US Open Tennis Ads Highlight ExxonMobil Scientist Who Makes Advance in Hybrid Battery Technology
In an earlier post, I stated that everyone is getting into the green energy act on their US Open Tennis Tournament commercials and I discussed the IBM ad. Well, how about ExxonMobil [NYSE: XOM] ? They are the ultimate traditional energy source in the world. Their commercial doesn’t even mention oil. It features Pat Brant, a 57 year old Chief Polymer Scientist in Texas [isn’t that the ultimate traditional state in the US?] who has worked at ExxonMobil for 26 years, describing this invention as “the most 
important project that I’ve worked on in my career.” Using hydrocarbon-based polymers [it seems you can’t get away from hydrocarbons even if the end objective and result is green], Brant and his global colleagues developed a new film separator that can withstand more demanding hybrid-vehicle battery conditions. “It’s a true breakthrough that can help deploy more hybrid vehicles faster,” says Brant. ExxonMobil goes on to state that hybrid vehicles use less fuel, and emit fewer greenhouse gases, than traditional vehicles. If 10 percent of the cars in the United States were hybrid-electric vehicles, the resulting carbon-dioxide reductions would be equivalent to taking five million cars off the road. Lithium-ion batteries are lightweight, and have high energy and power capacity. But so far they have not been used broadly in hybrid vehicles. One reason: when a lithium-ion battery’s scale is increased to the size 
necessary to power a vehicle, its plastic film separator (which protects against short-circuiting and overheating) must function under more demanding conditions. Hopefully, this and other battery improving technologies will be commercially available quickly.
Photos courtesy & © ExxonMobil
