Italvolt to manufacture StoreDot’s XFC battery cells
Budding cell manufacturer Italvolt has entered into a strategic collaboration with Israeli battery developer StoreDot. Under the terms of the agreement, Italvolt will be able to use StoreDot’s ultra-fast charging (XFC) technology and manufacturing intellectual property rights by licence.
The XFC batteries are a silicon-dominant anode cell developed by StoreDot. Among other things, this is said to be characterised by its extremely fast-charging capability: in May 2022, the company had demonstrated a charging process to 86 per cent in ten minutes; in October, proof of durability of 1,000 fast-charging cycles was reported for production-ready cells. These were pouch cells, but 4680 round cells have also been announced. The first production partner is the Chinese manufacturer EVE Energy, which plans to build XFC cells in series from 2024.
Production at Italvolt’s planned battery cell factory in Italy would be the first production of XFC cells in Europe. However, Italvolt does not give a date from which the XFC cells are to be built. Recently there have been reports about possible problems with the plan to locate the 45 GWh factory in Scarmagno near Turin, as there have been repeated delays.
Should production take place in Italy, StoreDot itself could become the first customer: The collaboration also includes an off-take agreement for StoreDot to buy Italvolt batteries for its own business and customers once production starts. StoreDot’s shareholders (and potential customers) include Volvo, Polestar and Ola Electric.
“Our collaboration with StoreDot is an inflection point in our journey to deliver high-quality, lithium-ion battery cells, at scale,” says Lars Carlstrom, founder and CEO of Italvolt. “Italvolt’s technology-agnostic, modular approach to production will ensure that we remain at the forefront of the industry as battery cell technology advances.”
StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf added: “This agreement lets us obtain captive capacity so we can guarantee supply of cells to our future OEM customers. It is extremely important that StoreDot creates these strong relationships as we rapidly move towards mass production of our extreme fast charge batteries in the coming months.”
