Orion opens battery centre

Orion has opened its new Battery Innovation Centre at it main innovation hub in Cologne. The facility includes a full array of production, testing and diagnostic equipment. The focus of its work will be to “accelerate Orion’s tailor-made product and process development in close cooperation with customers”, the company said.

In parallel, Orion has appointed a new leadership team for its conductive additives business for batteries. Dr Adrian Steinmetz will join on 1 October from BASF as global vice president for conductive additives, while Dr Amaury Augeard has been named head of energy systems.

Orion’s plant in France is the sole producer of acetylene-based conductive additives in Europe and it is currently building another in La Porte, Texas, that will be the only one in the US and will quadruple the firm’s capacity. These additives are in high demand by lithium-ion battery producers.