Powering research out of this world

SUPER CHARGED: Yardney Technical Products’ lithium-ion batteries have traveled far. “The last four missions to Mars have all had our batteries on them,” said Yardney President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Yevolli, pictured above. / PBN FILE PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS
SUPER CHARGED: Yardney Technical Products’ lithium-ion batteries have traveled far. “The last four missions to Mars have all had our batteries on them,” said Yardney President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Yevolli, pictured above. / PBN FILE PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Yardney Technical Products sends its lithium-ion batteries far and wide, including two that landed on Mars in August 2012 on NASA’s Curiosity rover.
“It’s an electric vehicle on Mars and our batteries are powering the vehicle,” said Yardney President and Chief Operating Officer Vince Yevolli. “The vehicle is about the size of a Mini Cooper.”
“Those batteries do most of the work. They power the motors that driver the rover. The batteries power the equipment for the experiments,” said Yevolli.
That landing of its batteries on the Curiosity was nothing new for Yardney.
“The last four missions to Mars have all had our batteries on them,” said Yevolli.
The batteries are recharged with a nuclear isotope, kind of like a tiny nuclear power plant, Yevolli explained.
Yardney also produces a silver zinc battery.
One of Yardney’s lithium-ion batteries is used in the Juno spacecraft bound for Jupiter, and 10 of the company’s silver zinc batteries were used in the rocket that launched the spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2011, according to the company’s website.
The innovative products at Yardney, a subsidiary of Ener-Tek International Inc., cover a broad spectrum in size and use.
Yardney has designed, developed and produced batteries for the B-52 bomber and Global Hawk aircraft, an unmanned aerial vehicle that does surveillance, Yevolli said.
The company also produces batteries for hearing aids.
That kind of innovation was welcomed in Rhode Island with incentives. The communication began several years ago when Yardney began considering a move over the state line.
The company was downsizing from a 260,000-square-foot facility in Pawcatuck, Conn.
“It was an old mill. It had kind of worn out its useful life,” Yevolli said. Looking at the business climate of Rhode Island, he said the taxes were about the same as Connecticut.
Finding a suitable, 140,000-square-foot facility in East Greenwich was the impetus that pushed the company over the border, he said. Yardney had to do a lot of work to make it meet the company’s needs. That’s where the incentives come in.
The R.I. Economic Development Corporation and Webster Bank partnered to provide Yardney with financing that included a $6 million, tax-exempt bond from the Rhode Island Industrial-Recreational Building Authority, according to an EDC press release.
The bond was used for the purchase and renovation of the manufacturing, research and development facility.
An overriding reason for moving such a short distance was Yardney’s determination to maintain its existing, highly skilled workforce.
“We’ve got 140 people living in the area. With the move, about 99 percent of them stayed with the company,” Yevolli said. They are about evenly divided between Connecticut and Rhode Island, he said.
Those employees include engineers, scientists and technicians.
Yardney was founded by Michael Yardney in New York City in 1944, under the name of Yardney Electric Corp. It was among the first companies in the world to successfully produce and commercialize rechargeable silver zine and magnesium silver chloride batteries, according to the Yardney website.
The company was acquired by Whittaker Corp. in 1969. It moved to Pawcatuck, Conn. in 1970. The company was privately acquired by the current owner, Richard Scibelli, in 1990 and the name changed to Yardney Technical Products.
The company has a long history of innovation. A Sept. 14, 1958, article in The New York Times had the headline, “Battery Maker Aiming at Moon” and said, “The automatic camera that first shoots the dark side of the moon and some of the first truly portable television sets may be made by Yardney Electric Corp.”
Now Yardney’s batteries link American research to Jupiter and Mars – a link that greatly expands the landscape of innovation in America’s smallest state. •

COMPANY PROFILE
Yardney Technical Products
OWNER: Richard Scibelli
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Research, development and manufacturing of high-energy density batteries for aerospace and military use
LOCATION: 2000 South County Trail, East Greenwich
EMPLOYEES: 140
YEAR ESTABLISHED: Moved to Rhode Island in January 2013; company founded in 1944
ANNUAL SALES: WND

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