Richard L.

Altilium steps up collection of old EV batteries from leading automotive OEMs, pioneering UK full battery circularity. 🔋 Altilium is now receiving end-of-life EV batteries from multiple automotive OEMs, in addition to partners such as Synetiq and Connected Energy, as the company continues to build a fully circular EV battery economy in the UK. 🪫 Once dismantled and shredded, the resulting black mass will be processed at Altilium’s facilities in Devon and upcycled to produce a modern high nickel cathode active material (CAM), ready for direct reuse in the production of new batteries. 🇬🇧 As the only company in the UK focused on achieving full battery circularity, Altilium’s approach goes beyond traditional recycling. By collecting old EV batteries, processing them into black mass, and chemically refining the materials into battery-ready Precursor-CAM and CAM, we are truly closing the loop on the battery supply chain. 🧑‍🔬 Altilium’s proprietary EcoCathode™ process enables us to convert black mass into high-value CAM at over 95% efficiency, reducing the cost of battery raw materials by up to 20% and cutting carbon emissions by up to 74% compared to virgin materials. ♻️ Our full battery circularity model keeps critical minerals within the UK and strengthens our domestic battery industry. While much of the black mass produced by UK recyclers is currently exported to countries like India, Altilium is committed to building green processing infrastructure at home, reducing dependency on international markets and supporting the UK’s energy security. 🌱 With construction of Altilium’s new mini-commercial recycling facility nearing completion, the company will soon have the capacity to recycle one EV battery per day, enabling production of high volumes of low carbon, sustainable P-CAM and CAM for customer qualification. 🚗 Through our ground-breaking APC ARMD3 project with JLR, we will demonstrate the production of new battery cells at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), with validation by a leading OEM. This project represents the first time in the UK that a recycler is closing the loop on EV battery materials and building a sustainable, low-carbon future for automotive production. #blackmass #batteryrecycling #innovation #sustainability #lithiumion #circularity #sustainability #cleantech

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In October's Recharge #podcast, presenters Matt Fernley (Battery Materials Review) and Cormac O'Laoire, PhD (Electrios Consultants) look at all the key news in the #battery value chain over the last month, including: - The likely impact of Chinese stimulus on the battery value chain - Developments around Chinese #energystorage systems - Tariffs and the impact of geopolitics on batteries and their end markets - The EU's mixed messaging on the battery value chain - Feedback from the Shanghai Metals Market Li-ION BATTERY EUROPE 2024 and Fastmarkets European BRM conference - EREVs as a core technology for the EV industry - The development of the LFP supply chain in Europe; and - Thoughts on the lithium market https://lnkd.in/eKrBUfut #investing #ev #evs #electricvehicles #electricandhybridvehicles #bevs #automotive #electromobility #lithiumionbatteries #batteries #anode #cathode #batterymetals #rawmaterials #lithium #nickel #graphite #manganese #cobalt #energystorage #energytransition #supplychain #supplychains

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Battery Pack Testing: https://lnkd.in/ev7cgBUY At the moment a list of tests that needs expanding - please do DM me your own list of tests if you can, then I will create a list containing everything. Maybe that way we can get to something more complete. #testing #batterytesting #batteries

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The EV cell cylindrical cell format 4680, with "tabless" design is relatively new and this just published article does a great job at analyzing the costs from a manufacturing process perspective. Affordable EVs depend on lower cost & higher performance batteries, and this is highly relevant information. At OneD Battery Sciences, we have been prototyping and testing many 46XX cells for our customers, with both NMCA and NCA cathodes and with SINANODE anodes made using SINANODE-processing of uncoated natural graphites from EV-qualified suppliers. By combining a very inexpensive carbon substrate (uncoated EV-grade graphite already produced at large-scale) and adding silicon inside the pores (with our novel surface treatment), we can demonstrate both the decrease in costs, the increase in cell capacity, as well as the cycling and charging performance and lower carbon footprint. This article is published here: Pegel, Hendrik and Grimm, Adrian and Frey, Christian and Seefeldt, Volker and Baazouzi, Sabri and Sauer, Dirk Uwe, Manufacturing of Tabless Cylindrical Lithium-Ion Cells: Quantifying the Influence of Cell Dimensions and Housing Material Via Process-Based Cost Modeling. Available at SSRN: https://lnkd.in/gW8Z5ia5 or https://lnkd.in/gR4VKDS7 #evbattery

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What do you need to know when benchmarking modules? https://lnkd.in/eF5KeqEu Add your thoughts and ideas below ⬇ We have listed what we think this initial list should look like in our post, is that complete? #batterymodules #batteries #benchmarking

