batteries

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has called for “giga-scale battery production” to be launched in the UK, as the company revealed plans to manufacture a range of new electric vehicles in England.

JLR said the plans for its Castle Bromwich plant near Birmingham marked “the next significant step in delivering on the company’s commitment to offer customers electrified options for all new Jaguar and Land Rover models from 2020”.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is to invest CNY10 billion (US$1.5bn) in building a new lithium battery plant in the country.

State-owned AVIC said the plant in Xiamen, in China’s southeastern Fujian Province, will have an eventual annual production capacity of 20GWh across a 570 square metre site.

Lithium-ion batteries have grabbed a larger slice of the worldwide battery market than lead for the first time, but Pb will continue to grow at a “modest rate”, according to a top industry analyst.

Battery expert Dr Geoffrey May (pictured) told the International Lead Association’s PB2019 conference in Madrid that lithium-ion had a worldwide market share of US$40 billion in 2018, compared to $37.5bn for lead. This was the first time lithium-ion batteries had been ahead, he said.

Swiss battery storage company Leclanché is to ramp up production capacity for lithium-ion battery modules for transport applications at a new facility in Switzerland.

Leclanché is partnering with Italian industrial automation firm Comau for the project, which will see an automated production line installed in a new facility being built at a technology park adjacent to Leclanché’s headquarters in Yverdon-les Bains.

US-based lead-acid battery maker Enersys is to invest an additional $100 million to expand its thin plate pure lead (TPPL) capacity.

The company said the increased capital expenditure over the next three years— “combined with an expected 15% increase” from its focus on “lean manufacturing principles”— should increase its proprietary TPPL capacity by more than $500m annually.