Dow Chemical Co formed a joint venture with Japan's Ube Industries Ltd to produce electrolytes for lithium ion batteries, the companies said on July 06. The joint venture, Advanced Electrolyte Technologies LLC, will build a plant in Michigan in 2012 to produce electrolytes, which act as an electrical conduit between a battery's cathode and anode.
While electrolyte is a common product in the battery industry, the venture's electrolyte will help customers improve their batteries' efficiency, David Klanecky, a senior business director at Dow's energy materials division, told Reuters. Each company will have a 50 percent stake in the venture. Dow declined to provide the cost of its initial investment. Dow, based in Midland, Michigan, expects the market for lithium ion battery materials to reach $8 billion by 2020.
There are no estimates on the number of jobs the venture will create, and revenue estimates are not being disclosed, a Dow spokesman said. The recent Japanese earthquake and tsunami are not expected to affect the joint venture, a Dow spokesman said.
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