Australia’s Volt Resources Limited (ASX: VRC) will supply advanced graphite products as Urban Electric Power scales up production of rechargeable alkaline batteries for long-duration power backup, at its factory in Pearl River, New York.
According to the Volt release on the firms’ Joint Development Agreement, the deal will support “alkaline battery market estimated annual sales of US$7.5 billion comprising 12 billion battery cells sold that require over 14,000 tonnes of graphite.”
Volt Managing Director Trevor Matthews said, “This collaboration introduces Volt to the U.S. battery market, and the board expects the JDA will accelerate the commercialization of Volt’s downstream value-added graphite products in various battery applications.”
Non-spherical purified graphite is made as a byproduct of the spheroidization of purified graphite in producing lithium-ion battery anode material. The firms said they “will collaborate on the development of new technologies using non-spherical purified graphite for conductivity enhancement and ultra-high-purity graphite-based coatings…Notably this will improve the alkaline battery performance while benefitting the end users — consumers of UEP’s alkaline battery technologies — by offering a more attractive cost structure than the currently available industry solutions on the market.”
Volt taps graphite supply chains in Serbia, Ukraine, and Tanzania. In addition to the offtake agreement, the deal includes “potential licensing benefits derived from the intellectual property developed.”
Urban Electric Power Chief Technology Advisor Alex Couzis commented, “Urban Electric Power is enthusiastic about the opportunity to collaborate with Volt and its technology partner in the United States, American Energy Technologies Co. Volt is a very innovative company in the area of graphites and mixing, and their open culture toward collaboration is inspiring.”
Release on POWER magazine
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To learn more about Urban Electric Power’s rechargeable alkaline battery technology, see https://urbanelectricpower.com
To set up an interview with one of its engineers, journalists may contact Peter Kelley at peter@renewcomm.com, +1 202-270-8831.