2016 Global Lithium-ion Battery Technology … Global Lithium-ion Battery Technology Innovation Leadership Award ... with the current Li-ion battery system, ... to an expert panel

2016 Global Lithium-ion BatteryTechnology Innovation Leadership Award

2016

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2016 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

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



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



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.



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.



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.



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



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



About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth

and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

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community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit

http://www.frost.com.

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Documents

2016 Global Lithium-ion Battery Technology … Global Lithium-ion Battery Technology Innovation Leadership Award ... with the current Li-ion battery system, ... to an expert panel