The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 34
Inlyte Energy's endeavors to bring back sodium-metal-halide batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are today's most common energy storage technology, with uses large and small, ranging from smartphones and other electronic devices to electric cars and stationary. But science is far from resting on this standard – battery efficiency and durability are still in high demand. With sodium easier to source and exponentially cheaper than lithium, a redesigned sodium-metal-halide battery m...
In spite of a robust collection of new hybrid and electric vehicle models coming out, Volkswagen's hottest project may not be a car. With batteries being the most expensive component in an EV, at roughly 40% of the overall cost, Europe's largest automaker is going straight to the source by investing in Canadian mines. For now, plans for what potential sites are being investigated and what investments are being made have not yet been disclosed. Partnerships between vehicle manu...
In a deal that will further support General Motors' electric vehicle ambitions, POSCO Chemical has entered into a contract to supply Ultium Cells LLC with $733 million (939.9 billion Korean won) of artificial graphite anode material over the next six years. While natural, or mined, graphite makes up much of the anode material going in the lithium-ion batteries that power EVs, artificially produced graphite is added to increase charging speed and extend the life of the...
The GMG battery maintains less than body temperature when charged and discharged over long periods, high speeds. Following its successful production of a prototype 500 milliampere-hour graphene-aluminum battery, Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. (GMG) continues to demonstrate the performance of its potentially game-changing batteries compared to conventional lithium-ion. This includes keeping their cool during rapid charging and discharging. Capitalizing on its proprietary...
In-Q-Tel, GM, and TechMet support Series B financing for lithium battery cathode materials tech company. In-Q-Tel, a strategic investor that connects the intelligence community for the United States and its allies to technological solutions, has joined General Motors, TechMet Mercuria, and others in supporting Mitra Chem's $60 million Series B round of financing to advance a battery materials platform that will curb the United States' reliance on other nations for its...
Further positioning itself as a future domestic supplier of battery materials, American Battery Technology Company announced a substantial expansion of resources at its Tonopah Flats lithium project in Nevada. The Tonopah Flats lithium project encompasses one of the largest known inferred lithium claystone deposits in the United States. While ABTC only began exploration of this lithium deposit in Nevada's Big Smoky Valley in 2021, the company has quickly turned out an...
Supply constraints slow installations; WoodMac expects li-ion batteries to dominate energy storage in US over next five years. The transition to clean electricity generated from intermittent sources such as solar and wind is energizing the energy storage sector in the United States. Supply chain constraints, however, are acting as an insulator to growth of battery installations that ensure the balance between energy supply and demand. According to the fourth quarter 2022 U.S....
Second US battery gigafactory to be built under a JV with Samsung SDI powers Stellantis' electric ambitions in North America. Adding to the skyrocketing demand for lithium battery materials, global automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer Samsung SDI have agreed to build a second gigafactory in the United States. The newest facility to be constructed under the StarPlus Energy joint venture forged between the two companies last May is slated to have the capacity to...
Global automaker signs deal to buy future cobalt and nickel from early-staged projects at historical mines in southern Norway. To help ensure that it has future supplies of the nickel and cobalt that will be needed for the electric vehicles produced by Alfa Romero, Maserati, Peugeot, and its other European brands, Stellantis has signed an offtake agreement to buy 35% of the future nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate produced from Kuniko Ltd.'s mineral exploration projects in Nor...
Toward its goal of building its inventory of the cobalt needed for the lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles, Electra Battery Materials Corp. has drilled a new zone of mineralization at its Iron Creek cobalt-copper project within the Idaho Cobalt Belt about 135 miles northeast of Boise. "Idaho could play an important role in the onshoring of the EV battery supply chain by providing a domestic supply of cobalt in America," said Electra Battery Materials CEO Trent Mel...
With the ability to charge faster, store more energy, and be less likely to catch fire than their liquid lithium-ion battery counterparts, solid-state lithium batteries are considered by many in the automotive industry as the Holy Grail of the electric vehicle revolution. With the June 6 announcement that Solid Power Inc. has completed a pilot production line, Ford Motor Company and BMW Group are one step closer to realizing their vision of producing longer-range, lower-cost,...
Global automaker Stellantis and battery manufacturer Samsung SDI have forged a partnership that will invest US$2.5 billion to establish an electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana. "It's another incredibly exciting day to be back in Kokomo celebrating such a transformational investment from Stellantis and our new partners at Samsung," said Gov. Eric Holcomb. "Today's announcement is another step toward positioning Indiana as a leader in the future of...
With its lithium-ion battery materials park in Canada on pace to begin ramping up production in phases beginning at the end of this year, Electra Battery Materials Corp. continues to expand a cobalt deposit in Idaho that could provide the United States with an environmentally sound and socially acceptable domestic supply of this metal critical to electric vehicle batteries. "At a time of heightened geopolitical risk, America has committed to securing a domestic supply of...
Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. Oct. 5 reports the commissioning of a new state-of-the-art lab at its demonstration plant at the company's Matawinie graphite project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Canada, to provide in-house capabilities to carry out research and development on advanced anode materials to deliver customized specifications to battery and electric vehicle manufacturers. "EV and battery manufacturers are seeking advanced solutions that provide the ideal combination of...
First Cobalt Corp. Sept. 3 announced the completion of a US$45 million financing that will help fund the upgrade and expansion of its battery-grade cobalt sulfate refinery in Canada. "With the completion of this financing, the First Cobalt project team can now accelerate long lead equipment orders for our Canadian battery materials refinery as we pursue our vision of becoming the most sustainable producer of battery materials," said Trent Mell, president and CEO of First...
Britishvolt, Oxford University, and five other United Kingdom-based universities, private sector, and government organizations have joined forces to develop world-leading solid-state lithium battery technology for the automotive industry. "Collaboration between industry, government and our world-leading academic institutions is putting the UK at the forefront of global efforts to develop innovative automotive technologies, such as solid-state batteries," said UK Minister for I...
While ramping up construction of a lithium-ion battery manufacturing facility capable of producing enough cells each year to power 300,000 electric vehicles, Britishvolt has forged a strategic partnership with Glencore, the world's largest producer of the cobalt used in most electric vehicle batteries. "Cobalt is a key ingredient in electric vehicle batteries and knowing that we are being supplied with ethically produced, low-carbon cobalt is a signal to the market that we are...
Furthering its vision of developing an integrated lithium-ion battery park centered on its refinery in Ontario, Canada, First Cobalt Corp. reports that it has successfully extracted nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, lithium, and graphite from a "black mass" product recovered from recycled batteries. In the lithium-ion battery recycling process, black mass is a powdery material that is produced by crushing or shredding the electrodes after the casing and other ancillary parts...
Canada-based company Zinc8 Energy Solutions Inc. made a recent announcement that it has signed a US$200,000 contract with a leading cloud storage provider to demonstrate its patented zinc-air energy storage system. Zinc8's groundbreaking energy storage system, which utilizes an ingenious method of using zinc and oxygen to store energy, won the New York Power Authority (NYPA) Innovation Challenge, which resulted in a contract for a large installation of the system in New York...
Taking another step toward contributing lithium to a battery metals hub in Ontario, Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. has entered into a letter of intent with Fort William First Nation to collaborate on the development of a lithium battery materials refinery located on industrial lands in Thunder Bay, Ontario. To be built on Fort William First Nation lands, this facility would be designed to upgrade concentrates from Avalon's Separation Rapids lithium project about 280 miles...
In a move to secure the lithium needed to power its e-mobility aspirations, BMW Group has entered into a deal with Livent Corp. to supply roughly US$335 million (285 million euros) worth of this vital battery metal beginning in 2022. BMW Group plans to have about a dozen fully electric models on showroom floors and expects that battery EVs will make up more than half of its total sales by 2030. As a result, the German luxury automaker expects to deliver roughly 10 million EVs...
Syrah Resources Ltd. has installed the furnace at its Vidalia plant in Louisiana, the final component needed to begin upgrading graphite mined at its Balama operation in Mozambique into the active anode material for lithium-ion batteries in the United States. The anodes in lithium-ion batteries are packed full of graphite that has been rolled into potato-shaped spheres and coated in a hard carbon shell that must be thermally treated. With the installation of the furnace at...
Lithium battery manufacturer Northvolt has partnered up with an unlikely collaborator, Swedish startup Cinis Fertilizer, signing an offtake agreement for sodium sulfate salt to be recovered from battery manufacturing processes and repurposed for commercial use. Aiming to produce the world's most environmentally friendly mineral fertilizer by recycling industrial waste products from the pulp and paper industry, as well as the battery manufacturing industry, Cinis intends to...
Already established as a foremost European manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, Northvolt is now investing $750 million to expand its Northvolt Labs in Sweden into a fully integrated ecosystem for catalyzing technological advances in the emerging battery industry. "There is today an irreversible momentum surrounding the switch to battery-electric solutions," said Northvolt CEO Peter Carlsson. "Northvolt Labs is being expanded in order to capitalize on this – to drive the t...
US Vanadium Holding Company LLC Sept. 7 announced that it has secured a five-year supply of feed material for its vanadium oxide and electrolyte production facility in Hot Springs, Arkansas. US Vanadium will recover vanadium from this feed material, sourced from India, and process it into high-purity vanadium oxide and downstream vanadium chemicals, an ultra-high-purity electrolyte for vanadium redox flow batteries. This is in addition to the company's vanadium feedstock strea...
