(Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: Berkeley, CA) -- A major automaker came to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently wanting to better understand battery degradation. After many months of intense collaborative research with a Berkeley Lab battery scientist, the automaker gleaned some important insights into the conditions that may lead to battery failure, and even published a paper on its findings.

Another large car company wanted to find new materials that would yield longer-lasting vehicle batteries. An ongoing scientific investigation with a Berkeley Lab battery researcher may lead to a next-generation battery.

Until a couple years ago, such public-private collaborations were few and far between. The main reason was that national labs were somewhat difficult to work with—it was hard to make contact with the right person, and once contact was made, it could take many months to hammer out all the paperwork for any joint research. The timeline was onerous for most companies and a deal-breaker for startups.

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