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Several companies are entering the extreme fast charging (#XFC) battery market, aiming to compete with StoreDot. To analyze the competition effectively, consider these key factors: 1. Technology: Chemistry: What battery chemistry is used? Is it silicon-dominant lithium-ion like StoreDot's, or a different approach? Each chemistry has its own trade-offs in terms of energy density, charging speed, safety, and longevity. Cell design: How are the cells designed and manufactured? This impacts charging speed, heat dissipation, and overall performance. 2. Performance: Charging speed: How fast can the battery be charged in real-world conditions? Look for metrics like "X minutes for Y miles of range" and consider the charging curve (how charging speed changes as the battery fills up). See StoreDot #100in5 as an example. Energy density: How much energy can the battery store per unit of weight or volume? Higher energy density means longer range for the same battery size.3 Cycle life: How many charge-discharge cycles can the battery endure before its performance degrades significantly? This affects the battery's lifespan and overall cost. Safety: How safe is the battery under various conditions, including extreme temperatures and physical stress? Look for safety certifications and testing data. 3. Manufacturing and Scalability: Production readiness: Is the technology ready for mass production, or is it still in the prototype or pilot phase? Can it use the existing factories? Manufacturing cost: How much does it cost to produce the battery cells? Lower costs are crucial for making EVs more affordable. Supply chain: Does the company have a reliable and sustainable supply chain for the raw materials needed for battery production? 4. Partnerships and Ecosystem: Automotive partnerships: Does the company have partnerships with car manufacturers to integrate its batteries into EVs? This is a strong indicator of market traction. Charging infrastructure partnerships: Is the company collaborating with charging infrastructure providers to ensure compatibility and widespread availability of fast chargers? Investment and funding: Has the company secured sufficient funding to support its research, development, and production scale-up? 5. Business Model: Licensing vs. direct sales: Does the company plan to license its technology to other battery manufacturers or sell its batteries directly to automakers? Target market: Is the company focusing on specific vehicle segments (e.g., passenger cars, commercial vehicles) or applications (e.g., high-performance EVs, long-range EVs)? By carefully evaluating these factors, you can gain a comprehensive understanding of the competitive landscape in the #XFC battery market and assess the potential of each player.

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Benchmarking Battery Packs https://lnkd.in/eiKzWG8w is a series of reviews of packs with added in estimations and comments. The best part is that they are free to browse 😁 #batteries #benchmarking #battery

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Would it be useful to look at a battery pack sizing example? Here we step through a very first estimate for a 10kW peak power demand from a 48V battery assembled using 5Ah 21700 cells. https://lnkd.in/e7ae3GPb Huge shout out to the sponsors of BatteryDesign.net that make posts like this possible: About:Energy, Alvatek Ltd, Eatron Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Dr. Mark Quarto This is a very first step and just gets you to a configuration that you can start to model in more detail and with more supporting data. It is a very simple estimate, however, this approach lets you iterate quickly through some initial ideas. A task that is difficult with a more complex model. #ev #batterypack #electricvehicle

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Where is the actual business in the end-of-life battery market? 💰 And where are the opportunities going forward? 💰💰💰 After having spent more than 15 years in this industry I think the first question is a real simple one to answer. It's where there are enough volumes of material to process at prices which can generate a healthy gross margin over time. A good start for that is to focus on volumes that in fact do exist and preferably to collect and process batteries at a point where they are unwanted by both owners and competitors. Experience, good management, permits and incremental improvements build barriers to entry. The market will always be there although the question is how much it will grow. Where new opportunies are found is much more fluid and depends as much on where EVs will be made in the future as what actually happens with the batteries when they are in use. So far most of the investments in end-of-life treatment has gone into recycling with the anticipation that large amounts of EVs on the market equal large amounts of batteries to be recycled. The questions are of course when and where these opportunities will materialise. Not least when the events preceeding waste processing can take batteries in many directions. That's why I am very passionate about all solutions that can help to determine this flow and not least maximise the value of the batteries over their lifetime. One company that is doing a great job here is the Southern California startup ReJoule with its founders Steven Chung and Zora Chung developing devices for rapid evaluation of state of health of batteries, both when they remain in the vehicles and when they are removed to be evaluated for repurposing. Below a short clip from our conversation in their lab three weeks ago. Not least Rejoule's work is critical to make pricing of batteries more efficent. Because prices is the start of everything. At Circular Energy Storage Research and Consulting we are focusing on exactly this: to deliver what we find are the critical data to understand where the opportunies are: prices of batteries in their different stages of life, volumes of batteries and players in the market. Learn more about our data here: https://lnkd.in/eRyw7Wvf Thanks for a brilliant visit Zora and Steven! ⚡ 🔋 📈 🌮

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The LDES council has published its inaugural report. Interesting to see CATL join as the first Li-ion OEM member: a statement of intent as Li-ion #batteries start to economically serve use cases in the 8-10h range. The council has rallied around the growing acceptance of a definition that long duration #energystorage is 8h+, whilst recognising that there is a great diversity of technologies in this space and solutions in the 8-12h space differ significantly from those in 100h space or beyond. It stands to reason that after we solve the real-time stability challenges and short-duration (e.g. peaking, ramping) challenges that LDES becomes essential for complete decarbonisation and net zero goals. Initially this drives daily energy shifting, but afterwards multi-day, weekly or seasonal needs also need consideration. This report helps classify the landscape and the technologies that can help us get there: Figure 3, Figure 16 and then Figures 22, 24, 26, 28 are all worth a look at, providing some idea across technology categories of their market readiness, 'sweet spot' storage duration, RTE and footprint. Enjoy!

