American Battery Factory (ABF) has secured a supply of separators for use in its US-made lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries following a strategic alliance agreement with Celgard, a part of the Asahi Kasei Group.
Celgard, a subsidiary of Polypore International, will supply its Celgard® battery separators to ensure ABF has a stable supply of the component for its planned battery output.
ABF and Celgard will also share resources to develop new technologies and improve precursor materials to advance cell design and manufacturing.
Lie Shi, Asahi Kasei’s global head of separator business development and executive vice president of Polypore said: “American Battery Factory has a solid plan of how to bring lithium battery cell production to North America.
“We are pleased that Celgard® separators will be a key component in their US-made battery cells. We look forward to collaborating with ABF to develop a domestic supply chain ecosystem that can benefit North American manufacturers of LFP battery cells.”
In May, ABF announced its first offtake agreement with Lion Energy to deliver 18GWh of LFP prismatic cells offering 50 and 300Ah outputs designed for a range of applications including portable solar generators along with residential, commercial and utility grid-level lithium battery-based energy storage systems.
In March, ABF announced the development of the first network of LFP cell gigafactories in the US.
To meet the demand for “Made-in-the-USA” LFP battery cells, ABF is in discussions with pack integrators, energy storage solution providers and other organisations to develop US-based supply partnerships.
