American-made graphene-based battery cells will go into full production in early 2024 at Nanotech Energy’s new 150MW manufacturing facility Chico 2, the company’s leadership has confirmed.
Nanotech Energy successfully completed trial weeks at Chico 2 in November and December. Almost all equipment is now in place at the Chico, CA site, and final processes are being refined ahead of a launch that will eventually generate 30,000 18650 battery cells per day.
“Right now, our materials, quality, operations, and program management teams are all collaborating together to make sure we’re ready to run and deliver production-worthy cells in April 2024,” says Troy Zerbe, Nanotech Energy’s Chief Operating Officer.
Production will start at 10 cells a minute before rising to 20 cells a minute before the end of the year. By 2025, Chico 2 will also be able to manufacture 21700 battery cells at the same rate of 30,000 per day.
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Mr. Zerbe adds: “When we look at our key metrics such as capacity, resistance, and open circuit voltage (OCV), a major point of encouragement is that our trial runs have already produced a high percentage of A-grade cells. Realistically, we’re ahead of the curve and we can feel the excitement building across the whole organization.”
Work at the 50,000ft2 facility began in November 2022. In fall 2023, Nanotech Energy released the first images of the new fit out taking shape.
Over the coming months, Chico 2 will create up to 100 new jobs. Recruitment is already underway and Nanotech officials expect to join partners, suppliers, and new colleagues for a grand opening of the new plant in late January 2024.
Nanotech Energy is on a mission to bring transformative, graphene-based, energy storage products from the research lab to the mass market. Its very high surface area, single layer graphene material is already being used in multiple applications, including non-flammable lithium-ion batteries, transparent conducting electrodes, conductive inks, printed electronics, conductive epoxy, antistatic coatings and EMI shielding.
SOURCE : PRNewswire