Battery materials and technology company NOVONIX (ASX: NVX) and Volkswagen have signed a non- exclusive Testing and Development Agreement (TDA).
Under the agreement with Volkswagen Group’s battery cell company PowerCo SE, the two companies will collaborate on developing, testing, and analysing synthetic graphite anode materials.
If that program proves successful, NOVONIX and PowerCo may enter into a supply agreement for developed products.
Established by Volkswagen in 2022, PowerCo is committed to leading global battery cell production. The company oversees international factory operations, advances in cell technology, and vertical integration of the battery value chain. PowerCo has identified three gigafactory locations - Salzgitter in Germany, Valencia in Spain, and St. Thomas in Canada with a combined capacity of up to 200 GWh/year.
NOVONIX’s Riverside facility is poised to become North America's first large-scale production facility of high-performance synthetic graphite for batteries, targeting commencement of production by late 2024 and scaling to 20,000 tonnes per annum to meet growing demand.
A recent allocation of US$100 million in grant funding from the US Department of Energy Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains, along with US$103 million in Qualifying Advanced Energy tax credits, will support NOVONIX’s capacity to strengthening the local supply chain. NOVONIX plans to further expand capacity to a total of 150,000 tonnes per annum of production capacity in North America.