Industry news

The European Union needs to rethink competition laws to better compete in the batteries market with Asian players, a German ministerial aide has told European battery manufacturers.

Battery manufacturing start-up Northvolt has raised US$1 billion for its planned Swedish gigafactory project­­­— and has revealed it will build a second such facility in Germany in partnership with Volkswagen.

US-based lead-acid battery maker Enersys is to invest an additional $100 million to expand its thin plate pure lead (TPPL) capacity.

Indian lead producer and recycler Gravita has launched commercial production of lead from a subsidiary operation in Ghana, West Africa.

UK-based battery materials firm Nexeon is leading a project to optimise coating technology for its silicon material to boost the performance of battery cells.

Proposed tariffs on Chinese lithium-ion batteries and related equipment would have “an immediate and adverse effect on grid energy storage deployments”, US leaders have been warned.

German car manufacturer Audi is recalling its first all-electric vehicle rolled out in the US— the ‘E-Tron’— due to the risk of battery fires.

German chemicals group BASF is expanding its presence in the energy sector, after agreeing to sell lithium-ion and sodium sulfur (NaS) batteries developed by Japan’s NGK Insulators.

US lead-acid battery recycler Aqua Metals has announced record ingot production figures for three months of this year at its AquaRefining plant in Nevada.

Toyota is teaming up with several Asian battery manufacturers to ensure it has the supplies it needs to ramp up production of electric vehicles, the Japanese car company has confirmed.