The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intent to issue a funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0002823) that will support research on the extraction and conversion of lithium from geothermal brines for use of lithium batteries in electric vehicles and clean energy storage. Geothermal brines—a byproduct of geothermal power—have become a proven,... Read more →
Data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Cathode Forecast shows that China is set to extend its dominance of cathode production by 2030, increasing its share of production from 78% in 2022 to 87% in 2030. China’s output of cathode active materials increased more than four times between 2018 and 2022. The... Read more →
South Africa-based mining and metals group Sibanye Stillwater has increased its effective shareholding in Keliber Oy to 84.96%. (Earlier post.) Keliber is a Finnish mining and battery chemical company that aims to start the sustainable production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, utilizing its own ore, in 2024. (Earlier post.) At the... Read more →
The Chemours Company is planning a $200-million investment to increase capacity and advance technology for its Nafion ion exchange materials to support the hydrogen economy. Accelerated climate ambitions and energy challenges have fast-tracked demand for hydrogen power and fuel cell technology. Chemours’ investment will support growing market demand for clean... Read more →
Rio Tinto has started producing spodumene concentrate, a mineral used in the production of lithium for batteries, at a demonstration plant in its Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium (RTIT) Québec Operations in its metallurgical complex in Sorel-Tracy, Canada. The plant will demonstrate at industrial scale a new spodumene concentration process... Read more →
South Korea-based SK On (SKO), a global EV battery manufacturer, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Australia’s Global Lithium Resources to explore future business opportunities together in regard to stable supply of lithium. SK On ranked ninth in terms of global EV battery market share in 2019, but has... Read more →
General Motors and OneD Battery Sciences signed a joint research development agreement focused on the potential use of OneD’s silicon nanotechnology in GM’s Ultium battery cells to drive significant increases in energy density for longer range and reduced cost. GM Ventures and Volta Energy Technologies also participated in OneD’s Series... Read more →
The first fully electric commuter plane Alice from Eviation Aircraft (earlier post) successfully completed its maiden flight at Moses Lake, Washington. Alice lifted off on 27 Sep at 7:10 a.m. from Grant County International Airport (MWH), flying for a total of eight minutes and reaching an altitude of 3,500 feet.... Read more →
Logistics company Hegelmann Group, which operates in Europe, and Mercedes-Benz Trucks signed a Letter of Intent for the order of 50 eActros LongHaul electric trucks (earlier post) at this year’s IAA Transportation in Hannover. The vehicles are to be delivered to the family-owned company from Bruchsal, Germany with the start... Read more →
Nano One, a company with patented processes for the low-cost, low-environmental footprint production of high-performance cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries, and Euro Manganese, a battery raw materials company, are jointly developing economically viable and environmentally sustainable applications of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) as one of several inputs for... Read more →
PowerCo, the new battery company of the Volkswagen Group, and Umicore have established a joint venture for precursor and cathode material production in Europe. From 2025 onwards, the joint venture will supply PowerCo’s European battery cell factories with key materials. By the end of the decade, the partners aim to... Read more →
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and Stony Brook University have fabricated a thicker electrode for lithium-ion batteries by controlling nanosheet assembly via the combination of an external magnetic field and drying-based densification. This dense and thick electrode is capable of delivering a high volumetric capacity >1,600 mAh... Read more →
ABB recently unveiled its new Plant Optimization Methodology for battery manufacturing, presenting how greenfield battery sites can jumpstart global operations. With major automakers committing more than $500 billion towards electric vehicle production, and many planning to exclusively offer e-vehicles by 2035, there has been a huge growth in demand for... Read more →
Canada-based Euro Manganese (EMN) signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Norwegian state-owned company Statkraft for the long-term supply of carbon-free renewable energy for Euro Manganese’s flagship Chvaletice Manganese Project (CMP) in the Czech Republic. Statkraft is Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy. EMN is a battery materials company... Read more →
A new $10.95-million research center, led by Michigan Engineering and funded by the US Department of Energy, will focus on understanding an emerging branch of science involving mechanical and chemical phenomena that affect advanced battery designs. The University of Michigan (U-M) and eight partner institutions will explore the use of... Read more →
Umicore last week inaugurated its carbon-neutral production facility for cathode active materials (CAM) for electric vehicles in Nysa, Poland. This makes Umicore the first company in Europe with a complete circular and sustainable battery materials value chain. The gigafactory will supply battery materials to Umicore’s car and battery cell customers... Read more →
Sakuu, developer of the first 3D printed solid-state battery (earlier post), entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan’s NGK Spark Plugs CO., LTD. (NGK), a global leader in electrochemical materials and a tier-one industrial automotive supplier. Under the MOU, NGK will co-develop and provide ceramic materials for Sakuu’s... Read more →
