https://currentcells.com/ 2026-03-25T12:03:15.826Z Infrastructure journalism covering the battery industry and the infrastructure of electrification CurrentCells currentcells-article-new-york-bess-moratoriums-coned-grid-battle 2026-03-14T00:04:43.000Z 2026-03-13T04:00:00.000Z

New York has more local moratoriums on battery energy storage systems than all other U.S. states combined. ConEd's new two-step interconnection test, which triggers costly grid upgrades when projects push local demand past 70% of capacity, has stalled or killed dozens of NYC battery projects. Lawmakers, developers, and climate groups are now challenging the utility through both legislative pressure and an emergency regulatory petition.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-catl-company-profile 2026-03-24T18:07:20.000Z 2026-03-24T00:00:00.000Z

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited is the world's largest EV battery manufacturer, holding 38% global market share as of 2025. Founded in 2011 by Robin Zeng as a spin-off of ATL's automotive battery division, CATL grew from a Fujian startup to a $113 billion-asset company in under 15 years. Its technology portfolio spans LFP, NCM, Cell-to-Pack, the Kirin fast-charging battery, and a 500 Wh/kg condensed cell targeting aviation, while its 13 factories and deep upstream mining investments cement its supply chain dominance across three continents.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-battery-materials-price-index 2026-03-23T14:03:59.000Z 2026-03-23T00:00:00.000Z

Weekly battery materials spot prices, updated every Monday. Covers lithium carbonate (CNY + USD), cobalt, nickel, manganese sulfate, and natural graphite with week-over-week changes and full price history since tracking began.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-quantumscape-licensing-pivot-solid-state-commercialization-2026 2026-03-21T13:57:11.000Z 2026-03-21T00:00:00.000Z

QuantumScape's pivot to a capital-light licensing model, combined with ION Storage Systems qualifying its first U.S. solid-state cells and Donut Lab's pack-level test data, signals that the solid-state battery sector has moved from announcement-driven progress to evidence-driven milestones. The question is whether those milestones can survive the scale transition.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-form-energy-ireland-iron-air-battery-first-international-deployment 2026-03-22T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-21T00:00:00.000Z

Form Energy signed an agreement with FuturEnergy Ireland to deploy a 10 MW / 1 GWh iron-air battery system in County Donegal, marking the company's first project outside the United States. The Ballynahone Energy Storage project will use Form's 100-hour discharge technology to address renewable curtailment on Ireland's wind-heavy grid. The deal was announced on St. Patrick's Day at Form Energy's Massachusetts headquarters, with Irish government officials in attendance.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-lyten-northvolt-industrial-hubs-poland-sweden 2026-03-21T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-20T00:00:00.000Z

Lyten announced its second Industrial Hub at the former Northvolt Dwa facility in Gdansk, Poland, pairing Europe's largest BESS manufacturing plant with AI data center infrastructure. Combined with its Swedish hub at the old Northvolt Ett gigafactory, the company now holds over 22 GWh of European battery capacity. Lyten is running lithium-ion production today while preparing to scale its proprietary lithium-sulfur technology across the acquired facilities.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-group14-bam3-silicon-anode-factory-south-korea 2026-03-20T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-19T00:00:00.000Z

Group14 Technologies has started full EV-scale production at its BAM-3 factory in Sangju, South Korea, the world's first silicon anode materials plant operating at commercial scale. The facility produces 2,000 metric tons per year of SCC55, a silicon-carbon composite that boosts battery energy density by 43% and enables 90-second full recharges. With 160+ customers and backing from Porsche and SK, the startup is positioning silicon as graphite's successor in lithium-ion batteries.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-us-battery-manufacturing-self-sufficiency-2026 2026-03-19T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-18T00:00:00.000Z

The United States can now produce enough battery energy storage systems domestically to cover 100% of its own demand, according to the U.S. Energy Storage Coalition. Manufacturing capacity grew from 7 GWh in 2023 to 70 GWh in early 2026, driven primarily by explosive data center growth and federal incentives that made onshore production economically viable.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-tesla-lg-4-3-billion-lfp-megapack-michigan 2026-03-18T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-17T00:00:00.000Z

Tesla has agreed to purchase $4.3 billion in lithium iron phosphate battery cells from LG Energy Solution, to be manufactured at a Lansing, Michigan plant that LG acquired from its dissolved joint venture with General Motors. The cells will power Tesla's next-generation Megapack 3 utility-scale energy storage systems, assembled at the company's Houston Megafactory.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-european-bess-expansion-february-2026 2026-03-17T18:11:18.000Z 2026-03-17T00:00:00.000Z

