Japanese battery producer Panasonic Energy has signed a commercial agreement to procure silicon anode from US-based firm Sila Nanotechnologies from as early as 2027.
Panasonic will purchase Sila's Titan Silicon, a nano-composite silicon anode, said Panasonic on 12 December, without disclosing the volume. The Titan Silicon is the first market-proven graphite anode replacement, according to Sila.
But Panasonic does not aim to and cannot wholly replace graphite at the moment, according to a representative who spoke to Argus, although it could reduce the proportion of graphite needed in the firm's battery production with further developments.
This comes after China, the world's largest graphite producer and exporter, added a number of graphite products into its export licensing scheme from 1 December. Japan and South Korea, major importers of graphite, have since been looking to reduce their dependency on Chinese graphite.
Panasonic also hopes procuring the Titan Silicon will help it to develop higher performance batteries with higher vehicle range and lower charging times for electric vehicles (EVs). The firm plans to
develop EV batteries that can deliver a higher energy density of 1,000 Wh/litre, up by 25pc from current levels, by 2030.
"By integrating Sila's ground-breaking battery material with our advanced cell manufacturing capabilities, we believe that we can address the concerns such as range anxiety and charging time and contribute to accelerating the adoption of EVs," said Panasonic Energy's executive vice president Shoichiro Watanabe.
Panasonic's domestic and overseas plants have battery production capacities of 12 GWh/yr and 38 GWh/yr respectively. It aims to expand its production capacity globally to 200 GWh/yr in 2030, but a breakdown by geography is unavailable.
Sila expects to ramp up capacity to supply anodes for 1mn EVs in the next five years. The company now expects to start commercial production in 2025, a postponement from its previously scheduled start in the second half of 2024.
