EV batteries

Italian start-up Italvolt wants to build a €4 billion EV battery manufacturing facility in Italy. The site for the project is currently being identified, and the factory’s initial capacity should reach 45 GWh.

French start-up Verkor is planning to build a 16 GWh manufacturing facility for EV batteries in southern France. French industry consultant Capgemini has joined the project to improve the manufacturing processes.

QuantumScape reported performance results this week for its solid-state batteries and their potential impact on the electric vehicle industry.

MIT scientists have suggested used electric vehicle batteries could offer a more viable business case than purpose-built systems for the storage of grid scale solar power in California. Such ‘second life’ EV batteries, may cost only 60% of their original purchase price to deploy and can be effectively aggregated for industrial scale storage even if they have declined to 80% of their original capacity.

Electronics corporations Panasonic, Kyocera and LG have filed results for the nine months to December 31. All three reported uplifts because of their solar activity and LG has said it will dive deeper into energy storage. Panasonic is deepening its commitment to automotive batteries through a new joint venture with Toyota.

With almost a decade having passed since electric vehicles hit public roads, the price of battery packs has dropped 87% since 2010, according to a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. With rising efficiency and evolving supply chains, the market research group suggests cumulative demand will bring prices down to parity with internal combustion engine vehicles by 2024.

The material is a conductive additive for silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries, helping to improve cycle life and increase energy density. It has taken decades to bring the nanotubes into commercial production.

Circular Energy Storage, a London-based research and consulting group, reports a strong business case for reconstituted electric vehicle batteries for energy storage applications. As the EV and static storage system markets grow rapidly, synergies could be a useful tool for continued cost optimization.

Finnish-based energy-solution provider, Wärtsilä has signed an agreement with automobile producer, Hyundai Motor Group to establish a commercial partnership for the use of second-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries in storage solutions.