Swiss battery metals investor Blackstone Resources said it is forming an international research team that will develop and test “new solid-state battery technologies”.
Blackstone said the team, including “strategic partners” from Germany, Belgium, Poland, Austria, the UK and Switzerland, will form part of its €200 million batteries investment project— which includes plans to build a research centre in the German city of Erfurt.
Blackstone has set out a three-stage development plan:
- Deliver state of the art production facilities to manufacture liquid-based electrolyte batteries using newly developed production technology;
- Develop solid-state battery technology to improve battery operational results;
- Put solid-state battery technology into production “using advanced 3D-printing technology”.
Blackstone said: “The objective is to initially develop small and flat batteries for the mobile phone and laptop market. Once this milestone is achieved, Blackstone intends to produce battery cells for the car industry and other electric vehicles, plus the newly emerging mass battery-storage energy industry.”
Meanwhile, Blackstone said it expected to learn soon whether it had qualified for battery project financing it had applied for from Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
