Category: Lithium-ion

Tesla to Build Shanghai Factory to Make Megapack Batteries

SHANGHAI—Tesla Inc. is opening a factory in Shanghai, capable of producing ten thousand Megapack energy product per year, to supplement output of Megapack factory in California, the company said in a tweet on Sunday. The news was first reported by the Chinese state media outlet Xinhua. Elon Musk’s automaker will break ground on the plant…


US Finalizes $2.5 Billion Loan to GM, LG Battery Joint Venture

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Energy Department said on Monday it had finalized a $2.5 billion low-cost loan to a joint venture of General Motors Co. and LG Energy Solution to help pay for three new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities. Reuters first reported in July the planned loan to Ultium Cells LLC from the government’s Advanced Technology…


Electric Vehicles: Trading One Form of Hazardous Mining for Another

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) reached a record 3 million in 2020, according to a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) . That’s an increase of 40 percent from 2019 and is in contrast to overall car sales, which saw a 16 percent decrease. The report further estimated that EV sales could reach 23…


Northvolt Assembles First ‘Homegrown’ Lithium-Ion Battery Cell for Electric Vehicles at Swedish Gigafactory

Swedish battery developer and manufacturer Northvolt has assembled the first “homegrown” lithium-ion battery cell for electric vehicles at a Skellefteå gigafactory, the company announced on Wednesday. In a statement, the company said the battery marks a “new chapter in European industrial history,” as the cell is the first to have been “fully designed, developed, and…


NatSec Expert: ‘We No Longer Need to Censor Ourselves’ About Chinese Communist Party

In a discussion that Hudson Institute senior fellow Arthur Herman described as “particularly chilling,” experts with Hudson’s Hamilton Commission on Securing America’s National Security Innovation Base spoke Oct. 14 on the threat of Chinese economic coercion to the supply chains for defense-critical advanced batteries. One of three talks at Hudson’s “Powering Innovation: Advanced Batteries and…