The Volkswagen Group Components plant in Braunschweig is significantly expanding its production of battery systems for the latest electric vehicle generation. Following the first expansion stage with a maximum capacity of 250,000 battery systems, the second expansion stage has started up with the same capacity. Thus, once the site is... Read more →

Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture of LG Energy Solution and General Motors, will invest more than $2.3 billion to build its second battery cell manufacturing plant in the United States. The facility will be located in Spring Hill, Tennessee. Early conceptual rendering of Ultium Cells LLC battery cell manufacturing... Read more →

Porsche AG has developed a new production process at its headquarters in Zuffenhausen in collaboration with Tesa SE. Using this process, the holes in the car body, which are necessary for corrosion prevention, can now be sealed much more effectively; these holes are required so that all of the body... Read more →

Despite all the restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Dürr has handed over one of the biggest paint shops in China to SAIC Volkswagen (SVW) on schedule. The new plant in Anting boasts a production capacity twice that of a standard paint shop at 120 bodies per hour, and behind... Read more →

US-based Group14 Technologies, a global provider of silicon-carbon composite materials for lithium-ion markets, announced the launch of its first commercial-scale 27,000-square foot US manufacturing factory to meet demand for higher-performing lithium-silicon anode materials. The new factory, located at Group14 HQ in Woodinville, Washington, also will house a new R&D center,... Read more →

REE Automotive Ltd (REE) announced a strategic collaboration agreement with Magna International to bring to market Modular Electric Vehicles (MEVs) for tech companies and new electric mobility players under the “Powered by REE” brand. The strategic collaboration will explore the combination of REE’s REEcorner technology (earlier post) with Magna’s vehicle... Read more →

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) announced the availability of $61.4 million for technologies that produce low-cost, low-carbon biofuels. (DE-FOA-0002396) Topic areas for the “Bioenergy Technologies Office Scale-Up and Conversion” funding opportunity include high-impact biotechnology research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) to bolster the body of scientific... Read more →

Volvo Group and steel-maker SSAB have signed a collaboration agreement on research, development, serial production and commercialization of the world’s first vehicles to be made of fossil-free steel. Volvo plans already this year to start the production of concept vehicles and components from steel made by SSAB using hydrogen. Plans... Read more →

Hydro is exploring the potential for developing and operating hydrogen facilities to meet large internal demand as well as serving an external market, leveraging the company’s industrial and renewable power expertise. We see a substantial potential for industrial hydrogen consumption. Taking a developer and operator role in the hydrogen sector... Read more →

Chevrolet will introduce a Silverado electric pickup truck that will be built at the Factory ZERO assembly plant in Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan (earlier post). The recently revealed GMC HUMMER EV SUV (earlier post) will also be built at Factory ZERO. The vehicles coming from Factory ZERO will change the... Read more →

China-based SANY, one of the largest construction equipment manufacturers in the world, is developing hydrogen fuel cell construction vehicles; two recent examples include a dump truck and a mixer truck, freshly rolled out of SANY’s intelligent flagship factory. The latter is the first hydrogen-powered mixer truck in the world. According... Read more →

To support the future of green automotive manufacturing and accelerate the UK’s transition to net-zero emission vehicles, the Advanced Propulsion Centre (APC) has guided £9.4 million (US$13 million) in public funding to 22 feasibility studies looking to scale up the industrialization of low-carbon emission vehicle technologies. In the second round... Read more →

Optodot Corporation has added a new US patent to its portfolio of more than 90 pending and issued battery patents worldwide. This new IP is directed to Optodot’s NanoPore Electrode Coated Separator (ECS) technology, defining an advanced design and manufacturing option for next‐generation batteries. With ECS, electrodes—for example, lithium metal... Read more →

A team from Fraunhofer IPT is developing a continuous production line that will be able to process fuel cell components in cycles lasting just seconds. The pilot line is set to be presented at the Hannover Messe Digital Edition from 12-16 April 2021. In a live stream, Fraunhofer IPT, together... Read more →

Australia-based AVZ Minerals Limited has secured a strategic, long-term offtake partner agreement with Yibin Tianyi Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. for the supply of spodumene concentrate (SC6) from the Manono Lithium and Tin Project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Spodumene—a lithium mineral derived from pegmatite rock—is known for its... Read more →

Toyota Motor Company and Beijing SinoHytec have established a joint venture company to promote the commercial vehicle fuel cell system industry in China. The planned joint venture will be based in Beijing and named Toyota SinoHytec Fuel Cell (FCTS). Last year, Toyota Motor and five Chinese OEMs—China FAW Corporation Limited... Read more →

As part of his more than $2-trillion spending package (“The American Jobs Plan”), President Biden is proposing a $174-billion investment in the EV market in the US. Among the broad elements of the proposal are: Enabling automakers to spur domestic supply chains from raw materials to parts, retool factories to... Read more →

