2016 Global Lithium-ion BatteryTechnology Innovation Leadership Award
2016
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Contents
Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 7
Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 7
Technology Attributes and Future Business Value of Enevate ..................................... 7
Conclusion........................................................................................................... 9
Significance of Technology Innovation ........................................................................ 10
Understanding Technology Innovation ........................................................................ 10
Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................. 11
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 11
Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 11
Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 12
About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 13
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Background and Company Performance
Industry Challenges
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are a key component in many consumer and mobile devices;
as a result, the battery plays a major role in industrial design, product capability, features,
and runtime for the end-user. While current anode materials used in the manufacture of
Li-ion batteries (graphite) have reached their theoretical limits, the demand for higher
performance, larger displays, faster connectivity, and increased functionality in smart
phones and other consumer devices continues to increase, augmenting the need for
higher energy density and faster charging solutions.
In addition to technical limitations, Li-ion battery manufacturers face strong, multi-tier
competition in the consumer space. Price compression is especially acute; the current cost
of $700 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for lithium-ion batteries is high compared to other
rechargeable technologies like lead acid and nickel cadmium. Among Li-ion battery
manufacturers, the Chinese market will provide the strongest price competition, followed
closely by the Indian market.
Aside from lowering price points, Li-ion batteries need continuous focus on improving
technology to boost viability for developing applications, including the mobile device, grid
and renewable energy storage segment, and electric vehicle battery manufacturing.
Enevate Corporation (Enevate) is tackling these challenges head-on, offering its
revolutionary HD-Energy® technology to significantly improve energy density over
conventional Li-ion batteries. The company’s patented silicon-based lithium-polymer
batteries provide industry-leading charging capabilities, as well—offering a 90% charge in
just 15 minutes.
Technology Attributes and Future Business Value of Enevate
Headquartered in Irvine, California, United States (US),
Enevate is an advanced rechargeable energy storage
company focused on providing high-density solutions
for next-generation mobile devices. Enevate’s
technology evolved from nano-carbon research
conducted at the University of California, resulting in
the company’s breakthrough HD-Energy solution. Unlike
conventional Li-ion batteries, Enevate provides an
additional 35 to 50% runtime in smartphones, in
addition to ultrafast charging.
In 2016, the company partnered with Sonim Technologies to feature Enevate’s HD-Energy
batteries in Sonim’s ultra-rugged smartphones. According to Bob Plaschke, CEO of Sonim
Technologies, Enevate is the ideal solution since his customers “work in harsh and
Enevate’s HD-Energy Battery
Source: Enevate
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demanding industrial environments requiring extended periods of time away from a phone
charger.” At present, the company has over 25 patents issued and pending globally, and
investors include Mission Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Tsing Capital, Infinite
Potential Technologies, China Electronics Corporation, Sumitomo, strategic corporate
investors, and more.
How It Works
Unlike traditional Li-ion batteries with mainly graphite anodes, Enevate uses a silicon-
dominant composite anode material in excess of 70% silicon. This revolutionary material
offers ten times the capacity of graphite, in addition to industry-leading conductivity.
Since it is compatible with the current Li-ion battery system, the material allows the
creation and manufacture of thin, high energy-density Li-polymer batteries for thinner,
sleeker, more powerful, and longer running mobile devices. Enevate’s energy density is
approximately 25% higher than existing Li-ion battery products; competitors average
between 100 to 170 Watt-hour per kilogram (Wh/kg), whereas Enevate’s energy density
can reach 250 to over 300 Wh/kg. Enevate’s improved energy density represents a
tremendous leap forward in the industry as rechargeable Li-ion batteries typically improve
in energy density at only about 2 to 3% per year.
“Enevate is using a different technical approach for silicon anodes that is truly unique and
innovative to deliver both ultrafast charging and high energy density Li-ion batteries…their
technology and process is practical, highly manufacturable, and can be sufficiently
inexpensive for high-volume mobile devices.”
Dr. John Goodenough, Inventor, Professor, and Recipient of the US National Medal of
Science who helped invent the Li-ion battery
Introducing a New Business Model
Enevate outsources its anode and battery fabrication to specialized manufacturers located
in the US and Asia. By incorporating a fab-light model—common in the semiconductor
industry—and allocating it toward the Li-ion battery industry, the company provides
powerful client benefits including customization and the ability to scale readily. The use of
fab-light manufacturing enables the easy procurement of common, easily-accessible
materials like cathodes and electrolyte; Enevate can better focus on manufacturing its
specialized anode material to high-quality specifications. While its cell and battery pack
manufacturing base is in Asia, Enevate bases much of its research and development in the
US, where an entrepreneurial team of fewer than 50 employees focuses on elegant
engineering solutions in a collaborative, creative, and technology-driven culture. The
company also enjoys a strong board with industry leaders like Dr. John Goodenough, one
of the pioneers of Li-ion battery technology; Steve Altman, former president and vice-
chairman of Qualcomm; and Mike Lazaridis, founder and former CEO and chairman of
Blackberry.
