Swatch, one of the world’s best known Swiss watchmakers, is looking to diversify and is helping to develop advanced new batteries for use in electric vehicles.
Twenty Two Ten reports that the project is being led by Belenos Clean Power, a company formed in 2008 that is 51 per cent owned by Swatch. In conjunction with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Belenos is developing batteries that use a naturally occurring element dubbed vanadium.
This element will be used instead of the rare earth materials that most lithium-ion batteries rely on. It is believed that with the use of vanadium, charging times could be dramatically reduced and weight decreased.
As a matter of fact, Swatch Group chief executive Nick Hayek says that the battery pack could charge twice as fast and weigh a third less than the Panasonic batteries currently used by Tesla.
Hayek believes that, by 2020, Swatch could be selling $10-15 billion worth of batteries. There’s a possibility that Swatch may use China as a test bed for the technology, as it has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Geely.
PHOTO GALLERY
