The corporation has made a EUR50m equity investment into Vulcan Energy, which is currently operating a zero-emission project in the Upper Rhine Valley for the extraction of critical vehicle battery elements.

Over the next five years, the German manufacturer will invest approximately EUR100m to prepare the Nuremberg facility for mass production of over 100,000 battery packs per year, starting with small-scale production in mid-2023.

The Battery Integration Workshop is a hands-on programme lasting one and a half days which has been designed to teach OEMs in the commercial electric vehicle sector about battery technology and applications.

InoBat Auto, based in Bratislava, Slovakia, has announced it plans on building a battery R&D and production facility in Indiana, USA. The plan is supported by one of InoBat’s investors, Ideanomics, as well as the State of Indiana.

Bratislava-based InoBat Auto states that it has reached a key milestone in the battery recycling process. With help from its recycling partners, the company says it has used cell optimisation and design mechanisms to prove that recovered active cathode material from end-of-life batteries can be used in the production of new ones. InoBat adds that the batteries produced from recycled materials perform in line with new products made from virgin material.

Volvo's electrification-focused business unit invested approximately SEK50m in exchange for a 10% stake in Connected Energy, a British firm providing services related to second-life battery storage and use.

Paris-based Forsee Power has announced it plans to manufacture battery systems for school and transit buses in the USA with start of prodsmall scale manufacture of battery packs before the end of 2022.

The EVantag Thermal Management Systems range is geared towards regulating battery, traction motor and power electronics temperatures in commercial electric vehicles of all sizes.

CATL, based in Ningde, China, has opened its new battery manufacturing plant in the city of Zhaoqing, Guangdong. With a substantial total investment of 12 billion yuan (USD1.8 billion), the first phase of CATL’s Zhaoqing production base is set for the production of both EV batteries and energy storage batteries.

InoBat Auto, based in Bratislava, has entered into a strategic partnership with Green Lithium Refining Ltd, headquartered in London. The partnership will see Green Lithium supply InoBat with battery-grade lithium chemicals.

The Swedish manufacturer has opened its first battery assembly plant in Ghent, East Flanders, where series production of batteries for its heavy-duty electric trucks will begin in the third quarter of this year. 

The car and van manufacturing corporation has entered into a binding agreement with Samsung SDI to establish a joint-venture battery manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana, USA for powering electric vehicles.