Mercedes-Benz is taking an equity stake in European battery cell manufacturer Automotive Cells Company (ACC) to scale up development and production of next-generation high-performance battery cells and modules. Mercedes-Benz announced in July that it will be ready to go fully electric by the end of the decade wherever market conditions... Read more →

University of California San Diego nanoengineers, in collaboration with researchers at LG Energy Solution, have developed a battery that combines a solid-state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode. The initial rounds of tests show that the new battery is safe, long lasting, and energy dense. It holds promise for a wide... Read more →

Volkswagen Group China is commencing construction of a battery system production factory in Hefei (Anhui province). VW Anhui Components Company is the first battery system plant to be wholly owned by the Group in China. The initial annual capacity will be 150,000 to 180,000 high-voltage battery systems for Volkswagen Anhui’s... Read more →

MAHLE Powertrain and Allotrope Energy have unveiled a new battery technology which offers ultra-fast recharging coupled with good power density. By combining the benefits of supercapacitors and traditional lithium-ion batteries, the new lithium-carbon technology enables a full charge to be delivered in a similar time to refuelling an internal combustion-powered... Read more →

6K, a developer of microwave plasma technology for the production of advanced materials for energy storage and additive manufacturing powders (earlier post), closed a $51M Series C financing round. With this investment, 6K will complete its Battery Development Center of Excellence, adding 33,000 sq ft of state-of-the-art product development space... Read more →

Lyten, an advanced materials company, introduced its LytCell EV lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery platform. The technology is optimized for the electric vehicle market and is designed to deliver three times (3X) the gravimetric energy density of conventional lithium-ion batteries. Lyten, which has just emerged from stealth mode, worked with the US... Read more →

A new white paper published by the Argonne National Laboratory Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) outlines a clear set of battery requirements and research and development needs to accelerate the commercialization of electric propulsion for aviation—from air taxis in the near term to 737 class aircraft in the... Read more →

Ford Motor Company and Redwood Materials are collaborating to build out battery recycling and a domestic battery supply chain for electric vehicles. Ford and Redwood’s goal is to make electric vehicles more sustainable, drive down the cost for batteries, and ultimately help make electric vehicles accessible and affordable for more... Read more →

E.ON and Volkswagen have introduced the E.ON Drive Booster, built by Volkswagen Group Components in operation. As a flexible fast charger, it requires no civil engineering work or adjustments to the grid connection and can charge two electric vehicles simultaneously with up to 150 kW. This means the expansion of... Read more →

General Motors outlined an action plan to address the battery combustion issue afflicting the Bolt EV lineup. (Earlier post.) The action plan includes both hardware and software remedies, some of which are in place with immediate effect. LG battery plants in Holland and Hazel Park, Michigan, have resumed production. In... Read more →

A team from Argonne National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has developed a new cobalt-free cathode for high-energy lithium-ion cells. The novel LiMn0.5Ni0.5O2 cathode with a predominant, partially-disordered lithiated-spinel structure was prepared by a low-temperature (LT) synthesis. In an open-access paper in the RSC journal Chemical Communications, the... Read more →

Adamas Intelligence has published its 5th semiannual State of Charge: EVs, Batteries and Battery Materials report. The report provides an overview of the global EV market’s performance over the past half-year (2021 H1) and its implications on the ever-evolving battery and battery materials supply chains. Among the findings of the... Read more →

The technology group Wärtsilä will supply a 9.2 MW / 8.7 MWh energy storage system to Zenith Energy, an Independent Power Producer (IPP) in Australia. Zenith sells the electrical power it produces to some of the world’s largest mining companies with operations in Australia. The installed energy storage system will... Read more →

Lithium price rises accelerated in the first half of September as surging demand and raw material supply concerns combined to push Chinese domestic prices up to their highest levels since mid-2018 according to data from Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment. Lithium hydroxide and carbonate price rises accelerated to new levels in... Read more →

BASF SE (BASF) and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) announced a strategic partnership on battery materials solutions, including cathode active materials (CAM) and battery recycling. The collaboration aims at developing a sustainable battery value chain, in support of CATL’s localization in Europe and contributes to achieving both companies’ global... Read more →

South Africa-based Sibanye-Stillwater will establish a joint venture company with Australia-based ioneer with respect to ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project. Sibanye-Stillwater will contribute US$490 million for a 50% interest in the joint venture, with ioneer maintaining a 50% interest and retaining the operational management responsibility for the joint venture. The... Read more →

Romeo Power and Dynexus Technology, a provider of battery sensing solutions and data-driven battery intelligence, will collaborate to integrate Dynexus Technology’s actionable battery performance and health sensors into Romeo Power’s battery ecosystem. The technology developed by Dynexus will initially be utilized for incoming cell quality control and end-of-line verification, as... Read more →

