General Motors will invest more than $7 billion in four Michigan manufacturing sites, significantly increasing battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity. This is the single largest investment announcement in GM history. The investment includes construction of a new Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Lansing with LG and the... Read more →

Canada-based Lithion Recycling closed a first tranche of Series A equity with a strategic group of investors led by IMM Investment Global Limited and supported by Fondaction and its managed fund, the LCC Fund. The size of the first round is expected to reach up to C$125 million (US$99 million).... Read more →

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has launched a new normally open (NO) 1-Form-A photorelay that is intended for use in a multitude of battery- and hybrid-electric vehicle applications including within the battery management system (BMS), ground fault detection and identifying faults with mechanical relays. The new TLX9160T consists of an infrared... Read more →

Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn), a global leader in smart manufacturing, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indonesian Ministry of Investment/BKPM, IBC, Indika, and Gogoro to develop jointly a battery manufacturing and electric vehicle ecosystem in Indonesia. Under the MoU, Foxconn together with Gogoro (a Taiwanese company that... Read more →

Vulcan Energy Resources Limited, the company aiming to become the world’s first integrated lithium and renewable energy producer with a net zero carbon footprint (earlier post), has been granted research permit in Italy for the Cesano area located 20 km NNW of Rome. Vulcan’s current Zero Carbon Lithium Project aims... Read more →

Researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) and the NIMS-SoftBank Advanced Technologies Development Center have developed a lithium-air battery with an energy density of more than 500 Wh/kg—significantly higher than currently lithium ion batteries. The research team then confirmed that this battery can be charged and discharged at... Read more →

Factorial Energy (Factorial) has raised $200 million as part of a Series D round of funding that was led by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis Funding will be used to accelerate commercial production and deployment of Factorial’s solid-state battery technology that is safer and offers up to 50% greater driving range than... Read more →

Honeywell and FREYR Battery signed an agreement pursuant to which FREYR will, subject to viability, leverage Honeywell’s leading technology offerings, including integrated automation, field instrumentation and security integration solutions in FREYR’s manufacturing process. As part of the collaboration, Honeywell will purchase 19 GWh of battery cells produced by FREYR from... Read more →

IonQ, a developer of trapped-ion quantum computing, and Hyundai Motor Company are partnering to develop new variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithms to study lithium oxides and their chemical reactions involved in battery chemistry. A VQE is a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm that aims to find the combination of values that solve... Read more →

Contemporary Amperex Energy Service Technology Ltd. (CAES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL), has launched its battery swap solution EVOGO featuring modular battery swapping. Comprising battery blocks, fast battery swap stations and an app, EVOGO will be first launched in ten cities, said Chen Weifeng, general... Read more →

Honda Motor announced that, in December 2021, it signed a joint development agreement with SES Holdings Pte. Ltd.in the area of Lithium-metal rechargeable batteries. Moreover, SES plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) via a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) transaction, and through the PIPE (private investment in... Read more →

24M Technologies, Inc. (24M) has finalized its deal, announced in December 2021 (earlier post) with Volkswagen Group (VWAG). Through the strategic partnership, Volkswagen will manufacture next-generation lithium-ion EV batteries using the 24M SemiSolid platform for use in Group electric vehicles. Volkswagen Group acquired a 25% stake in 24M and will... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and the Bosch Group have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the establishment of a European battery equipment solution provider. The two companies plan to supply integrated battery production systems as well as on-site ramp-up and maintenance support for battery cell and system manufacturers. The companies... Read more →

Nikola and Proterra announced a strategic, multi-year supply agreement to power Nikola zero-emission semi-trucks with Proterra’s battery technology. Proterra product is expected to be incorporated in the Nikola Tre battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and Tre fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV). The first Proterra Powered Nikola semi-trucks are expected to be produced... Read more →

Researchers in China report using air oxidation–water leaching to recover lithium selectively from spent LiFePO4 (LFP) material, in which the high leaching efficiency of lithium and the good separation effect of lithium and iron were achieved simultaneously. An open-access paper on their work is published in the RSC journal Green... Read more →

Cellforce Group (CFG)—the joint venture between Porsche and CUSTOMCELLS (earlier post)—has partnered with PPG, a global supplier of paints, coatings, and specialty materials. PPG will supply cathode binder systems which are free of N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) solvent, to the Cellforce Group. NMP, which is widely used in electrode manufacturing, has been... Read more →

EV Metals Group plc (EVM) launched the Australian Lithium Alliance, a strategic initiative to partner with Australian companies to accelerate exploration, development, mining, processing and production of lithium minerals. The strategic initiative will be implemented by Australian Lithium Alliance Pty Limited (ALA), a wholly owned subsidiary of EVM, through joint... Read more →

