joint venture

Total and Groupe PSA create JV to develop 48GWh lithium-ion production capacity by 2030

Car maker Groupe PSA and fossil fuel giant Total are forming a joint venture called Automotive Cells Company (ACC) to build lithium-ion batteries.

The French firms will pool their knowledge to develop lithium-ion batteries with the goal of beginning mass production from 2023 in gigafactories in Douvrin (France) and Kaiserslautern (Germany).

Groupe PSA

Total

joint venture

Automotive Cells Company (ACC)

Lithium-ion

Batteries.

Merger paves way for solid-state lithium-metal battery production

Battery developer QuantumScape Corporation is set to start production of its solid-state lithium-metal batteries via its joint venture with the Volkswagen Group following a billion dollar merger with Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp.

The California, US, based firm is expected to receive more than $1 billion in cash and funding commitments, led by Volkswagen and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, as part of the transaction.

battery

QuantumScape Corporation

solid-state lithium-metal

batteries

joint venture

Volkswagen Group

Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp.

Samsung and EcoPro prepare to build $100 million lithium-ion cathode materials plant in South Korea

South Korean lithium-ion battery maker Samsung SDI has started investing capital into its joint venture EcoPro EM.

Samsung will contribute 48 billion won ($39 million) of the total investment pot of 120 billion won ($96.9 million) into firm with its partner and fellow Korean firm EcoPro BM, a supplier of electric vehicle battery materials to Samsung, investing the remaining cash.

Saudi and German firms sign JV to build one of world’s biggest VRFB facilities

Saudi Arabian owned Nusaned Investment and German firm Schmid Group have formed a joint venture to establish a 3GWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) manufacturing facility in the Western Asia kingdom.

The joint venture (JV) between Nusaned Investment (investment firm owned by petrochemical company Sabic) and VRFB company Schmid will focus on manufacturing and developing VRFB systems.

vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB)

saudi arabia

VW and Northvolt JV plans for EU lithium-ion gigafactory gain momentum

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.

Construction of the Northvolt Zwei factory in Salzgitter, Germany— close to VW’s existing Center of Excellence for Battery Cells— is due to begin by the close of the year with cell production scheduled for early 2024.

Firms form joint venture for Japan-based lithium-ion electrolyte company

Japanese chemical companies Mitsubishi Chemical and Ube Industries have agreed to form a joint venture to develop lithium-ion electrolytes.

Both companies announced they would establish a joint venture by joint incorporation-type company split on 27 March.

Romeo Power finds battery packs partner in BorgWarner

US-based automotive industry components and parts supplier BorgWarner is to enter the batteries market under a joint venture with California energy storage start-up Romeo Power.

BorgWarner will be the majority partner in the 60-40 joint venture— also taking a 20% equity stake in Romeo and two seats on that company’s board.

hybrid and electric vehicles

UK and China launch virtual energy research centre

Professor Nigel Brandon, Dean of Engineering at ICL (left) & Qikun Xue, VP for Research at Tsinghua

Imperial College London (ICL) and Tsinghua University are launching a virtual centre to collaborate on pioneering research into advanced energy systems.

The universities have agreed to jointly study “next-generation technologies and intelligent control strategies” towards low-carbon power and energy systems.

The centre will be the latest collaboration between the two universities, which have previously worked together on research projects including ‘the role of energy storage in enhancing operation and stability performance of sustainable power systems’.

Imperial College London

Tsinghua University

lithium-ion batteries

Toyota and Panasonic agree batteries joint venture

Japanese compatriots Panasonic and Toshiba have concluded contracts toward setting up a joint venture (JV) company related to the automotive prismatic battery business.

The JV— which is subject to approval by anti-trust chiefs— will cover “research, development, production, engineering, manufacturing, procurement, order receipt, and management”.

Toyota will contribute equipment and personnel in the areas of development and production engineering related to battery cells, while Panasonic will contribute equipment and personnel to support activities including production, development, engineering and manufacturing (at its plants in Japan and Dalian, China).

Mergers & Acquisitions

joint venture

battery manufacturing

Exide Industries-Leclanché in Li joint venture for India

India lead-acid manufacturer Exide Industries is teaming up with Swiss battery storage firm Leclanché in a new lithium joint venture targeting the Indian market.

The partnership will focus on building lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), stationary energy storage systems and “speciality storage markets”.

Exide Industries

Leclanché

joint venture

lithium-ion batteries

electric vehicles

India