In March 2014 NEC Corp acquired the grid energy storage business of A123 Systems. In October 2012, A123 Systems Inc had filed for chapter 11-bankruptcy reorganization before being acquired by Wanxiang America Corp., the North American subsidiary of Chinese auto parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group, in January 2013. Building out from MIT developed technology, A123 Systems designs, develops, manufactures, and sells rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and battery systems. The batteries, based on the firm's nanophosphate technology, are offered for application development in the transportation, electric grid services, and consumer markets. The company's energy solutions group offers various packaged systems, as well as sub-module building blocks for battery system development. Its development of integrated systems includes packaging of its batteries and power electronics, safety systems, thermal management, testing, production, and qualification. The company designs standard systems, as well as custom systems using a modular design based on standard building blocks. It manufactures various battery systems, in which batteries are connected in various configurations to meet the design requirements of specific applications. A123 Systems supplies battery systems to BAE Systems for various applications; to Gillette for use A123 technology in their consumer products (excluding power tools and certain other consumer products); to Black & Decker, which has developed various product lines using its batteries. The company is also considering opportunities in emerging applications, including lawn and garden tools and vacuums and is developing and selling products for consumer applications, selling primarily through a network of global distributors. It also sells its batteries and battery systems directly to end-user customers, as well as through reseller and distributor channels.