Global vehicle OEM brands Daimler and China’s state-owned BAIC Group have entered into a development partnership to establish Beijing’s first second-life energy storage system facility.
The firms plan to use retired electric car batteries from BAIC’s subsidiary Beijing Electric Vehicle (BJEV).
Flow battery systems are to be the first energy storage technology evaluated at a new research centre in the US state of Alabama.
The Energy Storage Research Center (ESRC), opened on 16 July by the independent Southern Research organisation, will initially test systems developed by California-based Avalon Battery.
Western Australia (WA) has launched a ‘Funding Assistance Register’ aimed at bolstering the state’s ambitions to develop a home-grown battery industry.
The initiative is designed to help firms such as mining and processing companies, manufacturers, research groups, renewable energy companies, and small businesses apply to unlock state and federal aid for future battery-related projects.
UK-based battery materials firm Nexeon is leading a project to optimise coating technology for its silicon material to boost the performance of battery cells.
Nexeon said the ‘Spice’ (Silicon Product Improvement through Coating Enhancement) project aims to extend the system compatibility of silicon anode materials, “allowing use of lower cost electrolyte formulations and lower overall battery cell costs”.
Lithium-sulfur cells maker Oxis Energy has teamed up with heat-sealing technology firm Ceetak for an R&D project under the UK’s Faraday Battery Challenge.
Oxis is leading the £7 million (US$9.1m) Lithium Sulfur Future Automotive (LiSFAB) development project— funded by Innovate UK— to develop a next generation battery cell and module that will have “the significantly improved power and cycle life required by larger automotive applications”.
Ceetak said it is working with Oxis on developing “a specific test station to evaluate the different technologies to achieve the most robust and suitable pouch sealing process” for future battery cell production.
The US Department of Energy (DoE) has launched a Lithium-ion Battery Recycling Prize and an associated Battery Recycling R&D Centre, in a bid to reduce “America’s dependence on foreign sources of critical (battery) materials”.
The recycling prize will make awards totalling US$5.5 million to encourage innovation from American entrepreneurs in the fields of collecting, storing, and transporting discarded lithium-ion batteries for eventual recycling.
In addition, the US will invest $15m to establish the recycling centre “focused on cost-effective recycling processes to recover lithium battery materials”. The centre is to be led by Argonne National Laboratory, with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Swiss battery metals investor Blackstone Resources is launching a research centre in Germany— ahead of plans to set up “a substantial battery-production project” in the country.
The company is investing €200 million to establish Blackstone Research in the city of Erfurt, with the goal of building “the next generation of electric-vehicle batteries, close to where German auto manufacturers are based”, in the east-central state of Thüringen.
Blackstone said it will initially put up the investment itself, but hopes to “garner support from subsidies” from European Union R&D funds and from regional and federal funding in Germany.
Three South Korean battery giants have signed up to an agreement to support the launch of a government-backed “next-generation batteries investment fund”.
Samsung SDI, LG Chem and SK Innovation have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to support the KRW1 billion (US$885,000) fund, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) said.
The signing comes a year after South Korea’s government said it would support plans to expand domestic battery production and challenge China’s increasing dominance of the global market.
A new design that could “greatly extend” the shelf life of single-use metal-air batteries for a variety of applications has been unveiled by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The research team said they have found a way to substantially reduce corrosion in batteries, which could benefit electric vehicles, off-grid storage and other applications.
Researchers in South Korea say they have developed “essential technologies” to boost the safety and performance of lithium metal batteries.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (Kist) team claim their research “can be potentially applied to various industrial applications, especially for un-manned vehicles” such as self-driving cars.
Kist said the lithium metal battery it has developed “exhibits twice the energy density to that of a conventional lithium-ion battery”.
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