Recent battery tech IPO A123 (NASDAQ:AONE) shot higher on Thursday after announcing a joint venture with China's SAIC Motor.

A123 shares are ahead by 9% today after announcing a joint venture with leading Chinese automaker SAIC Motor. The companies will collaborate under the title Shanghai Advanced Traction Battery Systems to develop battery systems for hybrid and pure electric passenger vehicles, trucks, and busses. A123 CEO David Vieau said, "we look forward to building a team of outstanding employees to develop innovative battery technologies that we expect will be included in some of the highest quality hybrid and electric vehicles anywhere in the world."

As a whole, the Energy Storage and Battery Technology Stocks Index is slipping by -1% today, but A123 is not the only winner.

Austin, Texas-based Valence Technology (NASDAQ:VLNC) is ahead by 18% today after announcing confirmed purchase orders from Smith Electric Vehicles U.S. According to the press release, Smith U.S. is expected to buy $1.4 million of Valence U-Charge systems during the third and fourth fiscal quarters of 2010.

Elsewhere in the battery tech and energy storage segment, stocks are sliding by as much as -5%. Chinese players Hong Kong Highpower (AMEX:HPJ), China BAK Battery (NASDAQ:CBAK), and Warren Buffett pick BYD (OTC: BYDDF) are all slipping by over -3%. China Ritar Power (NASDAQ: CRTP) is also in negative territory for the session.

It will be interesting to see which battery stocks are able to score the next big contracts. According to Bloomberg, Sony (NYSE:SNE) is in talks with potential car battery buyers and Sanyo (OTC: SANNY) has already landed its first customers, which remain unnamed. The latter is set to be acquired by fellow tech giant Panasonic (NYSE: PC).

As of this writing, the Energy Storage and Battery Technology Stocks Index is one of the 15 worst-performing tickerspy Indexes over the last five sessions, down by -3%. Though far from its October high, the Index's three-month performance chart shows that it has been trending slightly higher over the last month and a half. Today's drop pushes it closer to recent support, so it will be interesting to see whether the group can rebound.

Investors can track the Energy Storage and Battery Technology Stocks Index for performance trends and a suite of other metrics at tickerspy.com. About Financial News USA

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