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Future Projections
Enevate carefully investigates the market prior to product development and launch and
has a history of accurately predicting consumer trends. In 2009, the company targeted its
technology for use in consumer mobile devices. At the time, smartphones were only 16%
of the entire cell phone market—market growth has since far exceeded the company’s
expectations, providing wide opportunity. Currently, Enevate actively employs ingredient
branding—e.g., “Enevate Inside”—to market its technology as a differentiator; the
company seeks to make its name a synonym for industry-leading performance in the high-
density and fast charging battery market. The company is also in negotiations with several
large, well-known companies; according to CEO Robert Rango, should Enevate’s
technology appear in only a handful of their products, it would still create a major growth
trajectory for Enevate due to their size and market share. At present, Enevate is a
complete solution provider, including consideration for licensing of its anode technology
and cell designs to key strategic customers and cell manufacturers to achieve the scale
needed for large market segments.
Conclusion
As consumers demand greater functionality and faster charging in their electronic devices,
lithium-ion battery manufacturers must increase energy density correspondingly. Enevate
Corporation’s revolutionary silicon-dominant composite anode material and process have
created a disruptive and game-changing solution to this technically difficult problem,
providing a major leap in performance while maximizing the use of existing cell production
capabilities. With its commitment to cutting-edge innovation, technical excellence, and
overall industry impact, Enevate Corporation earns Frost & Sullivan’s 2016 Technology
Innovation Leadership Award in the global lithium-ion battery industry.
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Significance of Technology Innovation Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon finding new ways to excite the
market, and upon maintaining a long-term commitment to innovation. At its core,
technology innovation or any other type of innovation can only be sustained with
leadership in three key areas: understanding demand, nurturing the brand, and
differentiating from the competition.
Understanding Technology Innovation
Technology innovation begins with a spark of creativity that is systematically pursued,
developed, and commercialized. That spark can result from a successful partnership, a
productive in-house innovation group, or the mind of a singular individual. Regardless of
the source, the success of any new technology is ultimately determined by its
innovativeness and its impact on the business as a whole.
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Key Benchmarking Criteria For the Technology Innovation Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated
two key factors—Technology Attributes and Future Business Value—according to the
criteria identified below.
Technology Attributes
Criterion 1: Industry Impact
Criterion 2: Product Impact
Criterion 3: Scalability
Criterion 4: Visionary Innovation
Criterion 5: Application Diversity
Future Business Value
Criterion 1: Financial Performance
Criterion 2: Customer Acquisition
Criterion 3: Technology Licensing
Criterion 4: Brand Loyalty
Criterion 5: Human Capital
The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best
Practices Awards
Research Methodology
Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research
methodology represents the analytical
rigor of our research process. It offers a
360-degree-view of industry challenges,
trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of
Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.
Too often, companies make important
growth decisions based on a narrow
understanding of their environment,
leading to errors of both omission and
commission. Successful growth strategies
are founded on a thorough understanding
of market, technical, economic, financial,
customer, best practices, and demographic
analyses. The integration of these research
disciplines into the 360-degree research
methodology provides an evaluation
platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-
in-class levels.
360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN
THE CHAOS
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Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching,
Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices
Frost & Sullivan Awards follow a 10-step process to evaluate award candidates and assess
their fit with select best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity of the Awards are
based on close adherence to this process.
STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT
1 Monitor, target, and screen
Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe
Conduct in-depth industry research
Identify emerging sectors Scan multiple geographies
Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria
2 Perform 360-degree research
Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline
Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners
Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria
Rank all candidates
Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another
3
Invite thought leadership in best practices
Perform in-depth examination of all candidates
Confirm best-practice criteria Examine eligibility of all
candidates Identify any information gaps
Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates
4
Initiate research director review
Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles
Brainstorm ranking options Invite multiple perspectives
on candidates’ performance Update candidate profiles
Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper
5
Assemble panel of industry experts
Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders
Share findings Strengthen cases for
candidate eligibility Prioritize candidates
Refined list of prioritized award candidates
6
Conduct global industry review
Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility
Hold global team meeting to review all candidates
Pressure-test fit with criteria Confirm inclusion of all
eligible candidates
Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide
7 Perform quality check
Develop official award consideration materials
Perform final performance benchmarking activities
Write nominations Perform quality review
High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes
8
Reconnect with panel of industry experts
Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient
Review analysis with panel Build consensus Select winner
Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria
9 Communicate recognition
Inform award recipient of award recognition
Present award to the CEO Inspire the organization for
continued success Celebrate the recipient’s
performance
Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand
10 Take strategic action
Upon licensing, company may share award news with stakeholders and customers
Coordinate media outreach Design a marketing plan Assess award’s role in future
strategic planning
Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees
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About Frost & Sullivan
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