Germany-based specialty chemicals company LANXESS is entering the battery chemistry business. Starting next year, the Group will produce electrolyte formulations for lithium-ion batteries for the Chinese company Tinci. Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co. (Tinci) is a leading global manufacturer of lithium-ion battery materials. The high-performance electrolyte formulations from Leverkusen will... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz will build the next generation eSprinter electric van, which is based on the newly developed Electric Versatility Platform (earlier post), at three locations: North Charleston, South Carolina; and Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde in Germany. Based on a new platform announced at the end of 2020, the next generation of the... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz and Siemens will cooperate on advancing digitalization and automation in the automotive industry, supported by the State of Berlin. Mercedes-Benz AG aims to digitize its production processes. Siemens, a leading supplier in the field of automation, industrial software and smart infrastructure, will bring its expertise and technologies to the... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is expanding its green power portfolio in cooperation with the energy supplier Enovos and the Norwegian energy producer Statkraft. From 2022 onwards, the company will purchase electricity in Germany which comes exclusively from renewable sources. A green power supply contract ensures the purchase of electricity from renewable energy sources... Read more →

For batteries to fit into narrow and crooked spaces and to store more energy for e.g. electric mobility, flexibly adaptable cells are required. So far, however, lithium-ion battery cells have been produced in standardized formats and rigid systems. Under the AgiloBat project (earlier post) researchers in Germany have developing an... Read more →

Lion Electric (Lion), a manufacturer of all-electric medium- and heavy-duty urban vehicles, received a purchase order from Pride Group Enterprises (Pride) for the acquisition of 100 all-electric Lion6 and Lion8 trucks. The order represents Lion’s largest single order of zero-emission trucks to date. Pride will be integrating the all-electric trucks... Read more →

Geely Auto Group (Geely Auto) officially announced the widely reported formation of Zeekr—a new electric mobility technology and solutions company based in China that will serve growing global demand for premium electric vehicles. Geely expects to deliver the first Zeekr vehicles in Q3, with production being undertaken by parent company... Read more →

Production of the Audi Q4 e-tron has finally started in Zwickau. The fully electric compact model is the first electric SUV to be produced by Audi in Germany. The Q4 e-tron features a Volkswagen-made modular electric drive matrix (MEB), a highly versatile and variable platform that is suitable for numerous... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz has started producing high-performance batteries for its all-electric luxury EQS at its Stuttgart-Hedelfingen plant, as part of the Untertürkheim location in Germany, ahead of the sedan’s world premiere on 15 April 2021. The EQS marks the start of a new generation of high-performance electric vehicles and will offer a... Read more →

As part of a pilot project, Audi is procuring 20-inch wheels for the Audi e-tron GT electric car that are made from low-CO2 emission aluminum supplied by Alcoa to RONAL GROUP, the wheel’s manufacturer. Alcoa is supplying aluminum for Audi’s pilot project from a self-developed, innovative smelting process that emits... Read more →

The technology group Rheinmetall AG has won a follow-up order from a well-known German carmaker to produce aluminum engine blocks with a total value of more than €100 million. Full-scale production is planned to begin in 2023. The lifetime of the contract extends beyond 2030. Rheinmetall has been supplying the... Read more →

General Motors plans to reduce water intensity of its operations by 35% by 2035, compared to a 2010 baseline, which could result in enough savings to fill about 4,254 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The automaker has also signed the CEO Water Mandate—a UN Global Compact initiative—joining other global business leaders to... Read more →

Audi has included the economical and efficient use of water as a key aspect of its Mission:Zero environmental program. The company plans to keep its own water consumption to a minimum and stop using drinking water in vehicle production in the future. To this end, Audi is implementing efficient processes... Read more →

Schlumberger New Energy is developing a lithium extraction pilot plant through its new venture, NeoLith Energy. The deployment of the pilot plant will be in Clayton Valley, Nevada, USA. The NeoLith Energy sustainable approach uses a differentiated direct lithium extraction (DLE) process to enable the production of high-purity, battery-grade lithium... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) will award up to $30 million to support scientific research that will ensure US businesses can reliably tap into a domestic supply of critical elements and minerals—specifically rare earth elements (REE) and platinum group elements (PGE)—needed to produce clean energy technologies. (DE-FOA-0002483) Currently, the... Read more →

Westport Fuel Systems Inc. announced co-investment with its Tier 1 global injector manufacturing partner to expand their production facility in Yantai, China to supply jointly developed and proprietary fuel injectors to the growing global market for HPDI 2.0 (High Pressure Direct Injection 2.0). HPDI 2.0 is a fully OEM-integrated system... Read more →

Global steel-maker ArcelorMittal launched its first three XCarb initiatives as part of the company’s effort to deliver on its 2050 net-zero commitment. XCarb will ultimately bring together all of ArcelorMittal’s reduced, low and zero-carbon products and steelmaking activities, as well as wider initiatives and green innovation projects, into a single... Read more →

