Rheinmetall, together with its Chinese joint venture KPSNC, has won a major order for transmission housings from a world-leading maker of electric vehicles. Set to run for six years, the order package encompasses millions of transmission housings. Consisting of an aluminum alloy and produced using the pressure casting method, the... Read more →

The BMW Group will open its Cell Manufacturing Competence Center (CCMC) in the fall. With the emmission control approval procedure now completed, the necessary conditions are in place for commissioning of near-standard production of lithium-ion battery cells at the competence center in Parsdorf, outside of Munich. In an area spanning... Read more →

Daimler Truck AG will become a major anchor shareholder in German high-tech engineering company Manz AG through a capital increase of around 10%, subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities. In addition, in a first step both companies have signed a cooperation agreement on a strategic partnership to establish... Read more →

Nidec Corporation will build a flagship factory to produce its E-Axle traction motor system in the city of Pinghu, Zhejiang Province in China. The new factory to be built will be Nidec’s fifth traction motor-related production site, and the fourth E-Axle assembly plant, in China. Construction is planned to start... Read more →

By Brent Wilson, CEO of Galvanic Energy. America’s electric vehicle (EV) industry seems to have hit a rough patch of pavement in recent months. Lithium prices continue to rise, and no new domestic lithium sources have yet to be established. Even Tesla, despite its substantial efforts to hold the line... Read more →

The number of gigafactories in the pipeline has surpassed 300; there is now 6,387.6 gigawatt hours (GWh) of lithium ion battery capacity in the pipeline as assessed in Benchmark Mineral Inelligence’s May 2022 Gigafactory Assessment—a 68% year-on-year increase. China continues to dominate gigafactory announcements, but North America and Europe have... Read more →

Volkswagen is expanding its global production network for electric vehicles by now starting to make the all-electric ID.4 in Emden. Emden is now the second site for electric vehicles in Germany following Zwickau and also joins the Chinese plants in Anting and Foshan. Chattanooga (ID.4) and Hanover will also commence... Read more →

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) entered into an agreement with the State of Georgia to build its first dedicated full electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the US. The new EV plant and battery manufacturing facilities represent an investment of approximately US$5.54 billion. Non-affiliated Hyundai Motor Group suppliers will invest... Read more →

The DRYtraec coating process developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS allows the dry production of battery electrodes without toxic organic solvents or water (earlier post). In particular, the space- and energy-intensive drying step of conventional wet-chemical coating processes is completely eliminated. In addition to environmental... Read more →

Volkswagen and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) are exploring the use of MEB electric components for Mahindra’s new “Born Electric Platform”. Both signed a Partnering Agreement on 18 May to evaluate the scope of collaboration. Mahindra intends to equip its “Born Electric Platform” with MEB electric components such as electric... Read more →

Korea-based LOTTE Chemical and US-based solid-state battery component startup Soelect recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to review the creation of a joint venture and the construction of a US$200-million GWh-grade lithium metal anode production facility in the United States by 2025. Soelect’s LiX lithium metal anode enables fast charge... Read more →

Volvo Trucks is opening its first battery assembly plant. Located in Ghent, Belgium, the plant will supply ready-to-install batteries for Volvo Trucks’ full electric heavy-duty trucks. This investment shows our strong commitment to electrifying truck transportation. By 2030, at least 50 percent of all trucks we sell globally will be... Read more →

After well more than one million-miles (1.6 million kilometers) of testing in daily customer operations, Daimler Truck and its US Freightliner brand recently unveiled the all-electric eCascadia that will enter series production in 2022. Built on the best-selling heavy-duty truck platform in North America, the new battery-electric Freightliner eCascadia provides... Read more →

Kia Corporation will establish a new manufacturing facility dedicated to producing electric Purpose Built Vehicles (PBVs). The intelligent new production hub for PBVs will be located within Kia’s existing Hwaseong manufacturing site in Korea. The company plans to begin construction in the first half of 2023, with the aim to... Read more →

ŠKODA AUTO has started manufacturing battery systems for all-electric vehicles based on the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electrification Toolkit (MEB) in Mladá Boleslav. This makes the car manufacturer’s main plant the only production facility for MEB battery systems in Europe outside Germany. Around 250 employees will soon be assembling more than... Read more →

Kobe Steel will launch “Kobenable Steel” and become Japan’s first provider of low-CO2 blast furnace steel products with significantly reduced CO2 emissions during the blast furnace ironmaking process. The company plans to start selling the new products this fiscal year. Kobenable Steel is based on the KOBELCO Group’s CO2 Reduction... Read more →

BMW i Ventures announced a lead investment in the Series A-1 financing round of Vancouver-based Mangrove Lithium. The company has developed a modular platform producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate from diverse input streams and assets to improve the sustainability profile of lithium. BMW i Ventures is joined by existing... Read more →

