US consortium awards fast-charge tech contract

California-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer Zenlabs Energy has been awarded a US$4.8 million contract by the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to develop “low-cost, fast-charge battery technology” for electric vehicles (EVs).
The contract will fund a 30-month project— which started in March 2019— that aims to develop novel cell designs and production methods to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries for automotive purposes.
“The low-cost/fast-charge technology development contract award with Zenlabs is part of USABC's broad battery technology research and development programme," said USCAR executive director Steve Zimmer.