US battery manufacturer EnPower and UK materials company Echion Technologies have agreed to develop and manufacture lithium-ion cells for the North American industrial robotics market.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding covering cells that combine Echion’s XNO niobium-based anode material with EnPower’s cell designs and manufacturing capabilities.
EnPower will manufacture the cells at its facility in Indianapolis, Indiana. Potential applications include automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots, humanoid robots and critical infrastructure such as power systems for AI data centres.
The agreement establishes EnPower as a North American manufacturing partner for XNO cells in these markets. However, the companies have not disclosed a production timetable, planned manufacturing volumes or the financial terms of the partnership.
Echion said its XNO material enables lithium-ion cells to charge in minutes, withstand tens of thousands of cycles and deliver high charge and discharge rates across a wide temperature range. The niobium-based anode is also designed to avoid the lithium plating that can restrict the fast-charging performance of conventional graphite-anode cells.
EnPower plans to combine XNO with its integrated ceramic separator technology
EnPower plans to combine XNO with its integrated ceramic separator technology, which is intended to improve heat dissipation, thermal stability and cell-level safety.
The companies said these characteristics are particularly suited to industrial robots, for which charging downtime and accelerated capacity loss can affect productivity and total operating costs.
Adrian Yao, founder and CEO of EnPower, said: “EnPower is building up battery manufacturing to unleash American autonomy. The same forces that redrew the drone supply chain are now reshaping robotics, and we are right-sized to manufacture high-performance batteries purpose-built to serve these emerging critical technologies. Echion’s anode material enables exactly the kind of differentiated capabilities you just can’t get from commodity cells.”
Jean de la Verpillière, co-founder and CEO of Echion, said: “XNO was built to power the industrial machines that cannot afford downtime, and the United States is moving quickly to build those machines at home. We are pleased to partner with EnPower to produce XNO-enabled cells in North America. We have been impressed by the depth of their engineering capabilities and recognise domestic production as a decisive advantage for the US market.”
The partnership follows US measures intended to reduce reliance on Chinese technology in sensitive supply chains. EnPower and Echion said domestic cell production could become increasingly important as North America’s robotics industry expands.
Although industrial robotics will be the initial focus, the partners are also considering cells for heavy industrial vehicles, industrial hybrid systems and high-power energy storage used to buffer AI data-centre loads. Individual programmes will be covered by separate agreements as they progress.
