Johnson Matthey (London, U.K.; www.matthey.com) announced details of its business strategy in the battery-materials sector, including the commercialization of the new enhanced lithium nickel oxide (eLNO) battery material. eLNO is an ultra-high energy density material, said to compete with emerging materials like NMC 811. It enables the rapid development of pure battery-electric vehicles. The strategy includes additional investment in eLNO testing with customers. The focus will be on large, multinational automotive and battery-cell OEMs, who will play an active role in specifying cathode materials and will benefit most from eLNO’s characteristics. Johnson Matthey has also developed plans to build a demonstration-scale plant in the U.K. with a capacity of 1,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) — an increase over initial plans for a 500-m.t. plant. The company is also developing plans to build its first customer-application center for these battery materials. Johnson Matthey says it is on track to design and construct the first commercial plant for producing these materials, with production slated to begin in 2021 or 2022. This plant will be located in Europe in line with the development of its supply chain.
Johnson Matthey to commercialize new battery material
| By Mary Bailey