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Unlocking Unlabelled Battery Field Data https://lnkd.in/e6v2Yz8s This caught my eye as I think we are goind to need novel methods applied to extract and understand battery packs in the fleet. We might think we know how the pack was designed and built. However, the interaction in the Electrical, Thermal, Mechanical and Control is likely to mean we are going to see a lot of poorly understood effects. Thanks to Weihan Li for sharing this work and paper. #batteries #bms #batterymanagement #batterysafety

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Ones again a statement of proof that OEM’s starts rethinking their strategies and step away from the NMC battery chemistry for their PHEV and BEV planned vehicles. It should be prohibited to design vehicles, tools, toys, etc. with NMC battery chemistry, this due to the many negative aspects of that unpredictable and unstable chemistry. Every life threaten situation caused by MNC batteries is one to much. Firefighter still do not have a good functional method to extinguish the NMC fires, neither do the OE M’s have a solution to avoid or stop thermal runaways in those battery systems. Ban NMC batteries from the Global market!    

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Wolfspeed delaying investment in German fab as it looks to curtail capex in response to EV slowdown. Focus will be on getting New York up and running with European fab construction to not begin until 2025. Not helped by EU moving slowly on state aid https://lnkd.in/eqybKUpM

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Here is a simple way to compare EV batteries with different cathode chemistries. Of course, the costs of these components fluctuate, based on the raw materials, the precursors and the processing costs. For 10 M EV batteries produced in one year, just multiply the number by 10,000 to get the number of metric tons annual production required. For example, 50 kg of EV-grade graphite per 60 kWh battery means 500,000 metric tons per year for 10 M EVs. Some pretend to replace graphite entirely with new Si-C composites, but this is just marketing b.s. since the Si-C anode materials have 50% hard carbon produced by pyrolization. Such proprietary porous carbon scaffold cost as much as five to ten times more to produce than EV-grade graphite, and the total production is less then 10,000 tons worldwide today, with none in the batteries of commercial EVs sold to consumers yet… OneD Battery Sciences has a better solution: with its SINANODE process, the EV-grade graphite anode materials already qualified by EV cell makers can be silicon-enhanced so that less graphite is needed per EV and BOTH the cost and the weight go down. #evbatteries

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Altilium’s Leadership in UK EV Battery Recycling: beyond black mass to high margin, battery ready P-CAM and CAM for UK energy security. 🪫 At Altilium we’re redefining the landscape of EV battery recycling in the UK, moving beyond the traditional production of "black mass" and into the realm of high-value, battery-ready Cathode Active Materials (CAM) and Precursor Cathode Active Materials (P-CAM). 🔄 Black mass contains critical battery minerals, including lithium, cobalt and nickel, but is merely the starting point in Altilium’s recycling process. Typically, it’s a raw material with variable purity that requires significant further processing. Using our proprietary green processing technologies, we transform black mass into highly engineered, sustainable CAM and P-CAM, ready for direct use in new EV batteries. These advanced materials can be up to 10 times more valuable than black mass alone. 🇬🇧  Currently, much of the UK's black mass is exported to countries like India and China, leading to a loss of value and critical minerals essential for our energy transition. Altilium is committed to reversing this trend by developing home grown green processing technologies and establishing hydrometallurgical recycling plants right here in the UK, creating jobs and energy security. Our goal is to secure a domestic supply of low-carbon battery raw materials, crucial for the electrification of transport and achieving net-zero emissions. 🧑‍🔬 Our ultra-efficient EcoCathode™ process for synthesising cathode precursors reduces emissions by over 60% and cuts costs by 20% compared to conventional supply chains. This innovation not only positions Altilium at the forefront of sustainable battery material production, but also strengthens the UK’s role in the global EV supply chain. ♻️ We’re proud to be the only UK company offering a full battery circularity model, focused on zero-carbon EV battery collection, black mass recycling, and chemical refining to create battery-ready CAM for direct reuse in the EV supply chain. Our unique, customer-focused approach ensures that the UK remains a leader in a low carbon automotive industry.   #circularity #blackmass #sustainability #criticalminerals #batteries #lithium #cobalt #nickel

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A great write-up by Zoe Kleinman about the UK-based Nyobolt battery technology, which can charge an #EV from the all-important 10%-80% battery state of charge in only 4 minutes 37 seconds. If such technology is adopted and scales, it could help ease concerns about charging times. It can also support an increased utilisation of charging infrastructure, helping the business case for the ultra-fast DC chargers which would be needed to support such charging speeds, alongside any necessary grid reinforcement. PS, although slightly technical, it's really useful to reference the capacity of battery being charged from 10-80% (otherwise, it's like saying someone filled up a bucket up with water in 5 seconds, without stating its size). After a bit of digging, it's a 35kWh battery, which is similar in capacity to ones in the Honda e, Mini, etc. #electricvehicles #EVcharging https://lnkd.in/e-p9e2CA

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Battery Value Chain https://lnkd.in/eNK7Hx9v It is interesting to look at the battery value chain to think about the layers of companies that operate in this space. #batterytechnology #technology #business

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