Piedmont Lithium has announced the construction of a large lithium hydroxide processing plant in the USA. The facility is to be built in Etowah in the state of Tennessee and will produce 30,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide per year. The start of operations is planned for 2025.
Slovakian battery company InoBat Auto and Cosworth have entered into a strategic partnership under which InoBat will supply optimised battery cells to the British company for its battery packs. The deal is designed to advance Cosworth’s electrification plans.
The British EV battery startup Ionetic has launched a software-based EV battery pack design platform, which can cut the development cost and time for automotive manufacturers bringing a new electric vehicle to market.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a battery with two electrodes made of aluminum and sulfur, and a molten salt electrolyte placed between them. They said the sulfur electrodes with a high loading of 12.0 mg cm2 can sustain a high capacity of 520 mAh g–1 over 100 cycles at 5 C.
Ultium Cells LLC, the battery joint venture by GM and LG, has kicked-off production in Ohio, USA. The new battery plant is the first of potentially four to come online within the next few years and is currently making battery cells for GMC’s Hummer EV.
General Motors has signed a binding off-take agreement for cathode active material (CAM) with Posco Chemical. Under the agreement, which runs from 2023 to 2025, Posco will supply the material from its plant in the South Korean city of Gwangyang to Ultium Cells.
Sharp is developing a zinc-air battery tech for renewables storage. The device will be reportedly safer than their lithium-ion counterparts, with high energy densities.
The Mexican government has founded a state-owned company to extract and market lithium. According to a decree by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the raw material is to be produced and distributed exclusively by Litio para México. The company aims to start operations in six months at the latest.
The Norwegian battery company Freyr has opened its first technology centre in the USA. It is located in Boston with partner 24M Technologies. While Freyr continues to search for a location for its announced US battery cell factory, the new centre is intended to support technological development.
Celgard, LLC (Celgard), a subsidiary of Polypore International, LP, (Polypore) announce it has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with American Battery Factory (ABF). Celgard and ABF will undertake joint research projects to commercialize state-of-the-art next generation products for reliable high-technology prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the U.S.
The Automotive Cells Company (ACC) battery cell joint venture between Stellantis, Total and Mercedes-Benz has ordered cell separators from the Shield T product family for thermal management and fire protection of its batteries from the Swiss industrial group Von Roll.
Lars Carlstrom, CEO of Italvolt and Statevolt and cofounder of Britishvolt, has revealed more details about Italvolt – the announced 45 GWh battery cell factory in the north-western Italian region of Piedmont. Carlstrom expects to receive the building permit in spring 2023.
The Chinese battery cell manufacturer CATL will build another cell factory in Europe. The second location after Erfurt is Debrecen in Hungary. CATL already has an important customer on its hands: the cell factory is to supply the Mercedes-Benz vehicle plants in Germany and Hungary with batteries.
Tesla has signed contracts worth around US$5 billion to buy materials for its batteries from nickel-processing companies in Indonesia, according to a senior Indonesian cabinet minister.
Researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in the United States have developed a special class of materials for bulky calcium ions, providing pathways for their facile insertion into battery electrodes.
Sakuu, a California-based developer of 3D-printed solid-state batteries, has opened a new engineering centre in Silicon Valley. This multi-million dollar expansion follows the recent opening of Sakuu’s battery pilot line.
The US company Ascend Elements has announced plans to invest up to one billion US dollars in a factory for the production of sustainable battery materials for electric vehicles in southwestern Kentucky. Production is scheduled to start at the end of 2023.
Prime Planet Energy & Solutions, the battery joint venture of Toyota and Panasonic, has signed a binding offtake agreement with Ioneer for lithium carbonate from Ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge project in Nevada.
The US manufacturer General Motors has signed agreements with LG Chem and Livent for the supply of battery materials. The company sees this as strengthening its goal of reaching one million units of electric vehicles in North America by the end of 2025.