battery materials

Trump DOE confirms it’s canceling over $700M in manufacturing grants

Government & Policy /

Over the past few weeks, the Department of Energy has been looking at canceling billions of dollars’ worth of contracts. Now, the federal agency has confirmed that it’s axing $720 million worth of manufacturing awards. The cuts affect companies that make battery materials, recycle lithium-ion batteries, and manufacture super-insulating windows.  Energy Secretary Chris Wright has […]

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Electroflow promises to make LFP material for 40% less than Chinese producers

Fundraising /

The battery world has fallen head over heals for lithium-iron-phosphate cells, a cheap, durable chemistry that can lower the price of a vehicle by thousands of dollars. Tariffs and anti-China regulations have complicated the picture for American automakers. “We think LFP is the missing ingredient for energy prosperity. The problem is it’s literally 99% made

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Dutch battery startup LeydenJar’s silicon anode tech could pose a challenge to China

Hardware /

Battery materials startup LeydenJar has closed a €13 million ($15.2 million USD) round to scale up manufacturing of its silicon anode technology for an unnamed “leading U.S.-based consumer electronics company.” The Netherlands-based startup will use the funding, along with a €10 million commitment from the U.S. customer, to build the first phase of its facility,

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Group14 lands $463M from SK, Porsche, and others to make silicon anodes for EVs

Climate /

Battery materials startup Group14 announced Wednesday it has closed a $463 million funding round to expand its manufacturing footprint, a sign that investors remain confident in the future of electric vehicles. The startup manufactures silicon anode materials, which significantly boost the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries. Group14 currently operates three factories, two in the U.S.

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Nascent Materials emerges from stealth to make LFP batteries better and cheaper

Fundraising /

Lithium-ion batteries have dropped in cost by 75% over the past decade, a marvel of research and development that isn’t the result of a singular breakthrough but of myriad incremental improvements. Few know that better than Chaitanya Sharma, founder of the stealthy Nascent Materials. Sharma spent a little over two years working at Tesla’s Gigafactory

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Coreshell has a plan to slash the price of American made batteries

Fundraising /

The electric vehicle transition is really a story about China. There, subsidies have helped juice not just automakers, but the entire battery supply chain behind them. Those incentives, plus decades of industrial policy focused on controlled critical mineral supply chains, has left American and European automakers flat footed. Take graphite, for example. Every lithium-ion battery

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Daqus Energy has a plan to make EV sports cars fast, light, and cheap

Fundraising /

Cheaper, lighter, and denser: the trifecta defines an ideal battery. No one has devised a perfect cell quite yet, but one stealthy startup thinks it has found a new material that solves at least two of those challenges. Daqus Energy has been quietly operating for the past couple years, refining a compound known as TAQ

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GM-backed Addionics aims to make lithium-ion batteries cheaper with wavy foil

Transportation /

In the lithium-ion battery world, the race to the bottom isn’t as ominous as it sounds. Battery manufacturers are under pressure from automakers to lower prices while maintaining or improving performance. They’ve largely delivered, with battery pack costs dropping from $780 to $139 per kilowatt-hour over the last decade, according to BNEF. That’s allowed electric

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Aepnus wants to create a circular economy for key battery manufacturing materials

Climate /

Earlier this year, BASF had to delay the opening of a battery materials plant in Finland when a court agreed with environmental groups that the company didn’t have a good plan to deal with its wastewater.  As battery factories spring up around the world, the specter of wastewater threatens to stall their construction. One startup,

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