Germany’s battery maker Voltabox has acquired Texas-based engineering firm Concurrent Design. The acquisition is to add development capabilities to Voltabox and to strengthen its position in the U.S. market with further buy-ins planned.
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BYD is planning to solidify its battery and photovoltaic business under a new banner, which will be listed separately on the stock exchange. The move is almost certainly to be seen as a declaration of war with battery suppliers.
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Toyota is reportedly considering developing a battery exchange system, particularly for use in smaller EVs. The plan would entail the construction of a network of battery swapping stations all over Japan.
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The US American battery manufacturer Lithium Werks has announced their takeover of the Chinese factory of A123 Systems in Changzhou that is also in the battery market. The deal reaches far as it includes the workforce and clients too.
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PSA CEO Carlos Tavares throws his weight behind the ‘Battery Airbus’ for Europe as proposed by the EU Commission. He believes it crucial to operate independently from Asian suppliers but has yet to find the industry’s support.
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Korean battery part maker Shinheung SEC has opened a new factory in Hungary in the town of Monor close to Budapest. It is the firm’s first facility in Europe and has received funding from the Hungarian state that wants to see 300 new jobs by 2019.
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Fraunhofer ISE, Fraunhofer EMI, and the Association of German Electrical Engineers VDE are establishing a new competence center for batteries and energy storage systems in Freiburg. Their focus is on market-oriented R&D, testing and certification.
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Nissan has opened a new factory and says it is the first recycling plant to specialise in reutilising Li-ion batteries from EVs. They shall be refabricated to go back into electric cars or fork lifts and also serve as energy storage. The facility in Namie, Japan will be run by 4R Energy, a JV between […]
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Sila Nanotechnologies, a developer and producer of batteries from California, has announced a partnership with BMW. Together the partners will be working on lithium-ion batteries for the next generation for electric vehicles.
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Rolls-Royce has signed a collaboration agreement with Superdielectrics, a UK startup that has been working on novel polymers. Together they want to create what they call “very high energy storage technology,” in other words, supercapacitors.
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MAN Truck & Bus and Hamburg’s public transport provider VHH are jointly testing the second life of batteries first used in electric buses in a stationary storage facility. They signed a MoU in Munich.
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Volkswagen is pushing electric mobility and has to find batteries in order to scale up. After joining forces with CATL in China just days ago, the Germans have now turned to Korea, where VW announced a new partnership with LG Chem and Samsung SDI.
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Glencore has agreed to sell approximately one third of their global cobalt production to Chinese battery recycling company GEM for the next three years. This corresponds to about 52,800 tonnes of the sought after rare earth.
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The Chinese investment firm GSR Capital, who had wanted to buy Nissan’s battery section last year, has invested 500 million dollars in the Saab successor National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS).
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Daimler is advancing its global EV offensive as it incorporates its Thai facility into its network of production hubs. Together with local partner Thonburi Automotive Assembly Plant (TAAP) they will invest 100 million euros in Bangkok.
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The Hydrogen Council, founded at last year’s summit in Davos, now counts another 11 members, among them Bosch, Great Wall Motor or 3m. They join the likes of ABB, BMW or Shell who all want to foster transport fuelled by hydrogen.
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Panasonics new battery factory for the serial production and delivery of prismatic lithium-ion battery cells for electric and hybrid vehicles has opened its doors in Dalian, China.
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SK Innovation has broken ground for the construction of its battery cell facility in Hungary. Battery cells worth 7.5 GWh will eventually be made here. Production is to begin by 2020 in the 430,000 sqm facility.
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A consortium led by South Korea’s POSCO and Samsung SDI has won a bid to build a cathode materials plant in Chile. They will jointly invest about 54 million dollars in the plant, which will produce 3,200t of cathode a year starting by 2021.
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The Alliance of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi is working on solid-state batteries and aims to deploy these “before 2030, and by 2025 if possible,” Renault’s head of EVs Gilles Normand told the Financial Times.
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The announced founding of a new subsidiary company by BASF and Toda has now been completed. BASF Toda America (BTA) will be making NCM and NCA cathode materials for use in e-mobility. The move is part of BASF’s globalisation strategy.
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Volkswagen has nominated Chinese battery specialist Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) as supplier to implement its ambitious electrification roadmap, according to “Caixin”. However, VW intends to add also other battery suppliers later on.
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Continental and the Chinese battery cell manufacturer CITC have signed a contract for a joint venture where they plan to develop and manufacture 48-volt battery systems for the automobile industry.
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Siemens, Ballard Power Systems, and RWTH Aachen University will receive 12 million euros in funding through the German government. The partners are to develop efficient fuel cells for Siemens Mireo trains and want to put them in service by 2021.
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The Chinese EV maker BYD wants to increase its foothold in the market for renewable energy. The strategy includes advances in batteries such as the reduction of the use of rare earths as well as 2nd life scenarios.
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The EU has announced an open competition to develop new battery technology, valued at 10 million euros. The batteries are to provide a 600 km range for EVs and be chargeable within 5 minutes. They should also be made with materials readily available within the EU.
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There is a new battery joint venture in the making in China. Yunnan Aluminium has turned to fellow Chinese Shanghai Zuoyong New Energy Technology and Israeli Phinergy. Together they want to make metal-air batteries under the name of Yunnan Phinergy Chuang Neng Metal Air Battery.
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It is a clear “Nein” to producing its own cells that Bosch has sent over the wires, saying the investment would be too risky. The decision crushes hopes of EU politicians who had wanted the German supplier on board the planned Battery Alliance. For Bosch, the No is total.
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Mahindra has signed a contract with LG Chem to supply batteries for the electric vehicles currently under development by Mahindra and SsanYong. They plan to use lithium ion batteries on the basis of NMC (Nickel, Mangan, Cobalt), as well as new concepts.
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Beijing just published new rules that hold makers of electric vehicles responsible to collect and recycle their batteries. The industry ministry also calls for a service network through which the public can repair or exchange their old batteries.
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