The UK government has published its ‘Battery Strategy’, setting out measures to facilitate the growth of a domestic battery industry to support the EV and energy storage system (ESS) sectors.

Cost and availability of raw materials is the biggest among a number of challenges that must be addressed if US-made products will be able to meet demand for battery storage in the country.

We caught up with Birger Steen, CEO of lithium-ion gigafactory company Freyr Battery, about its recent decision to minimise European investments in light of the Inflation Reduction Act, discussing a potential policy response and its approach to ESS and using conventional technologies.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has earmarked up to US$3.5 billion of new capital for battery manufacturing, a week after European gigafactory company Freyr announced it would only be scaling in the US for now.

American Battery Factory has started construction on its gigafactory in Arizona, US, which will produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells.

Verkor, a company building a lithium-ion gigafactory in France, and system integrator Nidec ASI will together produce up to 10GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) to 2030.

China-headquartered lithium-ion battery manufacturer Gotion High-Tech has announced a new US$2 billion gigafactory in Illinois, US, targeting the EV and energy storage system (ESS) markets.

European gigafactory firm Northvolt has started producing battery energy storage systems (BESS) at its Northvolt Dwa facility in Poland, while also securing a US$1.2 billion convertible note.

Since the Inflation Reduction Act, US$270 billion of US clean energy investment has been announced while downstream projects in development have hit 185GW – 80% and 92% higher than four months ago.