Chile’s Ministry of Mining awarded China-based BYD a contract to extract up to 80,000 tons of metallic lithium. BYD won the contract—one of two awarded by the Ministry—with an offer of $61 million. The other lithium extraction contract, also for 80,000 tons, went to Chile-based Servicios y Operaciones Mineras del... Read more →

BHP, a world leading resources company, has invested US$40 million into Kabanga Nickel in Tanzania. The money will be used to accelerate the development of the Kabanga Nickel Project—the world’s largest development-ready nickel sulfide deposit. In parallel, BHP has invested US$10 million into Lifezone Limited to advance the roll-out of... Read more →

Talon Metals Corp., through its US subsidiary Talon Nickel (USA) LLC, entered into an agreement with Tesla for the supply and purchase of nickel concentrate to be produced from the Tamarack Nickel Project in Aitkin County, Minnesota. The execution of the agreement follows an extensive and detailed due-diligence period performed... Read more →

Battery Resourcers, a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, plans to open a commercial-scale, lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Covington, Ga. When the 154,000-square-foot facility is fully operational in August 2022, it will be North America’s largest battery recycling facility with capacity to process 30,000 metric tons... Read more →

Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in advanced lithium materials, and 6K, developer of microwave-controlled plasma technology, signed a joint development agreement (JDA) to explore the use of 6K’s patented UniMelt advanced, sustainable materials production platform (earlier post) to develop novel lithium battery materials through potentially disruptive manufacturing processes. Albemarle is... Read more →

Vicinity Motor, a North American supplier of commercial electric vehicles, and Proterra announced a new collaboration to power Vicinity’s electric transit buses and work trucks with Proterra’s battery technology. Under a new, multi-year supply agreement, Proterra battery systems will power the Vicinity Lightning 28-foot electric transit bus and Vicinity’s strip... Read more →

On 11 November 2021, Johnson Matthey announced its intention to pursue the sale of all or parts of its Battery Materials business with the ultimate intention of exiting. (Earlier post.) Although demand for battery materials is accelerating, so is competition from alternative technologies and other manufacturers, the company said at... Read more →

Toshiba Corporation expanded its SCiB product offering with the launch of a 20Ah-HP rechargeable lithium-ion battery cell that delivers high energy and high power at the same time. The market wants batteries that deliver both high-energy and high-power characteristics, but until now this has required a trade-off for rechargeable lithium-ion... Read more →

A University of Michigan team has shown that a network of aramid nanofibers, recycled from Kevlar, can enable lithium-sulfur batteries to overcome their Achilles heel of cycle life, delivering an estimated 1,000 real-world cycles. A paper on their work is published in Nature Communications. A diagram of the battery shows... Read more →

Norway-based FREYR Battery and Taiwan-based Aleees, a producer of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials for batteries, have signed a Head of Terms agreement to pursue a joint venture with the ambition to establish an LFP cathode plant in the Nordic region. The joint venture partners will seek to commence... Read more →

All-solid-state lithium batteries could address a number of the shortcomings of conventional lithium-ion batteries in advanced applications such as in electric vehicles, which demand high energy densities, fast charging, and long cycle lives. However, the solid electrolyte comes with its own challenge; the interface between the positive electrode and solid... Read more →

Veolia, the UK’s leading resource management company, has announced its first electric vehicle battery recycling facility in the UK, which will have the capacity to process 20% of the UK’s end-of-life electric vehicle batteries by 2024. Many of the materials required for battery manufacturing rely on traditional water and energy... Read more →

Kandi Technologies Group signed a framework agreement with Hunan Hengrun Automobile Co., Ltd. jointly to produce battery-swap enabled pure electric vehicles. According to the agreement, Kandi and Hengrun will use their respective capabilities to produce battery-swappable pure electric vehicles. The specific division of labor and cooperation content will be clarified... Read more →

Linkdata New Energy, a Chinese manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, launched its 26-46mm diameter series of cylindrical lithium-ion battery products. The company says that its new products—the 26mm SPEED2, the 37mm SPEED3, and the 46mm SPEED4 family cells—showcase its high-end cylindrical cells and its focused design concept “More Than One Answer”... Read more →

In what is believed to be a world first, British Lithium has produced lithium at pilot scale from the mica in granite at a new pilot plant near Roche in the UK. Funded by Innovate UK, the pilot plant has taken just seven months to design and build and uses... Read more →

Researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC) and Stanford University have made the first clear, detailed images of the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer in the wet environment of a working Li-ion battery by using cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Although formation of SEI is believed to be... Read more →

