ReVolt Technologies, a maker of rechargeable Zinc-air batteries which is moving its headquarters from Switzerland to Portland, has received one of the largest federal research grants in the latest funding round from the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. ARPA-E, as the agency is known, yesterday announced $106 million for 37 projects.

ReVolt, which raised just over $5 million, wasn't the only organization with ties to the Pacific Northwest to receive funds. ARPA-E also awarded $6 million to a joint project between the University of Washington and University of California, Berkeley. The project is tied to a Boston company created by five MIT PhDs called Gingko BioWorks, which is developing ways to engineer the E. coli organism into the liquid fuel isooctane. ARPA-E said that isooctane works well with the U.S. transportation system.

Founded in 2004, ReVolt is a spin off from the Norwegian research institution SINTEF. The company has been based in Switzerland, but last fall it announced a plan to move its headquarters to Portland and hire up to 250 people, reports Sustainable Business Oregon.

Interestingly, University of Washington spin out EnerG2, which just scored $3.5 million in new venture funding, received a $21 million federal grant last summer to build a new plant in Oregon for its alternative battery technology.

ReVolt's financial backers include Northzone Ventures, RWE Innogy, Sinvent, Sofinnova Partners, TVM Capital, Verdane Capital and Viking Venture.

The company says that its batteries not only have twice as much energy as conventional lithium ion batteries, but they are easier to produce and safer to use. ReVolt has been focused on creating the new batteries for mobile electronics.

But the ARPA-E grant relates directly to new batteries being developed for plug-in and all electric vehicles.

And new battery technology for use in electric vehicles also the direction of another one of the projects supported by ARPA-E. Tuscon, Arizona-based Sion Power Corp. received $5 million to develop a new Lithium-Sulfur battery that's designed to power electric vehicles for more than 300 miles on one charge.

Partner organizations on that project include the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, BASF and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

You can view all of the 37 projects that received funding here.

“By investing in our top researchers, we’re not only continuing in the spirit of American innovation, but helping build a competitive American clean energy industry that will create secure jobs here at home for years to come,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a release announcing the projects.

The grants -- provided to companies and organizations in 17 states -- are part of the $100 billion Recovery Act which is attempting to spark economic growth through innovation, science and technology.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, venture capitalist John Doerr and other tech leaders recently urged Congress to continue its support of ARPA-E.