Batteries

• [New] Though the U.S. has a handful of large-scale battery manufacturing facilities, including Tesla's Gigafactory that operates in partnership with Panasonic, a trade dispute between two Korean battery makers, LG Chem and SK Innovation, threatens the future of a new battery factory in Georgia.
• [New] GM and LG are expected shortly to announce a second EV battery plant in Tennessee, to further support GM's production target of 1 million electric vehicles a year by 2025.
• [New] GM has announced plans to produce some 250 million Ultium cells a year by 2025 and, once fully online, the Lordstown facility should produce at least 30 gigawatt-hours of batteries annually - that's 50% more than Tesla's Nevada-based Gigafactory is capable of.
• [New] Another key point from Battery Day is that once Tesla achieves a 3 TWh battery production capability, it will change the entire face of the energy and power delivery system.
• [New] Oppo F19 will house a 5,000 mAh battery that comes with support for 33 W Flash Charge technology and an AMOLED FHD + punch-hole display.
• [New] If successful, Apple will become the owner of one of the largest battery projects in the world with a massive new 240 MWh energy storage project, leaving behind the 193.5 MWh Big Battery set up created by competitor Tesla in Southern Australia.
• [New] The maxed-out Vivo V21 Pro is expected to run a 6.44-inch FHD + AMOLED display with HDR10+ support, Snapdragon 76 5G SoC, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB internal storage, 4,000 mAh battery, and 33 W fast charging support.
• [New] Xi's 2015 Made in China 2025 plan emphasises sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, batteries, and electric vehicles, and aims to increase the domestic content of core technological components to 40% by 2020, and to 70% by 2025.
• [New] An ambitious goal to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030 may be unattainable unless the UK prioritises access to key battery materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt in trade deals, and improves recycling practices, they warned.
• [New] The storage unit of the solar plant will use 85 Tesla Megapack batteries, which will be installed in concrete blocks 60 centimeters thick.
• [New] Apple will use an array of Tesla Megapack batteries for a grid-scale energy storage project at its solar farm in California.
• [New] BMW has reached an agreement with suppliers that they will only use green power to produce battery cells.
• [New] The Xperia 5 III will likely have a 6.1-inch FullHD + HDR OLED display, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB of storage, a 4000 mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 888 processor.
• [New] The UK will need seven giant factories by 2040, each producing 20 gigawatt hours per year of batteries.
• [New] The UK has banned sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and needs a factory producing batteries for electric vehicles to avoid falling behind in the global race to lead manufacturing for the energy transition.
• [New] The Commission's orders destroy the economic viability of SK's investment in battery production in Georgia and will rationally and inevitably lead to its abandonment.
• [New] Proposals to build a plant in Cornwall that will extract lithium for use in electric vehicle batteries.
• [New] The EU currently imports 96% of its crude oil supply meaning its dependency on raw materials for batteries will be 10 times lower in 2030 than for oil.
• [New] Volkswagen will spend more than $80 billion to bring at least 50 battery-electric vehicles to market by mid-decade, and it wants to make sure buyers know the new direction it is taking by using the name Voltswagen for its all-electric models.
• [New] By 2025, Lexus will introduce 20 new vehicles encompassing hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electric vehicles, and other electric vehicles globally.
• The new RoO requirements will shape the cost-benefit analysis for carmakers with plants in the UK: If they are unable to source batteries in the UK, they will move production elsewhere.
• The U.K. will need seven giant factories by 2040, each producing 20 gigawatt-hours per year of batteries.
• The U.K. has banned sales of new gasoline and diesel cars by 2030, and needs a factory producing batteries for electric vehicles to avoid falling behind in the global race to lead manufacturing for the energy transition.

Last updated: 11 April 2021