Karthik Ramaswami
Dr. Ramaswami is a results oriented leader with 25 years of experience developing Primary and Rechargeable Batteries at leading Organizations like Duracell, Rayovac/Spectrum Brands, Eaton Corporation and Eagle Picher Technologies with progressively increasing Technical, Leadership & Management Responsibilities. Leveraging these experiences, Dr. Ramaswami brings deep insights into Energy Storage for Medical Devices, Consumer Products, Hybrid Electric Vehicles, Defense, and Grid Storage. His expertise includes all aspects of Lithium Ion, Lithium/MnO2, Li/CFx, Li/Thionyl Chloride, Alkaline MnO2, Zinc/Air and high temperature fuels cells. He has successfully built and led powerful organizations as well as planned and developed start-up facilities and programs to drive multiple projects through concept, feasibility and product development to pilot production.
Dr. Ramaswami has developed a keen ability to quickly evaluate, identify and rectify organizational and technical/resource gaps in order to effectively bring complex development programs or products to fruition. This has qualified him to assess new technologies and companies in order to effectively assist with strategic investments, partnerships and acquisitions. He also brings significant project management and intellectual property strategy skills and expertise.
Dr. Ramaswami is a hands-on, engaged leader who brings a depth and breadth of knowledge from basic electrochemistry, to corrosion, to materials synthesis, electrode formulation and optimization, electrode design and processing, cell design, performance, interactions between materials, chemistry and processing on performance, as well as root cause analysis and intrinsic cell safety. While at Duracell, he was instrumental in determining the fundamental failure mechanisms of Li Ion cells under overcharge and high temperature charged storage, leading to IP and practical solutions. Working with a strategic external partner in Japan, he later led the development and successful implementation of electrodes for Duracell’s Li ion Pilot production facility. At Rayovac he led the development of revolutionary new chemistries and processes for Alkaline, Zinc/Air and Li/CFx batteries. Most recently, he created and headed the Medical Battery development organization at Eagle Picher where his team developed and qualified multiple unique battery designs for implantable medical devices with industry-leading performance and reliability including the world’s first leadless pacemaker battery.
Dr. Ramaswami obtained his Ph.D. in Electrochemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago and a B.S in Chemical Engineering from India. He holds over 15 patents and trade secrets covering materials, designs and processes.