LG Energy Solution (LGES) signed separate partnership agreements with three major critical mineral suppliers in Canada. The latest arrangements to secure lithium and cobalt from Snow Lake Resources Ltd., Electra Battery Materials Corporation and Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. are in line with LG Energy Solution’s strategic vision to reinforce its... Read more →
The 2031 Li-ion battery gigafactory pipeline capacity has soared past the 7TWh threshold in Benchmark Minerals’s latest Gigafactory assessment. This milestone comes just four months after the ten-year pipeline exceeded 6 TWh in April. BYD last month announced a 30 GWh gigafactory in Yichun, China, tipping the pipeline capacity for... Read more →
GM Ventures, the automaker’s investment arm, has made a strategic investment in Lithion Recycling’s Series A financing round, supporting a new GM-Lithion strategic partnership agreement to pursue a circular battery ecosystem using Lithion’s advanced battery recycling technology. This collaboration between GM and Lithion will focus on: Validation of Lithion’s recovered... Read more →
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and four national laboratories have devised a way to make lithium-ion battery cathodes without using cobalt. In a paper published in Nature, the scientists describe how they overcame thermal and chemical-mechanical instabilities of cathodes composed substantially of nickel by mixing in several other... Read more →
At IAA Transportation 2022 in Hannover, BYD unveiled its new eBus Blade Platform—an electric bus chassis based on BYD’s Blade Battery technology—alongside an upgraded model in its eBus range, and also introduced two zero-emission eTrucks. BYD eBus Blade Platform uses the BYD Blade Battery. (Earlier post.) In the Blade Battery,... Read more →
Vianode, a company owned by Elkem, Hydro and Altor, has decided to invest in its first industrial scale plant for sustainable battery materials at Herøya in Norway. The investment of around NOK 2 billion (US$194 million) will create new industrial jobs and provide critical battery materials. The decision is an... Read more →
Advanced materials technology company Sylvatex (SVX) announced a new proprietary waterless production method that delivers premium EV-grade cathode active materials (CAM) at lower costs and that allows for a broader material input supply base to enable demand growth. The company expects that its simpler and more sustainable approach to CAM... Read more →
Iveco Group and Hyundai Motor Company unveiled the first IVECO eDAILY fuel cell electric vehicle at IAA Transportation 2022 in Hannover. Since signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in March 2022, the two companies have formed multiple joint working groups on various technological streams to explore ways that they can... Read more →
Koch Minerals & Trading, LLC (KM&T), a diverse global trading, logistics and investment company and subsidiary of Koch Industries, Inc. (KII), is making a $252-million investment in Compass Minerals, a leading global provider of essential minerals, to support phase-one development of its previously identified 2.4 mMT lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE)... Read more →
For the first time since finalizing the acquisition of Meritor last month (earlier post), Cummins will showcase Meritor’s 17Xe ePowertrain assembled with a Cummins battery system during the IAA Transportation tradeshow in Hannover, Germany. The 17Xe is designed for heavy-duty trucks in the 4x2 and 6x2 segment, with capacity to... Read more →
Our Next Energy (ONE), a Michigan-based energy storage company (earlier post), unveiled a 240-Ah prismatic anode-free cell after a successful 12-month R&D effort. The company believes its anode-free cell is the highest energy density large-format cell ever produced. The technology will enable the commercialization of ONE’s Gemini dual-chemistry architecture, which... Read more →
24M Technologies, Inc. (24M) has licensed its SemiSolid manufacturing platform (earlier post) to Fujifilm Corporation. As part of the partnership, Fujifilm will invest $20 million in 24M. The chemistry-agnostic 24M SemiSolid manufacturing platform enables higher energy densities, lower costs, unmatched recyclability and increased safety for next-generation batteries. This new agreement... Read more →
Power management company Eaton’s eMobility business has introduced a single-stage vent valve for electrified vehicle (EV) batteries. The valve acts as an overpressure relief for the vehicle’s battery pack. As the electrified vehicle market continues to grow, battery packs are becoming progressively more powerful and create more heat. OEMs are... Read more →
Australia-based Sparc Technologies has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The Strategic Partnership Agreement is an umbrella agreement that will support a long-term partnership and commitment between the parties, affording Sparc the first right of refusal to commercialize technologies developed from projects Sparc... Read more →
With electrified plug-in hybrid versions already available, two new PEUGEOT 308 silhouettes—the sedan and wagon SW—will be available in a 100% electric version from 2023. PEUGEOT will be the first European manufacturer to offer a 100% electric wagon. The E-308 and E-308 SW will be powered by a new electric... Read more →
The Western Watersheds Project (WWP) has petitioned the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list the rare Kings River pyrg (freshwater snail) under the Endangered Species Act. The pyrg is only known to live in 13 small isolated springs around Thacker Pass in Humboldt County, an area where Canada-based Lithium... Read more →
