Dr. John Olson is the founder of Jolson Technologies LLC. He has worked in industry since 1979, and has worked in the battery industry since 1994. His career has been in industry, while the majority of battery experts come from academia. (click for Olson – Resume – Papers – Patents). Here is a brief bio.
His thesis involved electrochemistry at semiconductor surfaces; it was a collaborative project with NREL (then SERI) where he grew semiconductor crystals in multi-zone tube furnaces and evaluated their electrochemistry .
His career in the battery industry started in 1994 at Optima Batteries, the maker of the first sealed lead-acid automotive starting battery. Optima was an offshoot of Gates Energy Products that invented the AGM VRLA battery and was then owned by the Gylling Group of Sweden. His first task was to develop a deep cycle version of the high power, spiral wound ‘Red Top’ for electric vehicles. Following successful field testing with AC Propulsion on their prototype EVs (later licensed by Tesla), the ‘Yellow Top’ battery was started in commercial production in 1996. He later participated in several collaborative R&D projects, particularly involving EVs and HEVs.
The largest was sponsored by GM and DOE to develop a prototype hybrid electric vehicle (1996 – 1998) and managed by Larry Oswald of GM. John and his team designed a 16.5 Ah, 600 W/kg battery that exceeded GM’s requirements in some critical areas (namely power and charge acceptance). During this project Dr. Olson developed a novel paste additive that resulted in two patents which extended battery life by 2 – 4 times. The battery team also included Aerovironment, responsible for developing the battery pack and battery management system (BMS) led by Dr. David Swan. In addition, Dr. Ahmad Peseran led activities at NREL to investigate details of battery operation, particularly thermal. During this project, Dr. Olson discovered severe life problems VRLA batteries have in high rate, partial state of charge (HRPSOC) cycling.
His work in battery management continued in a project led by PowerSmart to make a ‘smart’ SLA battery for large trucks. During this time. the automotive industry was moving towards concepts of a 36 V battery. John and his team developed fast prototyping capabilities that led to interest by Audi of using the Optima design in their 2003 models. This led to the acquisition of Optima by Johnson Controls in 2001.
His professional involvement with batteries for EVs and HEVs led to his personal use of electric transportation. In 1998, he acquired one of the original AC Propulsion Honda Civic conversions that he drove until 2010. He then owned a Toyota Prius and later a Chevy Volt. He now drives a Tesla Model 3, which still has performance hallmarks from John’s first EV. He has been a member of the Denver Electric Vehicle Council since 1994.
His next work opportunity was with Boundless Corporation led by Phil Lyman that was interested in structural batteries for spacecraft. John developed lithium-ion structural batteries using carbon fibers as both anodes and structure. This technology was furthered with the development of structural ultracapacitors. Unfortunately, neither had the requisite performance to commercialize. Other major projects were development of a high porosity separator invented by Kirby Beard, and spun off as Porous Power Technologies by Tim Feaver . His last project involved developing large format lithium-ion batteries and BMS for mobile applications.
John’s next endeavor was with TDA Research in Golden, CO, a good sized SBIR company. John worked on applying TDA’s activated carbon technologies developed by Dr. Steve Dietz for a variety energy storage concepts including: ultracapacitors, ultracapacitor hybrids, lithium sulfur batteries, hybrid carbon monofluoride batteries and silicon anodes for lithium-ion batteries. He also developed a novel redox flow battery with very high energy efficiency. He applied his knowledge of battery performance to develop battery models for BMS based on neural network models. Government curtailment of R&D funding led John to leave TDA and start his own business Jolson Technologies LLC in 2017 focusing on consulting, expert witness and other legal work and battery laboratory services. He also is involved developing advanced battery sensors for lead-acid batteries.
You can download Dr. Olson’s resume, publications and patents here.Olson – Resume – Papers – Patents
If you would like a copy of any of the publications please e-mail us.mailto:jolson@jolsontechnologies.com