Batteries

Audi, Redwood Materials launch recycling program for consumer electronics • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 10, 2022Posted in Audi, Batteries, EV, Redwood Materials, TransportationNo Comments

Audi and battery recycler Redwood Materials are teaming up to collect end-of-life batteries from cell phones, electric toothbrushes and other lithium-ion-powered devices at participating dealerships nationwide. Beginning November, consumers can deposit their laptops, cell phones, e-bikes, e-scooters, electric toothbrushes, vacuum cleaners, power drills and other rechargeable devices at the dealerships. The recycling bins will be available for the “foreseeable future in select dealerships,” a spokeswoman said. The program, which expands upon Redwood’s partnership to recycle Audi and Volkswagen EV batteries, marks the first time the Nevada-based recycler has worked with an automaker to collect household lithium-ion batteries. The batteries and devices collected in the bins will be sent to Redwood’s facility to be repurposed as sustainable, domestic EV batteries. As the largest player in the burgeoning battery recycling industry, Redwood has an opportunity to solve a raw materials shortage that threatens to undercut automakers’ aggressive global EV sales targets. Creating a sustainable, closed-loop domestic battery supply chain can supply the millions of new EVs slated to hit the road over the next few years while meeting guidelines for incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. The bill provides tax credits for EVs whose batteries are constructed with recycled content. About 15 million tons of lithium-ion batteries are expected to retire by 2030, the deadline most automakers have set for phasing out gas-engine vehicles, according to AquaMetals. Redwood projects global demand for lithium-ion batteries to rise sixfold, or by more than 500%, over the next decade.

Bendy batteries could power new categories, and Anthro Energy thinks its cracked the code • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 19, 2022Posted in Batteries, Climate, EC Food Climate and Sustainability, Hardware, wearablesNo Comments

Battery technology has made significant strides in recent years, but there’s one place they haven’t changed much — they’re still as stiff as a board. The era of inflexible portable power may be coming to an end, though, if Anthro Energy can bring its bendy batteries to market. It’s getting some help with that courtesy of an oversubscribed $7.2 million seed round, which the company is announcing today, ZebethMedia exclusively learned. The round was led by Union Square Ventures and Energy Revolution Ventures with participation from Voyager Ventures, Emerson Collective, Nor’easter Ventures, Ultratech Capital Partners and the Stanford President’s Venture Fund. Anthro was founded by chemists David Mackanic and Joe Papp, who saw an opening for a flexible polymer that could not only give batteries new properties but also offer a quicker way to market than the frequently cited automotive route. “Batteries are faced with this kind of really severe innovator’s dilemma, where to get into something like an auto, it takes a ton of validation, a ton of technology development and a ton of time,” Mackanic said. “And so I realized if I want to make a difference in the battery space, I’ve got to think differently about the problems I’m solving, I’ve got to think differently about how we’re bringing this to market.”

Sila’s Gene Berdichevsky on the ‘5-year roller coaster’ facing battery companies • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 17, 2022Posted in Batteries, Climate, EC Food Climate and Sustainability, EC Founder Interview, gene berdichevsky, Sila, TransportationNo Comments

As hundreds of thousands of EVs come to market over the next few years, demand for critical battery materials like lithium, graphite, nickel, and cobalt has never been higher. Automakers are scrambling to ensure their own supply of key raw materials and, in the process, reduce their reliance on China, the dominant force in the industry. The result? The price of raw materials has skyrocketed, and it might not come back down to earth for some time. Battery chemistry company Sila says it has a solution to relieve at least one of the current bottlenecks — replacing the graphite in a battery cell’s anode with silicon, which can be made anywhere. The startup finds itself in a perfect storm of product-market fit and is steadily advancing on its path to produce battery cells for automakers on U.S. soil. “I didn’t think the U.S. was gonna pass legislation that is an order of magnitude bigger than anything Europe’s ever done for climate. But it’s very American to wait for a while and then come in big.” Sila CEO Gene Berdichevsky In the year since we last interviewed Sila’s co-founder and CEO, Gene Berdichevsky, Sila announced that its silicon anode material will appear in the Mercedes electric G-Class in 2025. In addition, Sila purchased a facility in Washington that will produce automotive-scale quantities of Sila’s battery technology starting in 2024. In that time, the Inflation Reduction Act became the law of the land. The IRA will provide tax incentives for EVs that are manufactured in the U.S. and that are built with critical materials manufactured in the U.S., which has become a massive tailwind for battery startups like Sila. We sat down again with Berdichevsky to talk about how the IRA will affect the battery industry, when material supply constraints will ease, and why battery recycling will become the next big industry. The following interview, part of an ongoing series with founders who are building transportation companies, has been edited for length and clarity. ZebethMedia: Your new factory will produce 10 gigawatt hours of capacity annually. When you announced the buy, you told me that scaling from 10 GWh to 150 GWh would require another $2 billion. Are you currently doing another round? Gene Berdichevsky: That’s still true. We haven’t announced a fundraise for that yet, but when we’re ready we’ll need a combination of equity and debt. There’s no reason to raise $2 billion of equity once you have a proven factory and customers and all the rest. Part of that could be leveraging the Department of Energy loan guarantee, as well, which is the same program that funded Tesla, Ford, GM and others to build EVs over the last decade.

Honda to create $700M EV hub in Ohio • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on October 11, 2022Posted in Batteries, EV, honda, LG Energy, TransportationNo Comments

Honda said on Tuesday it is spending $700 million to retool three of its Ohio plants to build electric vehicles as it aims to phase out gas engines by 2040. Batteries for the electric vehicles from Honda and its Acura division will be supplied by a joint venture with LG Energy Solutions. The automaker confirmed that the $4.4 billion battery plant will be located near Honda’s operations in Fayette County, Ohio, pending regulatory approval. The “new EV hub” will leverage Honda’s manufacturing and purchasing network in Central Ohio, emblematic of an industrywide scramble to bring battery production onshore to control supply and access to new battery technologies. So far, automakers and suppliers have announced more than $38 billion in investment through 2026 to boost battery production in the U.S., according to AlixPartners. That figure is likely to rise as the industry takes advantage of the $40 billion in tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act aimed at accelerating EV production. Last month, Ford broke at its $5.6 billion BlueOval City complex in Tennessee, where it plans to begin building advanced batteries for future Ford and Lincoln EVs, including the F-150 Lightning and a second battery-electric pickup, in 2025. Toyota plans to spend $3.8 billion to build a battery plant near Greensboro, North Carolina, for hybrid and battery-electric vehicles mid-decade. Panasonic, which supplies Tesla and other automakers, has committed to creating a $4 billion battery plant in Kansas – the state’s largest-ever economic development project – and is in talks for another $4 billion factory in Oklahoma. Honda and LG Energy aim to begin construction early next year and the mass production of advanced lithium-ion battery cells by the end of 2025. The joint venture has committed to investing an initial $3.5 billion, with total investment projected to reach $4.4 billion. Honda plans to ramp up production to sell millions of EVs in North America, a far cry from the 100,000 EVs and hybrids it sold in the U.S. last year, mostly the Accord Hybrid and CR-V Hybrid. The company, which plans to launch its first battery-electric SUV, the Prologue, in 2024, is currently co-developing models using General Motors’ Ultium platform but plans to begin producing vehicles based on its new Honda e:Architecture in 2026. The $700 million Honda has earmarked for re-tooling its existing Ohio factory footprint will help transition its Anna Engine Plant to build vehicle battery cases, Marysville Auto Plant to marry the battery modules and East Liberty Auto Plant to install the battery unit.