Mercedes-Benz’ battery recycling subsidiary Licular GmbH—founded in 2021—is heading the consortium for LIBinfinity, a €17-million battery-recycling project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). LIBinfinity focuses on a holistic concept for recycling materials of lithium-ion batteries using a mechanico-hydrometallurgical process without energy-intensive process steps.... Read more →
Magna is expanding into the fast-growing micromobility market by investing $77 million in Yulu, India’s largest electrified shared mobility provider, and creating a battery-swapping service company. Yulu deploys shareable, low-speed, electric two-wheelers to facilitate accessible, sustainable urban mobility in India. As part of the agreement, Magna will have a stake... Read more →
Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) unveiled an ultra-high performance electric vehicle platform designed to accelerate the ambitions of hypercar manufacturers, from start-ups to OEMs. The latest iteration of WAE EV platforms, EVR is focused on the growing electric hypercar sector, with a lightweight composite structure that mounts the high-performance battery system... Read more →
Roland Busch, CEO of Siemens AG, Dr. Richard Lutz, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, and Hartmut Höppner, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), took their first ride in the Mireo Plus H hydrogen train and then demonstrated the train’s refueling procedure using a mobile hydrogen fueling... Read more →
Corvus Energy, a leading provider of zero-emission solutions for the maritime industry, will lead an IPN (Innovasjonsprosjekt i næringslivet, Innovation Project for the Industrial Sector) project—a program funded by the Research Council of Norway to promote innovation in the industry. Corvus Energy joins forces with research institute NORCE and other... Read more →
The Metals Company (TMC), an explorer of lower-impact battery metals from seafloor polymetallic nodules (earlier post), announced that the International Seabed Authority (ISA) has completed its review of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP) submitted by TMC subsidiary Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI), and... Read more →
Piedmont Lithium has (earlier post) selected Etowah, Tennessee as the location of the company’s planned 30,000 metric ton per year (tpy) LHP2 lithium hydroxide operation (“Tennessee Lithium”). Planned completion and start of production is in 2025. The project will convert spodumene concentrate sourced principally from Piedmont’s international project investments to... Read more →
The BMW Group will launch a new era of e-mobility from 2025 with the models of its NEUE KLASSE (earlier post)—using newly-developed cylindrical battery cells optimized for the new architecture for the first time. The newly-developed sixth generation of our lithium-ion cells will bring a huge leap in technology that... Read more →
Demand for lithium-ion batteries is set to grow six-fold by 2032, according to Benchmark. Accordingly, the world needs more than 300 new mines to be built by 2035 if raw material supply is to keep up with this demand, according to a new analysis by Benchmark. However, recycling could help... Read more →
A team led by researchers from Argonne National Laboratory has identified a fundamental source of instability in nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes: the domain boundaries that are present in single-crystalline cathode particles. The researchers also devised a method for producing boundary-free single crystals to improve NMC performance. A paper on the... Read more →
Cirba Solutions, a recycled battery management and materials company, will form a joint venture with 6K Inc., a producer of sustainable advanced materials for additive manufacturing and energy storage via the UniMelt plasma system, to produce recycled battery cathode material, thereby closing the loop in the management of lithium-ion batteries.... Read more →
Honda Motor has established a strategic partnership with Hanwa, a major Japan-based trading company, toward stable procurement of essential metals for batteries necessary for its electrified vehicles. Honda is striving to make battery-electric vehicles (EVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCVs) represent 100% of its global vehicle sales by 2040.... Read more →
Nissan Motor entered into a definitive agreement to acquire shares in Vehicle Energy Japan, an automotive lithium-ion battery manufacturer. Nissan will acquire the shares after the completion of regulatory procedures, including necessary approvals and permissions. Nissan will acquire all the common shares of Vehicle Energy Japan held by investment company... Read more →
StoreDot, the developer of extreme fast charging batteries for electric vehicles (earlier post), has commenced shipping production-ready EV cell samples of its ‘100in5’ (100 miles of range in 5 minutes) battery technology to more than one dozen strategic electric vehicle OEM partners and potential customers. StoreDot’s strategic investors and partners... Read more →
Ionic Mineral Technologies (Ionic MT), a US-based advanced battery materials technology company, emerged from stealth mode to debut its halloysite-derived nano-silicon, Ionisil, which can be used as a drop-in replacement for graphite in lithium-based batteries. Nano-silicon can unlock significantly longer range and faster charging for electric vehicles (EVs). Halloysite’s naturally... Read more →
IONETIC, a UK start-up specializing in electric vehicle (EV) battery pack technology, launched its EV battery pack design platform, which the company says can cut the development cost and time for automotive manufacturers bringing a new electric vehicle to market. Producing a high-performance and safe battery pack solution has been... Read more →
DNV, an independent energy expert and assurance provider, released the fourth edition of its Battery Scorecard report. This edition of the Battery Scorecard incorporates independent testing results from 19 different battery cell types, as well as an outlook on future battery technologies and a new interactive online dashboard. Electrification of... Read more →