Tesla’s embrace of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries has propelled the chemistry into the mainstream of the automotive industry. Automakers including Volkswagen, Daimler, and Ford have also adopted the cost-effective technology in their lower-range EVs. However, more than 90% of the world’s LFP battery cell manufacturing capacity is based in... Read more →

The Metals Company (TMC), an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules (earlier post), has completed its latest offshore research campaign, Environmental Expedition 5E, a targeted sampling campaign of both benthic and pelagic fauna with wider investigations to characterize ecosystem function on the abyssal seafloor. The completion of... Read more →

Vision Marine Technologies has partnered with Octillion Power to develop a customized high voltage 35 KW high-density battery exclusively for use within the recreational boating market. Under the terms of the agreement, Octillion will manufacture a new advanced electric battery system to power Vision’s E-Motion outboard powertrain. The configuration of... Read more →

StoreDot, the developer of extreme fast charging (XFC) battery technology for electric vehicles, announced the first close of its Series D funding round of up to $80 million, the majority of which have already been secured. The round is led by key strategic investors, strengthening StoreDot’s partnerships in the global... Read more →

The VETERIA21 Project, funded by the Valencian Regional Government and implemented by AIMPLAS, will develop new, more efficient transformation processes for thermoplastic composites so they can be used to replace the metal content of electric vehicle batteries. These materials ensure a major reduction in vehicle weight, which extends battery life.... Read more →

South Korea-based steelmaker POSCO will invest US$830 million in a lithium hydroxide plant in Argentina. The plant, near the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt lake in northern Argentina, will have an annual production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide—sufficient to supply batteries for 600,000 electric vehicles, according to POSCO.... Read more →

Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, will acquire 100% shareholding in sodium-ion battery developer Faradion Limited (earlier post) for an enterprise value of £100 million (US$135 million). In addition, RNESL will also invest £25 million (US$34 million) as primary investment as growth capital... Read more →

Chinese lithium carbonate prices soared in 2021, due to a surge in demand for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the country, according to the end-of-year analysis by Benchmark Minerals Intelligence. Transacted prices in China began to breach the RMB 200,000/tonne mark in November—a historical milestone for lithium pricing. Battery-grade... Read more →

Business Finland has granted Keliber Technology Oy, a Finnish mining and battery chemical company that aims to start the sustainable production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide utilizing its own ore, investment funding of a maximum of €7 million. The funds are designated for the acquisition of technology that significantly improves environmental... Read more →

Samsung SDI has launched its battery brand PRiMX (pronounced as Praimax). PRiMX stands for ‘Prime Battery for Maximum Experience.’ The brand was developed under the three keywords, ‘Absolute Quality,’ ‘Outstanding Performance,’ and ‘Proven Advantage.’ Samsung SDI has strengthened quality control for the whole process from battery development to manufacturing and... Read more →

Northvolt has assembled the first battery cell at the newly commissioned Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden. The cell is the first to have been fully designed, developed and assembled at a gigafactory by a homegrown European battery company. The first cell of Northvolt Ett represents a milestone which Northvolt has... Read more →

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is hosting the National Energy Storage Summit—Jumpstarting America’s Energy Storage Future on March 8-9, 2022 to discuss harnessing science, technology, and policy to accelerate energy storage solutions for the nation. This virtual event will include significant focus on lithium recovery and development of a domestic battery... Read more →

To overcome the slow charging times of conventional lithium-ion batteries, scientists from Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) have developed a new anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) that allows for ultrafast charging. Produced via a simple, environmentally sound and efficient approach involving the calcination of a bio-based... Read more →

Australia-based Syrah Resources Limited signed a binding offtake agreement with Tesla to supply natural graphite Active Anode Material (AAM) from its vertically integrated AAM production facility in Vidalia, Louisiana. Tesla will offtake the majority of the proposed initial expansion of AAM production capacity at Vidalia at a fixed price for... Read more →

The zero-emission electric commercial vehicle market has a challenge at its core: battery sourcing and supply conditions. Now, CALSTART has released Commercial Vehicle Battery Cost Assessment: Strategic Sourcing Challenges for North American Truck and Bus OEMs and Tier 1 Suppliers, authored by YUNEV LLC, to provide insight on the factors... Read more →

Swiss energy storage company Leclanché has carved out its eTransport business into a wholly owned Swiss entity, Leclanché E-Mobility S.A.. Leclanché has also signed a mutually exclusive Letter of Intent with a US-listed Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) for merging with Leclanché E-Mobility S.A. The company is working with its... Read more →

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University may have found a way to revitalize rechargeable lithium batteries, potentially boosting the range of electric vehicles and battery life in next-gen electronic devices. As lithium batteries cycle, they accumulate little islands of inactive lithium that are... Read more →