboration, to achieve superior product value for customers and end users.

Maxwell Technologies Incorporated and Corning Incorporated have entered a joint development agreement with the goal of advancing the state of capacitive energy storage technology by addressing the challenges frequently cited by ultracapacitor customers, including energy density, lifetime, operating environment, form factor and cost.

Corning’s long history of serving the transportation industry with emissions control products for the automotive and heavy-duty truck markets will complement Maxwell’s growing presence in providing energy storage solutions for these application spaces.

Corning has invested significant time and resources to establish this new business initiative because we see great potential in capacitive energy storage. We are excited to work with a company like Maxwell who has such a long history of innovation in the field and strong market presence. Our agreement brings us together to accelerate the pace of innovation. —Doug Harshbarger, business director of emerging automotive innovations at Corning

In a 2010 paper presented at the 15th International Coating Science and Technology Symposium, researchers from Corning noted that “Corning is interested in the versatility of ultracapacitors.” Corning has demonstrated ultracapacitor devices with advantaged energy densities while maintaining power density levels, and has a number of patents specifically on ultracapacitor technology, with an additional patent applications published.

Joining forces with a company of Corning’s quality and strength promises to be a game-changing event for Maxwell. We believe that this alliance will create tremendous value for customers and will move the competitive bar much higher in the years ahead. —Dr. Franz Fink, Maxwell’s president and CEO

Unlike batteries, which produce and store energy by means of a chemical reaction, ultracapacitors store energy in an electric field. This electrostatic energy storage mechanism enables ultracapacitors to charge and discharge in as little as fractions of a second, perform normally over a broad temperature range (-40°C to +65°C), operate reliably through one million or more charge/discharge cycles and resist shock and vibration. Maxwell offers ultracapacitor cells ranging in capacitance from one to 3,400 farads and multi-cell modules ranging from 12 to 160 volts.

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