BASF has begun a six-week period of change negotiations at its precursor cathode active materials (pCAM) plant in Harjavalta, Finland. This may include layoffs for an indefinite period, potentially impacting all employees. The company added that it remains committed to driving pCAMs, which it will continue to do via its facility in Schwarzheide, Germany.

Orion has formally broken ground on a new plant at La Porte, southeast of Houston, to make acetylene-based conductive additives for lithium-ion batteries, as well as in high-voltage cables used for wind and solar farms. It will source the acetylene from Equistar Chemicals’ nearby site. Start-up is scheduled for Q2 2025

Under a new supply contract worth about $18.7 billion, LG Chem will supply  General Motors (GM) with over 500,000 tonnes of cathode materials from its new plant in Tennessee between 2026 and 2035. This equates to powering 5 million units of high-performance pure electric vehicles (EVs) with a range of 500 km on a single charge.

Lanxess and its German compatriot IBU-Tec Advanced Materials have entered into a research cooperation to develop advanced iron oxides for use in cathode material for lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. They aim to optimise the electrochemical properties of LFP batteries, such as energy density, charging speed and the number of charging cycles.

ICL has announced plans to invest $30 million to develop a customer innovation and qualification centre (CIQC) for the energy storage systems market in North America. This should become “a hub for ICL, its partners and its customers, as the company looks to make significant advancements in its battery materials R&D capabilities”, ICL said.

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.

Under a new deal, BASF is to produce cathode active materials (CAMs) from recycled metals from its site at Battle Creek, Michigan, for use in Li-ion battery cells produced by Nanotech Energy, a US specialist in graphene-based energy storage products.  The two will also partner with American Battery Technology (ABTC), a Li-ion battery recycling company in Nevada, and Toda Advanced Materials, an Ontario firm which produces CAM precursors (pCAMs) and metal hydroxide material, to establish a battery value chain for the North American consumer electronics and automotive industries.