Amte Power, developer and manufacturer of specialist lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells, said it signed a contract to manufacture its Ultra High Power cells at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) in Coventry, England.
It means the company can ask UKBIC – a publicly-funded battery product development facility – to manufacture up to 60,000 of its Ultra High Power cells each year, over an initial term of two years.
Amte said using UKBIC to manufacture cells is a key milestone to upscaling production ahead of mass commercialisation plans and its first megafactory in Dundee, Scotland.
In August, the company announced “good progress” in manufacturing trials for the Ultra High Power cell at UKBIC. It said cells performed well against target specification when produced on UKBIC’s commercial scale equipment. In particular, the Ultra High Power cells’ low internal resistance supports exceptional power delivery and with current testing demonstrating a full charge in six minutes.
Production of the cells at UKBIC is due to start in January 2023. That will generate initial revenues and enable the business to meet growing demand from within the automotive sector. It targets the high-performance electric vehicle (EV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) sectors.
Amte has existing non-binding memoranda of understanding in place with automotive companies Cosworth, Viritech and Mahle Powertrain, as well as development agreements with Sprint Power, Eltrium and BMW.
UKBIC was created in 2018.