Standalone Swedish premium electric vehicle manufacturer Polestar has released its second Annual Review and Sustainability report, highlighting progress towards its ambitious climate goals. In 2021, Polestar reduced greenhouse gas-emissions per car sold by 6% through its focus on increased efficiency and use of renewable energy. Polestar is targeting a truly... Read more →

EAVX, a subsidiary of JB Poindexter & Co (JBPCO), and REE Automotive, an automotive technology leader and provider of electric vehicle platforms, announced that the companies’ new fully electric walk-in van (WIV) prototype will begin customer evaluation this summer. The Class 5 vehicle marks the debut of the EAVX body... Read more →

Urban Production is an international architecture competition organized by the BMW Group in close cooperation with the City of Munich. The aim is to realize outstanding, future-ready production in the urban setting of the company’s home plant in Munich. The competition has now finished successfully, with the two winning architects’... Read more →

The BMW Group is using innovative technologies in its efforts to improve sustainability and taking advantage of new options to conserve resources and reduce emissions from painting bodywork. The BMW Group is the first automotive manufacturer worldwide to use matt paints made from biomass instead of crude oil at its... Read more →

Fisker confirmed that it will produce its second vehicle, the Fisker PEAR (Personal Electric Automotive Revolution) (earlier post), at the factory Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.) recently acquired in Ohio from Lordstown Motors (earlier post). The Fisker PEAR will enter production in 2024. Both the Fisker and Foxconn... Read more →

6K, a producer of engineered materials for lithium-ion batteries and additive manufacturing from its UniMelt plasma technology, has raised $102 million in its Series D funding first close of two planned tranches. The investment is expected to reach more than $150M in total, aimed at building a low cost, sustainable... Read more →

Test and measurement company TOYO Corporation announced that a major US automotive manufacturer recently selected TOYO’s vehicle-in-the-loop simulator (ViLS) for testing and validating its next generation of electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles. The ViLS allows automotive engineers to perform a wide variety of vehicle, environmental, and road testing under... Read more →

Lordstown Motors, an OEM of electric light-duty trucks focused on the commercial fleet market, has closed the sale of its Lordstown facility and signed a contract manufacturing agreement and joint venture agreement for product development with affiliates of Hon Hai Technology Group (Foxconn). As previously disclosed, on 10 November 2021,... Read more →

School bus manufacturer Blue Bird Corporation unveiled a Class 5-6 electric vehicle platform at the 2022 Advanced Clean Transportation (ACT) Expo. The company is building on its nearly century-long expertise of school bus manufacturing to expand its zero-emission transportation solutions to the commercial vehicle market. Blue Bird’s flexible Class 5-6... Read more →

KS HUAYU AluTech GmbH, a subsidiary of Rheinmetall AG, has received a new order with a lifetime value of nearly €170 million. It is the largest order in the aluminum specialist’s history. Awarded by a major German automaker, the order encompasses carrier plates for battery control components. Carrier plates are... Read more →

The Volkswagen Group and SEAT S.A. will invest €10 billion, together with their partners in the Future: Fast Forward project, in the event of a positive resolution of their application to PERTE VEC. (earlier post) In March, the Group said it would invest €7 billion. Last week, the 62 national... Read more →

Glencore, one of the world’s largest global diversified natural resource companies, has established a strategic partnership with Li-Cycle Holdings, a leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America. Glencore will subscribe for convertible debt in Li-Cycle and Li-Cycle will become a preferred partner for Glencore in the lithium-ion battery recycling sector.... Read more →

Sodium-ion battery cathode producer Altris AB (earlier post) signed a deal with AB Sandvik Materials Technology to house the company’s first industrial-scale manufacturing facility in Sandviken. The new facility, called ‘Ferrum’, will have the annual capacity to produce 2000 metric tonnes of Altris’ cathode material Fennac, enabling 1GWh of sustainable... Read more →

The United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC (USABC) awarded a $3-million technology development contract to Amprius Technologies for a low-cost, fast-charge silicon nanowire cell technology for electric vehicles. The contract award, which includes a 50% cost share, funds a 30-month project that began earlier this year. The focus of the... Read more →

Group14 Technologies, a global manufacturer and supplier of advanced silicon-carbon technology for lithium-silicon batteries, raised $400 million in Series C funding led by Porsche AG with participation from OMERS Capital Markets, Decarbonization Partners, Riverstone Holdings LLC, Vsquared Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, and other large institutional investors. To deliver to customers... Read more →

Natron Energy, a manufacturer of sodium-ion batteries, and Clarios International Inc., a manufacturer of low-voltage advanced battery technologies for mobility, will collaborate to manufacture the first mass-produced sodium-ion batteries. The Clarios Meadowbrook facility will become the world’s largest sodium-ion battery plant when mass production begins in 2023. This collaboration will... Read more →

