News

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 […]
April 23, 2018

Mazda and Partners to Develop Lithium-Ion Starter Batteries

Mazda has agreed to partner with ELIIY Power and Ube Industries to jointly develop 12-volt lithium-ion starter batteries by 2021. Lithium-ion batteries offer a promising alternative to conventional lead-acid car batteries, because of their lower weight, and because of environmental regulations in some regions that restrict the use of lead. […]
April 20, 2018

SQM: Global Lithium Industry Requires $10–12 Billion In Investments Over Next Decade

In order to meet growing demand for lithium ore, the global lithium industry will require at least $10–12 billion in investments over the next decade — primarily due to rising demand for plug-in electric vehicles — the Chile-based lithium mining firm SQM has reported. Relating to those figures, the senior […]
April 18, 2018

Is Siemens Positioning Itself As The Electric Aircraft Industry Standard?

It’s hard to not bump into a story relating some sort of Siemens-supported electric vehicle (EV) these days. From trains to electric vehicle (EV) motors, the German international giant seems to be everywhere. When it comes to electric aircraft, Siemens seems particularly aggressive and ahead of the game, almost to the point […]
April 17, 2018

PNNL Research Finds That Optimal Salt Concentration Increases Battery Life

Researchers at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have discovered that the “special sauce” of batteries is all about the salt concentration. By getting the right amount of salt right where they want it, they’ve demonstrated that a lithium-metal battery can undergo about seven times more charge/discharge cycles than batteries with conventional […]
April 17, 2018

Germany’s Economy Minister: Auto Manufacturers Need To Invest Tens Of Billions Into EVs

Germany’s Economy Minister Peter Altmaier was quoted in an interview published earlier this week as saying that the country’s auto manufacturers need to invest in the “two-digit billion amounts” into electric car tech, and that he wasn’t sure why there has been such a holdup to date on the matter. […]