Dear battery enthusiast,
Welcome to Battery Associates’ November newsletter. We have summarised some of the month’s most relevant news, highlighting recent developments and updates in the battery space.
B.A's Battery Newsletter:
Battery Industry Highlights
B.A Editorial
Battery Insiders Podcast
Battery Associates’ Events & Updates
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Battery Industry Highlights
In this section, we summarise relevant battery news from the past month.
On November 21, Northvolt, a Swedish EV battery maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. On June 20, BMW cancelled a €2 billion cell supply contract, citing delays in delivering battery cells. Following this, Northvolt initiated a strategic review to analyse its future plans, which ultimately led to the bankruptcy filing.
B.A Commentary: The primary causes were believed to be production problems, the loss of a major customer, and a lack of funding. According to data published by Reuters, Northvolt struggled to ramp up production and maintain low rejection rates of its cells. Although Northvolt had a substantial $50 billion order backlog, it could not meet supply commitments to customers.
Even though Northvolt raised significant debt funding from a consortium of banks, access to these funds was restricted. Bank loans typically come with strict financial and operational covenants, such as maintaining specific liquidity ratios, timely project completion, or hitting production milestones. While specific details about Northvolt's loan agreements are not publicly available, it is common for large-scale manufacturing loans to include such requirements. Breaching these covenants can lead to restricted access to funds.
On November 25, 2024, MAN Truck & Bus celebrated the topping-out ceremony for its new battery pack production facility in Nuremberg, marking a significant step in its transition to electromobility. Starting in April 2025, the plant will commence large-scale production of high-voltage battery packs for MAN's all-electric trucks and buses. Its initial capacity will be up to 50,000 batteries annually, scalable to 100,000 units by 2030.
B.A Commentary: In June 2022, the company announced a €100 million investment to produce high-voltage batteries for electric trucks and buses, supported by €30 million from the Bavarian State Government for battery research. These funds will focus on advancements in battery assembly, cell chemistry, safety, and recycling. MAN's e-trucks are expected to initially achieve a range of 600–800 kilometres, with next-generation batteries projected to extend the range to up to 1,000 kilometres by 2026, making them ideal for long-distance transport.
On November 21, Echion Technologies, a Cambridge-based developer of advanced lithium-ion battery materials, secured a £10 million investment from Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and existing investor BGF. This funding will accelerate the commercial production of Echion's proprietary niobium-based XNO® anode material. In November, Echion inaugurated the world’s largest niobium-based anode production facility, with a capacity to produce 2,000 tonnes per year of XNO®, equivalent to 1 GWh of lithium-ion cells.
B.A Commentary: On August 24, 2021, Echion Technologies raised £10 million in a Series A funding round led by CBMM. Following this, the company secured additional undisclosed funding from Volta Energy Technologies. On June 13, 2024, Echion raised £29 million in Series B funding. Most recently, on November 21, the company received further funding from existing investors to enhance its production capacity.
On November 21, 2024, Honda Motor Co., Ltd. unveiled a demonstration production line for all-solid-state batteries at its R&D facility in Sakura City, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. The initiative aims to establish mass production processes and define battery cell specifications, with plans to integrate these batteries into electrified models by the late 2020s.
B.A Commentary: The facility, spanning approximately 27,400 square meters (295,000 square feet), is equipped to verify production processes, including weighing and mixing electrode materials, coating and roll-pressing electrode assemblies, cell formation, and module assembly. Construction was completed in spring 2024, with production scheduled to begin in January 2025.
On November 07, the Global Battery Alliance (GBA) completed 2024 Battery Passport pilots with ten global consortia: ACC, AESC, Amperex, LG Energy Solution, Northvolt, Panasonic, Samsung SDI, SK On, Tesla, and Umicore, representing 80% of EV battery production. The pilots tested sustainability metrics like emissions, labour rights, and circular design, across eight countries and multiple battery chemistries. These insights will guide compliance with upcoming regulations, including the EU Batteries Regulation (2025), and support a global Battery Passport certification by 2027. This initiative promotes transparent and sustainable battery value chains.
B.A Commentary: The launch of these GBA pilot projects took place at CATL's headquarters in China, and our Battery Associates delegation also participated. By reviewing the pilot report, you can gain insight into how well battery manufacturers in Asia are preparing for the EU battery regulation. Several metrics have been published in the pilot, providing a valuable overview of their current traceability capabilities.
BatteryMBA January 2025 Cohort
BatteryMBA’s next cohort starts on 13th January 2025, which will offer a combination of in-depth technical and business knowledge on a range of battery topics aligned with the sector's dynamic growth. BatteryMBA alumni have affiliations with Tesla, CATL, JLR, Airbus, Hitachi High-Tech Europe, Schlumberger, Bertrandt Group, AMTE Power, the University of Birmingham, the European Parliament, and many others.
