Aquion Energy founder hopeful in first interview since bankruptcy

Battery wiz Jay Whitacre hasn't given up on his innovative saltwater batteries.

Despite his company, Aquion Energy Inc., going bankrupt in March, Whitacre told the MIT Technology Review he is confident the batteries can outdo their lithium-ion competitors.

“It's got the fundamentals,” Whitacre told the magazine in his first interview since the bankruptcy . “The trajectory isn't rocket science. You just have to execute.”

Aquion was bought last month for $9.2 million at a bankruptcy auction by a majority-American joint venture closely affiliated with China Titans Energy Technology Group, the MIT Technology Review reported.

Whitacre, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and the director of the school's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, said research and development operations will probably start in Pittsburgh but manufacturing could shift elsewhere, potentially to China. Aquion had set up a 335,000-square-foot manufacturing facility inside the former Sony plant in East Huntingdon.

Aquion made a big splash in the clean energy startup scene . It was founded in 2009, and since has raised about $190 million from big-name investors including Bill Gates, Kleiner Perkins, Shell and others.

Whitacre said the technology worked but the company didn't. Revenue grew too slowly, and capital ran out fast.

The falling price of lithium-ion batteries didn't help. Whitacre said Aquion realized it had to find a buyer.

“The right exit for us was an acquisition by a multinational company that had a vested interest in growing our technology and putting it into their product line or as an offering in their systems,” he told the MIT Technology Review.

But before Aquion could line up a deal, it ran out of money.

Aquion's new backers will give the company access to major electric grid companies in China, Whitacre said.

“They're really interested in making this a real thing, and making the company a stronger whole,” he told MIT Technology Review.

Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at aaupperlee@tribweb.com, 412-336-8448 or via Twitter @tinynotebook.