Nickel veteran Fetcenko joins CHASM

he joined Sion Power in April 2019 as executive chairman of the board.

vehicles on the road,” said a CHASM announcement.

Battery veteran Michael Fetcenko was appointed chairman of the board of directors at CHASM, the carbon nanotube developer, effective January 18.

Fetcenko brings extensive experience in the battery industry to CHASM. He joined Ovonic Battery Company in 1980, and was the key figure and inventor in its development of NiMH batteries which became the basis for an early generation of electric vehicles.

He was president of the company when Ovonic was acquired by BASF in 2012. He subsequently became managing director of BASF Battery Materials, North America before taking on the position of director for global licensing.

After retiring from BASF

Tivan said on May 31 Skyllas-Kazacos’s technical knowledge and experience will be keenly sought in developing and standardizing the global value chain in VRFB.

Other initial appointments to the group include Stéphane Leblanc and Simon Flowers.

Leblanc is a former MD of Rio Tinto Iron & Titanium. Flowers is the director and principal of Sustainergy Consulting and a former international

Fetcenko holds more than 70 patents and has authored 100+ publications in the NiMH and Li ion field. He has over 40 NiMH licences and led the successful Argonne National Laboratory NCM patent enforcement and licensing effort which resulted in 14 licences and sub-licences.

“His inventions are used in all NiMH batteries for consumer, stationary, and hybrid vehicle applications such as the iconic Toyota Prius with over 10 million

“Michael served on the board of directors and Technical Steering Committee for Sion Power for five years, a leader in advanced ultra-high energy lithium battery systems including protected metallic lithium anodes for Li ion batteries.”

Fetcenko said: “The potential for carbon nanotubes to deliver benefits such as improved battery performance has been known for some time. What is new is that CHASM has achieved breakthroughs that will lead directly to widespread adoption: affordability, production at massive scale, methods for safe and easy handling and tunability to customer specifications.”

David Arthur, co-founder and CEO of CHASM said: “This appointment comes at a critical time as we accelerate the development and commercialization of our advanced materials solutions. Michael’s experience in the areas of intellectual property, building strategic partnerships with large corporations and his successful track record of scaling businesses are equally important.”

US Battery Manufacturing announces promotions

US Battery Manufacturing announced new promotions to the firm’s executive management team on February 17. The appointments became effective at the start of the year.

Leading the changes was Zachary Cox, who was promoted to EVP of operations. Cox has been with US Battery for nine years and has held various engineering, technical sales, and management posts in the company.

Eric Rueter was promoted to EVP of manufacturing. He has been with US Battery for the past two years. He has an extensive background in process engineering and management in and outside the battery industry.

Marvin Ho was promoted to VP of product engineering and quality. Ho has been with US Battery for more than a year and was previously lead researcher on Hammond’s lead silicate additive product that won the BCI Innovation Award in 2021.

COO Don Wallace said: “Our administrative, engineering, sales and manufacturing teams are helping the company spearhead new technologies that are moving US Battery into the future as we approach our 100year anniversary.” team leader with US energy firm ConocoPhillips.

The group will provide independent technical advice to support development of two projects, including Tivan’s Mount Peake in Australia’s Northern Territory — which the company says has one of the largest flatlying, shallow vanadiumtitanium deposits in the country.

The other is the Speewah vanadium-titaniumiron project in Western

Australia, of which Tivan acquired 100% ownership in April.

Macchiarola joins ACP as chief policy officer

Frank Macchiarola is joining the American Clean Power Association as chief policy officer, the trade organization said on May 17.

Macchiarola, senior VP of policy, economics and regulatory affairs at the American Petroleum Insti- tute, will start on June 20. ACP said he will lead a team working on regulatory and legislative proposals to boost development of advanced clean energy technologies.

Jason Grumet, ACP’s chief executive officer, said: “The clean energy sector is at a pivotal moment, and growing our team to embrace the opportunities before us will ensure this industry has the bench strength in place to match the moment.”