Tesla has signed a three-year pricing deal with Japan’s Panasonic Corp relating to the manufacture and supply of 2170 lithium-ion battery cells manufactured at its gigafactory in Nevada, US.
The electric vehicle and energy storage system maker made the announcement on 10 June.
German chemical companies Henkel and Covestro have collaborated to develop a solution that enables cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells to be fixed inside a plastic cell holder.
The solution is based on Henkel’s Loctite AA 3963 battery assembly adhesives and Covestro’s UV-transparent polycarbonate blend Bayblend®.
Germany could help finance three separate corporate alliances for the domestic production of battery cells for Europe’s growing electric vehicle market, according to the country’s economy minister.
Peter Altmaier (pictured) told Reuters: “We’ve now reached a point where we can say that there is likely to be not only one battery cell consortium, but probably three.”
German carmaker Volkswagen is to invest “just under €1 billion” (US$1.1bn) to build a battery cell production facility in the country with an undisclosed partner.
A VW spokesperson told BEST Battery Briefing its partner would be “a European-based company” but declined to elaborate.
However, the spokesperson revealed the plant would have an annual production capacity of 10GWh and could be in operation by 2022/2023.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is set to approve a €400 million (US$450m) loan to help start-up Northvolt build a 16GWh capacity lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing plant in Sweden.
The loan to design, build and start operations at the gigafactory, which Northvolt estimates will cost a total of around €1.5 billion, is likely to get the green light when the EIB board meets on 15 May.
Lithium Australia (LA) and China’s DLG Battery Co are to form a joint venture to sell DLG’s lithium-ion batteries in Australia— and launch a battery product targeting domestic and global markets.
The 50-50 'Lithium Australia DLG' business will also “fast-track” the commercialisation of cathode powders produced by LA subsidiary VSPC for use in DLG batteries, according to a letter of intent signed by the firms.
Volkswagen has formed a European batteries research consortium with Swedish lithium-ion start-up Northvolt.
The German carmaker said the newly-formed European Battery Union (EBU) would work with research and industry partners in seven European Union member states to cover “the entire battery value stream – from raw materials through cell technology to recycling”.
Germany’s BMZ Group and South Korea’s Samsung SDI have entered a long-term cooperation agreement to jointly promote the expansion of electromobile applications in the European market.
Karlstein-based BMZ said Samsung SDI, “one of the world's largest cell manufacturers, will rely in the future on BMZ as system supplier for battery systems, integration and software”.
German chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged to “whip up” the development of a made-in-Europe battery cells industry— but she held out the possibility of cooperation with international partners.
Merkel, who studied physics, said it was “unbelievably sad… that we cannot produce battery cells in the land of the founding fathers of electrochemistry (or) even the whole of Europe”.
Mercedes-Benz is reportedly to use battery cells made under its partnership operations in China in some cars made by the firm worldwide.
Dieter Zetsche (pictured), chairman of the German carmaker's parent company Daimler, made the announcement in Beijing, the China Daily reported.
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