Industry news

Vehicle OEM Volkswagen is investing €450 ($487million) to construct the buildings and infrastructure of a European lithium-ion gigafactory it is developing with its joint venture partner Northvolt.

Safety, costs and regulatory controls could give advanced lead batteries the opportunity to increase its share in the distributed energy storage system market.

Lead-acid and lithium-ion battery maker Clarios announced on 4 May it is to close its Middletown, Delaware, assembly plant later this year.

Korean battery materials firm LG Chem has announced it will invest around KRW 65 billion ($53 million) to expand carbon nanotube (CNT) manufacturing by 1,200 tons at its Yeosu plant.

Italian lead battery recycler STC is in the final commissioning stage of a five tonnes/h plant in Nigeria.

Power provider Southern California Edison has signed seven contracts totalling 770MW of battery-based energy storage capacity to deliver security of supply to California, US.

Vehicle OEM Škoda Auto has re-started production of its high-voltage traction batteries for the Volkswagon Group’s plug-in hybrid cars after a temporary shut-down due to COVID-19.

Show organisers Event Partners have made the decision to move its  Battery Cells & Systems Expo and Vehicle Electrification Expo to the end of the year due to the ongoing and developing situation regarding COVID-19.

EVENT WEBINAR: The United Nations Environment Programme— responsible for coordinating the UN's environmental activities and assisting developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices— is holding a webinar looking at the sound recycling practices and managment of lead-acid batteries in Africa.

Mercedes-Benz, a subsidiary of Daimler, is researching ways to design cobalt and other “critical” materials like lithium out of lithium-ion batteries.