A battery failing in a soldier's radio can often mean the difference between life and death on today's high tech battlefield.
Soldiers rely on batteries to power everything from radios to portable computing devices. But keeping the equipment powered often means carrying the extra weight of spare batteries.
But a Boise-based company is poised to lighten a soldier's load of batteries with its new generator technology.
In 2008, M2E Power Inc. will start testing with the U.S. military a microgenerator that can be placed inside a battery. The generator would continuously charge the battery just from the movement of a soldier.
The technology has captured the attention of investors. M2E stands for Motion to Energy. Founded in February 2006, the company announced this week that it had received $8 million from investors.
The M2E system was created by a team of scientists at INL led by Eric Yarger.
Yarger's technology is based on Faraday's Law, which says that any change in the magnetic environment of a coil of wire will cause voltage to be induced. Yarger showed that only a minimal amount of movement in that field creates electricity.
M2E licensed the technology from the lab. Yarger is now M2E's chief scientist.
The microgenerator captures the kinetic energy of normal everyday motion.
Even the subtle movement of walking with a cell phone on your hip or riding in a vehicle would provide enough electricity to keep a cell phone charged.
Some devices could go without ever having to be plugged in, while others would be able to extend battery before a recharge is required, the company says.
Other competing technologies also take advantage of kinetic energy, but M2E says its technology can produce five to seven times more power than others now available. A patent is pending.
M2E President David Rowe said the company chose to focus on the military first, but the technology could be used consumer applications - everything from cell phones to PDAs. It can also be scaled up to use in larger generators like those used in hydropower and wind power, which would increase the efficiency of those devices.
"Our first goal is to address the mobile power crisis our military is facing," said Rowe, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.
"M2E is a solution that provides on-demand power so men and women in uniform can reduce the number of batteries they have to carry with them."
Not only would the technology reduce the burden soldiers must carry, but it would save the military money and reduce the environmental impact of used batteries, the company says.
Regan Warner-Rowe, M2E's licensing and business development manager, said a recent study found that for every soldier serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the government spends $57,000 a year on batteries.
Warner-Rowe said the cost is so high because soldiers returning from patrol dispose of half-used batteries and typically take only new batteries when they go into the field again.
Over the next year, the company plans to hire 12 to 15 people -primarily engineers and laboratory technicians. In addition to working with the military, the company hopes to develop its first commercial product.
Some of its $8 million in investment capital came from Highway 12 Ventures in Boise. Other investors included OVP Venture Partners and @Ventures.
Mark Solon, a managing partner with Highway 12 Ventures, said M2E appealed to his firm because of the revolutionary nature of the product. Improving battery life has been a goal for some time, but Solon said most effort has been directed at building a better battery instead of making existing batteries work longer.
He expects the company to grow quickly.
"This is a revolutionary, not evolutionary technology," he said.
"What is really cool and got us the most excited is that it doesn't change any of the real estate on a mobile device. This technology fits into an existing battery casing, so that M2E will be able to get into mobile devices in a a fraction of the time that it would normally take."
Ken Dey: 672-6757