TWAICE, a provider of predictive analytics software that optimizes the development and operation of lithium-ion batteries, and pepper motion GmbH (formerly etrofit), a company offering solutions for the electrification (retrofitting) of used and new commercial vehicles such as trucks in distribution transport, buses in local public transport (LPT) and municipal... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solution have begun construction of an electric vehicle (EV) battery cell plant in Indonesia to secure leadership in the global battery electric vehicle (BEV) market. Hyundai and LG Energy Solution announced that they held a virtual groundbreaking ceremony with the Government of Indonesia at... Read more →

KULR Technology Group, a developer of lithium-ion battery safety and thermal management technologies, will provide its KULR-Tech Safe Case to lithium-ion battery recycler Heritage Battery Recycling (HBR), a new platform company of The Heritage Group, for the safe transportation logistics of HBR’s battery collection operations across North America. (Earlier post.)... Read more →

Researchers from the Monash Energy Institute, with colleagues from CSIRO, have used a saccharide-based binder system to develop a durable sulfur cathode with minimal polysulfide escape in a lithium-sulfur battery. The saccharide-based binder system regulates polysulfides due to its reducing properties. The binder also promotes the formation of viscoelastic filaments... Read more →

Heritage Battery Recycling, LLC and plasma technology company 6K announced an exclusive joint development agreement to produce new cathode material from recycled batteries. The process uses Heritage’s established network infrastructure to collect, store, and process end-of-life batteries, combined with 6K’s plasma technology to manufacture critical cathode-grade battery materials needed to... Read more →

Albemarle, a leading global producer of lithium, bromine and catalyst solutions, expects lithium industry demand to reach 1.14 million MT LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent) by 2025—approaching approximately 30% CAGR—driven by increasing EV sales volumes and battery sizes. With battery costs declining and performance improving, there is an increasing need for... Read more →

Frost & Sullivan projects that the global Li-ion battery materials market will reach $51.60 billion by 2027 from $18.75 billion in 2020 at a 15.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The advancements in battery chemistries and technologies, upsurge in electric vehicle (EV) sales, evolving regulatory scenario, and increasing consumer preferences... Read more →

Israel-based StoreDot, the developer of extreme fast charging battery technology for electric vehicles (earlier post), has demonstrated a prototype 4680 form factor cell that is fully charged in just 10 minutes. StoreDot’s extreme fast charging cells have been in development for more than three years. Work for these technologies was... Read more →

The Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB) released the Pre-application Battery Test Manual, which defines a series of tests to characterize performance and life behavior for advanced batteries. The manual is based on broad technical needs across multiple applications and was developed to provide federal sponsors and battery end users... Read more →

Wärtsilä has developed and delivered a mobile battery container solution that will enable inland waterway vessels to operate with zero emissions. The first order, comprising three units, was placed by ZES (Zero Emission Services) BV, a Netherlands-based company founded in 2020 by ING Bank, energy and technical service provider Engie,... Read more →

Solid Power, Inc., an industry-leading developer of all-solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles, is adding a second Denver-area production facility in Thornton, Colorado. The new facility will greatly expand Solid Power’s capacity to produce key materials for its all-solid-state battery cells, including the ability to produce up to 30 metric... Read more →

In a livestreamed briefing on batteries and carbon neutrality, Toyota Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said that the company will invest ¥1.5 trillion (US$14.3 billion) in the development of a battery supply system and research and development by 2030. Toyota currently assumes it will go beyond the 180 GWh worth... Read more →

At IAA Mobility in Munich, ZF is presenting the Moldular eDrive Kit for purely electric drives. Th kit bundles the entire expertise of ZF's e-mobility team for system solutions, components, and software controls in a flexible and modular platform. The Modular eDrive Kit can halve the development time until series... Read more →

Construction of the first stage of the Saskatchewan Research Council’s (SRC) Rare Earth Processing Facility, which includes a Monazite Processing Unit (MPU) and a Solvent Extraction Unit (SXU), is underway The facility will be the first of its kind in Canada. In August 2020, the Government of Saskatchewan announced $31... Read more →

Conventional processes for manufacturing battery electrodes involve mostly toxic solvents and require a lot of space and energy. As an alternative, the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS has developed a new dry-coating process: DRYtraec. The technology is environmentally friendly and cost-effective and can be used on a... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $30 million in funding for 13 national lab and university-led research projects to develop new technologies that will help secure the supply of critical materials that build clean energy technologies (DE-FOA-0002483) (earlier post). The selected research projects aim to diversify the supply of,... Read more →

Thee is a growing disconnect between battery demand and raw material supply that could derail Europe’s and North America’s electrification plans, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Outside of China, Europe and North America are the key regions developing significant lithium-ion cell production capacity. Europe now has 778 GWh of capacity... Read more →