The course consists of an exciting battery case study track (with case studies from leading business schools). If you have any queries, reach out to us via email at info@battery.mba. Need-based scholarships and group discounts are available.
Company Membership News
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Did you miss our recent Building Better Batteries webinar series? Catch up now with the session recordings featuring industry experts such as battery chemistry Nobel Prize winner Sir Michael Stanley Whittingham and Dr. Shirley Meng, creator of the Energy Transition Network. Covering a range of topics across battery manufacturing including sessions on imaging characterization, impurity analysis, electrode coating and failure analysis, as well as panel interviews on current challenges and developing tomorrow ́s batteries, the series gives key insights into the latest analytical solutions and upcoming trends. Watch now on-demand and gain first-hand knowledge from top experts driving the industry forward!
Industries eXcellence
The Digital Thread for Battery eXcellence explores how digital solutions can transform the battery industry by connecting Digital Engineering, Digital Manufacturing, Digital Supply Chain, and Digital Twin into a seamless ecosystem. These innovations are crucial to addressing global energy challenges, enhancing efficiency, ensuring sustainability, and supporting the growing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage. Read the full paper here to discover how digital solutions can optimize battery development and drive the future of clean energy.
Join Engineering Industries eXcellence and our partner, SAP, for an electrifying webinar on the EU Battery Passport – a game-changing initiative under the EU Green Deal and Circular Economy Action Plan. As the battery market charges ahead, sustainable, safe and circular battery production is more critical than ever. The EU Battery Passport directive brings transparency and traceability to the entire battery lifecycle, ensuring a brighter, greener future.
Creonia Cells
CREONIA CELLS, an Austrian based start-up, is developing theNext-Generation-Electrode-Manufacturing Technology.Wet coating is used for many decades, dry coating appeared in more recent time, whereas theCreoCell SolTrusionprocess is the newest technology for electrode manufacturing. The electrode material is extruding into pure water and can serve as a drop-in technology for existing cell manufacturing. CreoCell SolTrusion is alow-cost sustainable solution, saving 50% of CAPEX and slashing CO2 emissions during production.Our Pilot plant has a theoretical capacity of 1 GWh/a and is about to be commissioned.
Battery Insiders Podcast
Battery Associates runs a weekly podcast called Battery Insiders, which covers the role of batteries for sustainable development and battery-relevant topics featuring a range of battery experts and enthusiasts.
Talk on: Chasing Efficiency: How the west can compete in the global battery market
Speaker: Ken Hoffman, Head Battery Materials Value Chain/Sr. Expert-AP at McKinsey & Company
Session Summary: In this episode, our guest speaker Ken Hoffman highlights the competitive advancements in battery technology, particularly in China, where innovations in battery pack design allow for extended ranges and rapid recharge times, giving them an edge over Western models. Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) are also very cost-competitive, putting pressure on Western markets. To close the gap, Western companies are exploring new battery technologies aimed at reducing production costs and improving efficiency. Hoffman suggests that instead of replicating China’s large-scale production methods, the U.S. and Europe should focus on innovative, smaller-scale facilities. He emphasizes the importance of increased investment to build a strong domestic battery supply chain in North America and Europe. Click on the image below to listen to the full conversation.
Talk on: Celina on Lithium-Sulfur Batteries and Scaling Battery Manufacturing
Speaker: Celina Mikolajczak, Chief Battery Technology Officer at Lyten
Session Summary: In this episode, our guest speaker Celina Mikolajczak, Chief Battery Technology Officer at Lyten, shares insights from her 25-year career in the battery industry, detailing her work from early battery failure analysis to pioneering electric vehicle batteries at Tesla, where she helped address large-scale manufacturing and safety challenges. Reflecting on the growth of the battery market and her experiences at Tesla, Uber and Panasonic, she emphasizes lithium-sulfur technology as a promising alternative to lithium-ion, offering cost efficiency, scalability, and a reduced carbon footprint. Mikolajczak highlights lithium-sulfur's potential to improve supply chain resilience and achieve lower costs, even as the battery industry addresses production efficiency challenges and the need for lower scrap rates. Click on the image below to listen to the full conversation.
Talk on: Exploring AM Batteries dry coating technology
Speaker: Lie Shi, CEO of AM Batteries
Session Summary: In this episode, our guest speaker Lie, CEO of AM Batteries, discusses advancements in dry electrode manufacturing, a solvent-free alternative to traditional wet battery production that is more sustainable and cost-effective. Lee highlights how AM Batteries process eliminates the toxic solvent NMP, used in conventional methods, reducing both environmental impact and production costs by up to 40%. He explains that their dry process is compatible with various chemistries like NMC, LFP, and silicon anode and increases energy density by 5-10%, making it a versatile solution for the battery industry. Click on the image below to listen to the full conversation.
Battery Associates services
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About Battery Associates
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