UK-based niobium fast-charging battery materials company Echion Technologies has successfully completed its Series B funding round, raising £29 million in investment capital. The round was led by specialist battery and energy storage technology investor Volta Energy Technologies, with participation from existing investors including Brazilian niobium miner CBMM, Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, and BGF.
Echion plans to use these funds to construct an innovative 2,000-tonne per annum niobium-based XNO® anode material factory to meet the growing global demand for XNO® from major battery and automotive manufacturers.
Echion has a long-standing partnership with the world's leading producer of niobium, Brazil's CBMM, and will open a 2,000-tonne per year XNO® manufacturing facility this year. The plant, scheduled to begin operations this year, will support the production of 1GWh of batteries.
Niobium is a stable metal often used to strengthen steel—the world's largest deposits are in Brazil and Canada. Echion utilizes it to create niobium-based anode batteries capable of ultra-fast charging performance.
Jean de La Verpilliere, CEO of Echion Technologies, stated that the company's ambition is to deliver the best fast-charging batteries to unlock the electrification of heavy-duty vehicles. The investment from partners Volta Energy Technologies, CBMM, BGF, and Cambridge Enterprise Ventures will accelerate the full-scale commercialization and production of such batteries.
Dr. Jeff Chamberlain, CEO and Founder of Volta Energy Technologies, said, "We are excited to lead Echion’s Series B and make Volta’s first investment in Europe. Echion and their XNO® technology complements our growing portfolio of technologies that address significant market needs through innovations in the supply chains of battery and energy storage technology. We believe the power of XNO® can uniquely improve performance, lower cost, and meet the demands of the growing, international markets across mining, logistics, railways, automotive, and more."
Echion has designed and tested a patented niobium-based anode material, XNO®, which enhances lithium-ion battery performance, suitable for industrial, commercial, and high-value applications demanding the highest uptime, lowest total cost of ownership, and highest safety. XNO® enables lithium-ion batteries that can safely charge in less than ten minutes, maintain high energy densities even at low temperatures, and deliver high power across a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles.
The company's XNO® anode materials can be applied to the electrification needs of heavy industry, including battery electric and hybrid trains, mining haul trucks, electric buses, heavy-duty industrial transport, and delivery vehicles, with potential expansion into the passenger car market. Echion states that its XNO® materials are based on proprietary mixed niobium oxide compositions and microparticle designs protected by 13 international patent families and are now being scaled up to a multi-thousand-tonne per year production scale.
Echion has established partnerships with several automotive and battery manufacturers. In September last year, Echion Technologies and Slovakian battery company InoBat signed a memorandum of understanding formalizing the cooperation between the two companies to develop lithium-ion batteries with faster charging capabilities and higher energy density. Previously, the company also collaborated with Taiwan's GUS Technology and partnered with German battery manufacturer EAS Batteries GmbH to design a 4690 cylindrical cell battery.