Johnson Matthey, a global leader in sustainable technologies, has entered into an agreement with OnTo Technology, a developer of advanced battery recycling solutions, to scale up OnTo’s patented process for the direct recycling of lithium-ion battery scrap. The partners will collaborate with the UK Battery Industrialization Center (UKBIC), the newly... Read more →

Echion Technologies, a spin-off from the University of Cambridge developing niobium oxide-based materials for anodes, has closed a £10-million (US$13.8 million) Series A funding round. The Series-A funding round was led by CBMM—the world’s leading supplier of niobium products—and BGF—the UK & Ireland’s most active and dynamic investor of equity... Read more →

With demand for lithium set to rise over the next decade, Roskill has examined the various ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) concerns that downstream investors and customers face in sourcing lithium products. As sustainability has been brought to the forefront of the lithium debate, producers have sought to underscore their... Read more →

The first performance hybrid from Mercedes-AMG—AMG GT 63 S E PERFORMANCE—is entering series production for the European market, drawing upon technologies from Formula 1. The concept includes a distinctive drive layout with an electric motor and battery on the rear axle as well as a high-performance battery developed in-house. The... Read more →

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) is leading a landmark effort along with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) to deploy 100 battery-electric regional haul and drayage trucks across California. The battery-electric trucks will be deployed through a partnership with... Read more →

Following the approval of all relevant authorities, BASF and Shanshan have formed the joint venture “BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd.”. The new entity will be majority owned by BASF (BASF 51% and Shanshan 49%). The newly formed company has four sites in Hunan and Ningxia, China, with more than... Read more →

SunMirror AG, an exploration company specializing in mineral resources such as gold, lithium, cobalt and other metals and minerals powering future industries, through its wholly owned subsidiary SunMirror Luxembourg S.A., has entered into a conditional binding agreement with Latitude 66 Cobalt Limited to acquire 100% of the shares of Finnish... Read more →

Following a series of major expansion announcements in 2021, China’s cathode industry is moving closer to having its first producer with a capacity of one million tonnes per annum (tpa), according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. With battery cell producers worldwide undertaking massive expansion plans and with battery capacity in the... Read more →

Australia-based Walkabout Resources, an Africa-focused energy minerals developer, announced that its Tanzania Lindi Jumbo flake graphite project had progressed into the construction phase, with the CRDB-approved Independent Project Manager completing site visits and bulk earthmoving contractor TNR commencing mobilization. Walkabout Resources signed a US$20-million loan agreement with Tanzania’s CRDB bank... Read more →

POSCO has begun production of high-purity nickel—required for secondary batteries—at SNNC. SNNC is a JV established with SMSP, the largest nickel exporter in New Caledonia, in 2006, and was Korea’s first specialized ferronickel manufacturer engaged in producing and selling ferronickel (nickel 20%, iron 80%), the main component of stainless steel,... Read more →

Australia-based Renascor Resources has executed a Strategic Cooperation and Offtake MOU with POSCO covering the purchase of 20,000 to 30,000 tpa of Purified Spherical Graphite (PSG) from Renascor’s planned Battery Anode Material operation in South Australia. The final annual amount to be delivered under the offtake and the term of... Read more →

Magnesium rechargeable batteries (MRBs), in which high-capacity Mg metal is used as the anode material, are promising candidates for next-generation batteries due to their energy density, safety, and cost. However, the lack of high-performance cathode materials impedes their development. Like their lithium-ion counterparts, transition metal oxides are the staple cathode... Read more →

In advance of next week’s Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo, Octillion Power Systems announced that bus operators have driven 20 million kilometers powered by its lithium-ion batteries. Octillion is a global supplier of advanced high-density lithium-ion battery packs for passenger cars, trucks, buses, and energy-storage systems. The company has operations... Read more →

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a nanometric graphite-like anode for sodium ion (Na+ storage), formed by stacked graphene sheets functionalized only on one side, termed Janus graphene. The estimated sodium storage up to C6.9Na is comparable to graphite for standard lithium ion batteries. The approach, reported... Read more →

Aiming to gain a competitive advantage in the global EV market, Vietnam-based EV maker VinFast has been developing a number of partnerships with developers of advanced battery technologies. VinFast is collaborating with Israeli StoreDot, a company developing extreme fast charging (XFC) technology that allows the battery to charge to 80%... Read more →

SAE International has released J2464: Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicle Rechargeable Energy Storage System (RESS) Safety and Abuse Testing, a revised recommended practice for establishing safe battery systems. Originating in 1999 when the industry recognized the need for safety and abuse testing of battery systems in the mobility sector, the... Read more →