Total's Saft plans over 200 million euros investment in next generation battery
25/05/2018 18:29
By Bate Felix
PARIS, May 25 (Reuters) - French battery maker Saft, a unit
of oil and gas major Total TOTF.PA said on Friday it plans to
invest over 200 million euros ($233 million) in a next
generation European battery alliance project.
Saft formed the alliance with European partners Siemens
SIEGn.DE , Solvay SOLB.BR and Manz M5ZG.DE in February to
research, develop and build a new generation solid-state battery
to compete with Asian and U.S. manufacturers.
The level of funding from its partners is still to be
decided, Saft told Reuters in response to questions.
The company said part of its investment will come from
internal funds and part, yet to be determined, will come from
the European Union's executive arm which has said it will
support the development of a European battery sector.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1QB6UC
Europe is lagging rivals in the development of its own
battery sector and European car makers have turned to dominant
battery manufacturers in Asia such as Japan’s Panasonic Corp,
South Korea's Samsung SD and China’s BYD Co as demand for
electric vehicles grows.
Saft plans to develop a solid-state battery technology which
can be competitive by 2025, with a battery that has twice the
performance of those in the market today, the company said.
It plans to develop batteries with 5,000–10,000 (charge and
re-charging) cycles, with more than 10 years usage for electric
vehicles, and a 20-year calendar life.
"The target is to demonstrate a prototype cell at lab level
by the fourth quarter of 2019 and build up a 2 megawatt-hour
(MWh) pilot line by Q4 2021," it said.
If the project is successful, it will build a 1
gigawatt-hour manufacturing standard block by the fourth quarter
of 2023, and develop larger scale production based on 2024
market demand, Saft said.
($1 = 0.8572 euros)
(Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
((bate.felix@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 55 70; Reuters
Messaging: bate.felix.reuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter:
@BateFelix))