UK-based battery manufacturer AMTE Power and Faradion Ltd., a leader in non-aqueous sodium-ion battery technolog (earlier post), announced a collaboration which combines Faradion’s IP with AMTE Power’s design and manufacturing capabilities. Faradion’s IP portfolio, which includes some jointly-held patents, comprises 21 current patent families (including eight granted), focused on three... Read more →

The BMW Group is preparing for a major realignment of its product range from 2025 onwards, based on the Neue Klasse (New Class). The Neue Klasse will be characterized by three key aspects: a completely redefined IT and software architecture; a new generation of high-performance electric drivetrains and batteries; and... Read more →

ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp., a Canada-based designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, has selected Mesa, AZ, for its US assembly facility and engineering technical center. Phoenix ranks as the fifth-largest city in the US according to 2020 census data, with nearly 1.8 million residents. Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, ranks 35th... Read more →

LG Energy Solution will invest more than $4.5 billion (KRW 5 trillion) by the end of 2025 in the company’s own U.S. business to expand its battery production capacity. This new investment will secure an additional 70GWh in just the US alone, and will be in addition to current and... Read more →

Canda-based Lion Electric, a manufacturer of all-electric trucks and buses, is building a battery manufacturing plant and innovation center in Québec. The factory is planned to begin operations in early 2023 and will produce battery packs and modules made from Lithium-ion cells. Construction is projected to break ground over the... Read more →

Nissan has begun using second-life battery modules from first-generation LEAF electric vehicles as the power supply for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in its plants. At Nissan’s Oppama plant, south of Tokyo, there are more than 700 AGVs. Globally, Nissan has more than 4,000 AGVs at work. Nissan was exploring new... Read more →

The BMW Group company is investing in an innovative method for CO2-free steel production developed by American startup Boston Metal (earlier post), through its venture capital fund, BMW i Ventures. Boston Metal is commercializing molten oxide electrolysis (MOE), a patented tonnage metals production platform. Over the coming years, Boston Metal... Read more →

In a project co-funded by Ford Motor Company and the ExOne Company, a team of engineers, material scientists, and manufacturing experts has developed a patent-pending process for rapid and reliable binder jet 3D printing and sintering of aluminum 6061 that delivers properties comparable to die casting. Aluminum 6061 is one... Read more →

European battery-maker Northvolt has acquired Cuberg, a US-based battery technology company delivering high-performance lithium-metal cells produced on existing lithium-ion manufacturing lines for electromobility solutions. Cuberg spun out of Stanford University in 2015 with the goal of commercializing next-generation battery technology based on a liquid electrolyte combined with a lithium metal... Read more →

RENERA LLC, ROSATOM’s integrator company for the energy storage business (subsidiary of TVEL Fuel Company of Rosatom) is acquiring a 49% share of Enertech International, a South Korean manufacturer of electrodes, lithium-ion cells and energy storage systems. The signed agreement also includes building a facility for manufacturing of lithium-ion cells... Read more →

TECO 2030 ASA plans to establish Norway’s first large-scale production of hydrogen-based fuel cells in Narvik in Northern Norway. (Earlier post.) We plan to establish a combined innovation center and factory in Narvik. The plant will be able to produce fuel cells with a capacity of more than one gigawatt... Read more →

A new fabrication technique could allow all-solid-state automotive lithium-ion batteries (ASSLBs) to adopt nonflammable ceramic electrolytes using the same production processes as in batteries made with conventional liquid electrolytes. The new technique, reported March 8 in the journal Nature Materials, could allow large automotive Li-ion batteries to be made safer... Read more →

Mercedes-Benz is transforming its Mercedes-Benz Drive Systems unit and its Stuttgart-Untertürkheim site for an “Electric First” future in the context of Ambition 2039—the company’s path toward carbon neutrality. The management and works council of the Untertürkheim plant reached an agreement to invest a three-digit million euro amount to transform Untertürkheim,... Read more →

Volkswagen is accelerating its transformation into a software-driven mobility provider. With the new ACCELERATE strategy that it has just unveiled, the company will systematically prepare for the profound changes in the automotive industry in good time. In addition to electrification, integration of software into the vehicle and the digital customer... Read more →

Volkswagen gave a first design preview of Project Trinity. The electrically powered sedan is to be built in Wolfsburg from 2026 and is intended to set new standards in terms of range, charging speed and digitization—as well as being able of delivering Level 4 automated driving. The project name Trinity... Read more →

DeepGreen Metals Inc., a developer of lower-impact battery metals from unattached seafloor polymetallic nodules (earlier post), has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Sustainable Opportunities Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with a dedicated ESG focus and deep operational and capital market capabilities in the energy... Read more →