By Battery Power Online Staff
September 13, 2023 | News and updates from around the battery industry including Lithos Energy launches at The Battery Show, external assessment of an all-dry, zero-waste cathode synthesis process, battery storage risk, new leadership for American Battery Factory, and more.
Lithos Energy launched last week at The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan. Its latest generation of high voltage and low voltage battery pack solutions are immediately available for client validation, and at scale production, in its newly opened state-of-the-art facility in Silicon Valley. Lithos’ novel battery systems are custom engineered, by application, for eight core industries, including: automotive, marine, off-highway, energy storage, defense, construction, mining, and agriculture. In developing modularly customizable and cost-effective battery solutions, Lithos enables clients to take their products to market in a demonstrably faster time frame, and at high volume manufacturing. Lithos’ latest generation High Voltage System is a 2170 cylindrical-based pack that offers industry-leading performance and safety in a compact design–in standard modules enabling rapid deployment and customization for a wide range of applications that demand high energy and power. Lightweight, IP67 rated, liquid cooled with integrated BMS, CAN 2.0B communications, Lithos High Voltage System is state-of-the-art, designed and manufactured in Silicon Valley–and ideally suited for use in a broad-spectrum of demanding environments. Lithos Low Voltage System is a high density 2170 cylindrical-based system that offers passive propagation resistance in a compact design. Features include an integrated BMS, CAN 2.0B communications, IP67 ingress protection, drop rated to 1-meter, with high shock and vibration resistance. The Lithos Low Voltage System is ideally suited for specialty on-and-off road e-mobility, marine, industrial robots, telecom, and reserve power. Press release.
Hatch Ltd., a global engineering consultancy firm, has delivered its report that evaluates NOVONIX’s revolutionary all-dry, zero-waste cathode synthesis process with potentially significant cost and waste reduction improvements. Hatch was commissioned to conduct a commercial-scale capital and operating cost comparison study, as well as a high-level evaluation of plant emissions and impacts to natural resources between NOVONIX’s patent-pending process and the conventional, wet process. NOVONIX’s all-dry, zero-waste cathode synthesis process was built upon Dry Particle Microgranulation, which requires fewer steps than the conventional process, while producing no sodium sulfate, reducing facility cooling water by an estimated 65% and eliminating the water needed for core materials processing. The Hatch study found that NOVONIX’s process may potentially reduce power consumption by an estimated 25% and practically eliminate waste byproduct generation over the conventional process. These factors contributed to a potential processing cost reduction of an estimated 50% (excluding material feedstock costs) and potentially lower capital costs by an estimated 30%. Press release.
NOVONIX also recently announced the commissioning of its 10 tonne per annum cathode pilot line in July 2023 and shared that their cathode material matches the performance of leading cathode materials from existing suppliers in full-cell testing. The company plans to use its pilot line to continue to strengthen its intellectual property portfolio and further demonstrate to potential customers the manufacturability of its long-life cathode materials and technology, including high-nickel and cobalt-free materials, along with their performance in industrial format lithium-ion cells. Press release. Finally, the company is collaborating with SandboxAQ, an enterprise SaaS company that combines artificial intelligence (AI) with quantum analysis (AQ), to predict the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. By leveraging SandboxAQ’s AI-driven chemical simulation software and NOVONIX’s Ultra-High Precision Coulometry (UHPC) technology and extensive battery cell prototyping and testing capabilities. Press release.
A new report, “How to reduce battery storage fire risk’, published by Firetrace International, suggests there is a real danger public opposition to energy storage could grow significantly as a result of fire risk fears. Nations across the world are ramping up renewable energy supplies in order to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement, however, concern for energy storage fire risk is rising, and incidents that do occur tend to attract a significant amount of negative publicity. Projects have been postponed in the US and Canada and politicians in the UK are calling for battery storage systems to be subject to checks by fire services. The report highlights the three next steps asset manufacturers, developers and owner operators must now take to mitigate the risk of fire: installing water-based fire suppressions systems, which are the most effective at cooling a fire in an energy storage system; including a battery management system to monitor, control, and optimize performance of an individual or multiple battery modules and to enable disconnection; and grouping energy storage units into small segments limited to certain amounts of kilowatt hours and spaced from other segments and walls. Read the full report.
Battery Streak, a leading battery technology company, has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the US Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division. The CRADA will enable Battery Streak and NSWC Crane to collaborate on research for safe and fast charging battery development through August 2026. The agreement will allow both entities to leverage each other’s subject matter experts, laboratory space, state of the art test equipment, and test result data. The collaboration will focus on developing Battery Streak’s advanced battery technology that can be used in dual use applications (military and commercial.) Press release.
American Battery Factory Inc. (ABF) has hired Dr. Jun Liu as the company’s chief scientist to lead and support all aspects of ABF’s research and development. In addition to his role at ABF, Liu serves as the director for the Innovation Center for the Battery500 Consortium, Washington Research Foundation Innovation Chair in Clean Energy, Campbell Chair of Materials Science & Engineering and Battelle Fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). At ABF, Liu will lead and support all aspects of the company’s research and development from start to finish. His responsibilities include product research and development, innovation evaluation and integration, and quality control while establishing the path for ABF’s domestic and global manufacturing expansion. Press release.
