Rimac accelerates into battery storage market

Autos and battery tech group Rimac said on May 4 it was entering the ESS market with the launch of Rimac Energy.

The Croatia-based group, whose Rimac Automobili division develops and produces electric sports cars, drivetrains and battery systems, said it would reveal details about its ESS technology later this year.

Rimac Energy will feature utility-scale systems, commercial and industrial applications plus integrated battery buffered charging.

The group claimed its proprietary battery architecture will provide more efficient stationary ESS units with a system footprint reduction of 40% compared to current systems.

The Rimac Energy team has been built up over the past 18 months and is now 60 strong.

Rimac Energy’s director Wasim Sarwar said the group is already in talks with several customers, including for a pilot project with a leading renewable energy company to provide battery storage for its solar and wind plants.

“These pilot systems are expected to be produced by the end of this year and commissioned in 2024.” in a subsequent Tweet on May 4 the ESS plan “includes the ability to provide ‘kosher electricity’ to ultraOrthodox neighborhoods on Shabbat (the Jewish day of rest) instead of the current polluting generators, without raising the price of electricity for the general public”.

Rimac said high volume ESS production will begin in 2025 at the Rimac Campus in Croatia, scaling to more than 10GWh of annual production.

In a separate announcement, Katz said: “Saving energy in this way will allow us to increase the production of renewable energy, improve the reliability of the electricity supply and stabilize the functioning of the network — measures that will contribute directly to the growth of the economy.”

SKIET hails China separators breakthrough with Sunwoda

South Korea’s SK IE Technology said on May 1 it had agreed a deal to supply separators to Chinese EV battery maker Sunwoda.

SKIET said the companies had signed a memorandum of understanding for the lithium ion separators deal, marking the Korean firm’s first large-scale supply of EV battery separators to a Chinese EV battery manufacturer.

Financial details were not disclosed, but SKIET said the separators will be produced and supplied from its Changzhou factory in China. The agreement also strengthens the firms’ existing business relationship.

To date, SKIET has been supplying separators for IT and electronic products to the Sunwoda Group.

Sunwoda’s major customers include the Geely Auto Group, Dongfeng Cummins Engine, SAIC Motor, Volvo Cars, and Volkswagen.

SKIET, which has a European manufacturing operation in Poland, said it now expects to work with Sunwoda in other countries.

The Korean firm is also considering entering the North American market — where, like a new generation of hopefuls, it hopes to benefit from incentives provided under the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Gravitricity adding weight to tech with crowdfunding

Scotland-based gravity storage system company Gravitricity has secured nearly £829,000 ($1 million) from a crowdfunding raise.

A company spokesperson told Energy Storage Journal on May 3 that the start-up had exceeded its initial goal of £550,000, with 1,085 investors participating in the Crowdcube raise.

The cash boost will be invested in hiring and de- veloping the firm’s technology, the spokesperson said.

A larger institutional round is set to follow in which Gravitricity is seeking up to £40 million.

Commercial director Robin Lane said: “The funds have come at the perfect time for Gravitricity as we progress our plans to develop energy storage projects on three fronts here in the UK and in mainland Europe.”

The company has devel- oped a gravity-harnessing method of generating electricity by dropping weights in underground areas such as abandoned mines and is also working on belowsurface green hydrogen storage.

Last year, Gravitricity secured UK government backing towards a £1.5 million feasibility study to develop a multi-weight energy storage system to be built on a brownfield site in northern England.