News

July 11, 2018

Hyundai Investing In US Solid-State Battery Company

Last year, Hyundai announced that it was charting its own course when it comes to developing solid-state battery technology. Rather than relying on its traditional battery partners, Samsung SDI and LG Chem, it had its own people doing the basic research. “Hyundai is developing solid-state batteries through its Namyang R&D Center’s […]
July 10, 2018

BMW, Volkswagen To Get EV Batteries From CATL Factory In Germany

On July 9, German prime minister Angela Merkel and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang met to sign an agreement that will bring a CATL battery factory to the east German city of Erfurt. CATL, which stands for Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd, is China’s largest battery manufacturer. BMW has already signed up to buy over […]
July 9, 2018

The World’s “New Oil” — Batteries

As Elon Musk alludes to battery breakthroughs at Tesla, a larger question arises: will batteries really “fuel” our automotive future? According to Bloomberg, “For an energy source that’s been around for three decades, the lithium-ion battery is only just hitting its stride.” Bloomberg reports, “The future of the battery is going to be driven by the car. Surging demand […]
July 6, 2018

Iron Trifluoride Cathode Could Greatly Increase Energy Density

Researchers from the University of Maryland and the DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a cathode material containing iron trifluoride (FeF3) that they say could triple the energy density of Li-ion batteries. Their research was published in Nature Communications. “Compared to the large capacity of the commercial graphite anodes used in lithium-ion batteries, the capacity […]
July 5, 2018

European Lithium-Ion Battery Dilemma — Build Or Buy?

As the electric car (and truck and bus and heavy equipment) revolution sweeps across Europe, policymakers and investors are divided on whether the EU should push an aggressive strategy of constructing lithium-ion battery factories or just let the companies from China, Japan, and South Korea do the heavy lifting while […]
July 5, 2018

BMW Signs Billion-Dollar Battery Supply Contract with China’s CATL

Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL) is on a serious roll – China’s biggest battery builder issued a successful IPO on the Shenzhen stock exchange earlier this month, and has been announcing new supply contracts left and right – Daimler, Honda, Nissan/Renault, SAAB successor NEVS and EV startup Byton are now customers, and there are […]
June 14, 2018

Electric Autonomous Container Vessel to Go into Service in Norway

In 2017, fertilizer producer Yara announced a partnership with Kongsberg Maritime to build a fully autonomous, battery-electric container ship. Now Yara has made an agreement with cargo handling firm Kalmar, which will deliver equipment, software and services for a fully autonomous container handling solution at Yara’s Porsgrunn facility in Norway. All operations related […]
June 14, 2018

Super B and Lithium Werks Forge Supply Agreement to Meet Growing Battery Demand

Lithium Werks, a producer of Li-ion phosphate energy cells, and Super B, a specialist in lithium battery solutions, have agreed to work together to increase their overall battery production. The agreement calls for an expansion of Super B’s operations, including solutions for transportation and renewable energy needs, and a ramping-up […]
June 12, 2018

Siemens and Northvolt Join Forces to Boost Battery Production

Northvolt plans to build a new Li-ion battery factory with an annual capacity of 32 GWh, aided by a €10-million investment from Siemens. This partnership will make Northvolt the main Li-ion battery supplier for Siemens and promote the use of new technologies and production methods. The new plant is meant […]
June 9, 2018

One of the more interesting revelations to come out of the 2018 Tesla Shareholder Meeting was updated information about Tesla’s current battery costs and projected reductions over the next 2 years. Battery costs, coming through cutting-edge cell chemistry as well as more efficient production processes, are a key differentiator in the race to […]
April 26, 2018

Wildcat Sorts Through the Avalanche of New Battery Materials to Find the Best

As automakers and cell manufacturers begin to realize the complexity of benchmarking new battery materials, Wildcat Discovery Technology is using its high-speed R&D technology to help find clarity   If you follow battery technology news on a regular basis as we do, it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the volume […]
April 23, 2018

Researchers Achieve Extended Cycle Life Using Molybdenum Compound as Protective Anode Layer in Li-S Batteries

Researchers at The University of Texas at Dallas have used two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as a protective layer for Li-metal anodes to greatly improve the performance of Li-S batteries. In “2D MoS2 as an efficient protective layer for lithium metal anodes in high-performance Li–S batteries,” published in Nature Nanotechnology , the researchers report that such […]