Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.
The price of oil had jumped from $4 a barrel to $12 and his mind was occupied with the need for alternative energy sources and improved batteries for energy storage. He was later joined in this quest by PhD student Michael Thackeray. Their studies into battery materials heralded the start of a glorious 20-year period when the CSIR, supported by Anglo American, De Beers and the South African Inventions Development Corporation, as it was then known, made major contributions to advancing international battery science and technology.
By 1984, the Zebra (sodium-nickel chloride) battery had been built and demonstrated in an electric vehicle, and commercialisation efforts began in earnest. But they were way ahead of their time and in 1986 the CSIR sold its stake in the Zebra battery and 20 years later Anglo American and Daimler-Benz (which had joined the commercialisation efforts) withdrew from further development of the battery. Meanwhile, Thackeray had turned his attention to lithium battery research, resulting in global recognition for him and his team, and a veritable treasure trove of global patents for the CSIR. This technology was successfully licensed to the major Japanese lithium battery manufacturers, among others, according to a paper penned by Thackeray himself, Twenty Golden Years of Battery R&D at CSIR, 1974 – 1994.