Sila, a next-generation battery materials company, has purchased a facility with more than 600,000 square feet of space located in Moses Lake, WA to be used to manufacture Sila’s lithium-ion anode materials at automotive volumes and quality. Powered with hydropower, the facility is located on 160-acres of land close to... Read more →

Morrow Batteries (Morrow) and IBU-tec advanced materials AG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development and qualification of large-scale supply of European LFP (Lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4) cathode material to Morrow Batteries’ planned lithium-ion battery cell facility in Eyde Energy Park, Arendal, Norway. IBU-tec would supply up... Read more →

Magna continues its transformation toward electric mobility with the start of production of its mild hybrid transmission for BMW Group. Magna’s new 7-speed, mild hybrid dual-clutch transmission is the latest to be featured exclusively on BMW Group’s compact class, which underpins all its front-transverse vehicles. The contract between Magna and... Read more →

Stellantis plans to invest $3.6 billion CAD ($2.8 billion USD) to secure the future of its Windsor and Brampton (Ontario) Assembly Plants and to expand its Automotive Research and Development Center (ARDC) to accelerate the company’s move to a sustainable future. This announcement also supports the company’s Dare Forward 2030... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $3.1 billion in funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to make more batteries and components in America and bolster domestic supply chains. The infrastructure investments will support the creation of new, retrofitted, and expanded commercial facilities as well as manufacturing... Read more →

BMW’s iFACTORY production strategy defines the future orientation of plants and production technologies at the BMW Group and meets the challenges of the transformation to e-mobility. Automotive manufacturing of the future requires a new, holistic way of thinking. With our BMW iFACTORY, we are leading the way and setting new... Read more →

Umicore and Automotive Cells Company (ACC)—a joint company between Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and TotalEnergies together with its subsidiary Saft—have signed a long-term strategic supply agreement for EV cathode materials in Europe. Umicore will supply ACC’s future large-scale European battery plants with next-generation high-nickel cathode materials out of its greenfield production plant... Read more →

In 2021, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) launched a call for proposals to support R&D projects for zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) manufacturing, systems, components, and batteries in Canada. NGen has now announced $76 million in funding for 15 new industry-led consortia that will execute projects in strategic areas such as critical... Read more →

Nikola Corporation has begun commercial serial truck production of the Nikola Tre BEV (battery-electric vehicle); initial customer shipments have begun. Next year, fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) are planned to be added to the manufacturing mix, said Mark Russell, Nikola’s CEO. Phase 1 of the Coolidge, Arizona manufacturing facility provides Nikola... Read more →

Ford has begun full production of F-150 Lightning electric pickup at the ultra-modern Rouge Electric Vehicle Center within Ford’s historic Rouge Complex. Ford has 200,000 reservations for the Lightning and is expanding the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to ramp up production to a planned annual run rate of 150,000 in... Read more →

Wolfspeed, Inc. officially opened its Mohawk Valley Silicon Carbide fabrication facility in Marcy, NY with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Federal and State Officials. The 200mm wafer fab will help lead the industry-wide transition from silicon to Silicon Carbide-based semiconductors. As a key partner, Lucid Motors had the honor of “cutting... Read more →

Global automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has signed a five-year contract with Norwegian company REEtec AS for the purchase of rare earth oxides. The aim is to make electric motors for hybrid modules, hybrid transmissions and all-electric axle drives even more sustainable. Permanent magnets manufactured using rare earth metals such... Read more →

POSCO has broken ground for another electrical steel plant. South Korea’s top steelmaker will spend 1 trillion won (US$805 million) in building the plant in the southwestern port of Gwangyang, which will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons of non-oriented electrical steel. Electrical steels (earlier post) are special... Read more →

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Loan Programs Office (LPO) has offered a conditional commitment for a US$107-million loan to Syrah Technologies to fund the expansion of its Vidalia graphite-based active anode material (AAM) facility in Louisiana to 11.25 ktpa AAM production capacity. (Earlier post.) With this newly expanded production capacity,... Read more →

Korea-based POSCO Holdings recently started construction of a lithium commercialization plant in Argentina. (Earlier post.) POSCO Group is the first to produce lithium hydroxide for batteries in Argentina throughout the entire process from the acquisition of mining rights to exploration, construction and operation of a production plant. Construction of the... Read more →

Global lithium ion production capacity could reach over 6,000 GWh (6 TWh) by the end of the decade based on current plans, as companies accelerate gigafactory construction in Europe and the US, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Total lithium-ion capacity existing or being built has doubled since the beginning of... Read more →

Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. completed commercial agreements with LG Energy Solution, Ltd. for the supply of manufacturing scrap for recycling and with each of LG Energy Solution (LGES) and LG Chem, Ltd. (LGC) for the sale of nickel sulfate from Li-Cycle’s Rochester Hub. With the execution of these agreements, LGC and... Read more →