Column: Electric dreams turn into a nightmare for battery metals
A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
Battery metal technology company Pure Lithium announced Tuesday the acquisition of all the assets of Dimien Inc., a private US vanadium cathode materials company.
Pure Lithium acquired Dimien’s intellectual property, manufacturing equipment and an experienced team, which it says will accelerate the development of its lithium metal vanadium (LVO) battery.
The Boston-based company says it has invented a unique lithium metal battery that swaps nickel and cobalt for vanadium – enabling it to make lithium batteries from scratch going from “from brine to battery” in less than 48 hours.
In July, Pure Lithium won the startup Coup de Coeur award at the World Materials Forum for its battery-ready lithium metal electrode, and received the best new project award at Fastmarkets, competing against several more mature companies.
Meanwhile, Dimien developed a class of vanadium-based cathode material known as zeta vanadium oxide (ZVO).
The company says this low-cost cathode material has high energy density and does not cause fires like some nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) cathodes.
Dr. Brian Schultz, founder and CEO of Dimien, will join Pure Lithium in the role of vice president of business development and technology.
“This asset purchase will expedite the commercialization of our LVO battery. Dr. Schultz and his team have taken ZVO from a university science project to commercially relevant prototypes, which cycle beautifully against our lithium metal,” Pure Lithium CEO Emilie Bodoin said in a news release.
“We have a lithium metal electrode production technology that dramatically reduces costs, and together with our LVO battery technology, we will bring to market a next-generation battery that is superior to lithium-ion in performance and safety,” Bodoin added.
“Eliminating graphite, nickel and cobalt is disruptive for the industry and will ensure US supply chain security ending dependence on China.”