Four major European battery storage projects advanced in a single week. Neoen broke ground on a 41 MWh system in Germany, Zenobē signed a 15-year toll with Drax for 800 MWh in Scotland, Statkraft commissioned Ireland's first 4-hour BESS, and Infranode greenlit the Nordics' largest co-located battery in Denmark. The announcements signal a maturing market with longer durations and structured revenue models.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-china-sodium-ion-batteries-mass-production-2026 2026-03-17T00:00:00.000Z 2026-03-16T00:00:00.000Z

China is ramping sodium-ion battery production at an unprecedented pace. CATL has begun mass-producing Naxtra cells for commercial vehicles, BYD is building a 30 GWh factory, and over 370 GWh of manufacturing capacity is under construction across the country. The first sodium-ion passenger cars arrive mid-2026.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-byd-blade-battery-2-lmfp-flash-charging-2026 2026-03-16T00:08:54.000Z 2026-03-15T00:00:00.000Z

BYD unveiled its second-generation Blade Battery on March 5, introducing LMFP chemistry with 210 Wh/kg energy density, 8C fast charging, and cold-weather performance that narrows the gap with NMC cells. The company also committed to 20,000 Flash Charging stations across China by end of 2026.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-gigafactory-shakeout-2026-who-builds-who-stalls 2026-03-15T00:07:00.000Z 2026-03-14T00:00:00.000Z

A wave of contradictory signals is reshaping the global battery manufacturing map. Canada celebrates its first commercial-scale EV battery plant hitting one million cells, while European gigafactory plans collapse and automakers reconsider billion-dollar joint ventures.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-solid-state-batteries-promise-tradeoffs-2026 2026-03-12T18:11:07.000Z 2026-03-12T00:00:00.000Z

Solid-state batteries promise higher energy density and improved safety. But decades of research have yet to deliver a mass-market product. Here's an honest assessment of where things stand.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-grid-scale-battery-storage-explained 2026-03-10T01:17:13.000Z 2026-03-10T01:17:13.904Z

Grid-scale battery energy storage systems have grown from curiosity to critical infrastructure in under a decade, reaching 267 gigawatts of global capacity by 2025. This explainer covers what grid batteries actually do (frequency regulation, peak shaving, renewable time-shifting), why lithium iron phosphate chemistry has dominated the market, how a utility-scale system is engineered from individual cells to megawatt-scale power conversion, the biggest installations worldwide, and the long-duration storage challenge that batteries alone cannot yet solve.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-batteries-meet-data-centres-2026 2026-03-10T22:52:02.623Z 2026-03-10T00:00:00.000Z

Data centres are emerging as the battery industry's most significant new market. Lyten acquired Northvolt's Swedish operations and plans a 1 GW data centre hub. Form Energy will deploy 30 GWh of iron-air batteries for Google. Inlyte Energy is piloting iron-sodium storage for Swiss colocation operator NTS.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-hanjung-america-indiana-ess-samsung-sdi-supply-chain-2026 2026-03-10T00:10:10.000Z 2026-03-09T00:00:00.000Z

South Korean ESS manufacturer Hanjung NCS is building its first US factory in Indiana to supply cooling and fire suppression systems for Samsung SDI's StarPlus Energy EV battery plant. The move highlights a growing Korean battery supply chain in the American Midwest.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-catl-company-profile-2025 2026-03-09T18:19:57.000Z 2026-03-09T00:00:00.000Z

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) dominates global battery production. Here's how they got there and what they're building next.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-texas-overtakes-california-battery-storage-us-record-2025 2026-03-08T18:08:18.047Z 2026-03-08T00:00:00.000Z

The SEIA/Benchmark Q1 2026 report reveals US battery storage hit 57.6 GWh in 2025, a 30% increase. Texas is projected to overtake California in 2026 as the largest storage market. Meanwhile, Spain's FRV announced a 1.2 GW/5 GWh BESS portfolio following the Iberian blackout and Royal Decree 997/2025.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-byd-second-gen-blade-battery-flash-charging-2026 2026-03-09T00:11:09.000Z 2026-03-08T00:00:00.000Z

BYD's new Flash Charging system pairs a redesigned LFP Blade Battery with 1,500 kW charging stations, delivering 10-97% charge in nine minutes with a remarkably flat power curve. The company plans 20,000 stations in China by year-end, each with integrated battery storage that eliminates grid upgrade requirements. The technology's implications extend beyond speed, potentially enabling automakers to build lighter EVs with smaller packs while still offering seamless road trip capability.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-europe-bess-investment-surge-5gwh-march-2026 2026-03-08T01:10:50.000Z 2026-03-07T00:00:00.000Z

European battery storage hit an inflection point in early March 2026, with over 5 GWh of deals announced in a single week across Germany, Finland, Spain, Poland, Italy, the UK, and the Netherlands. Sungrow and Delta Capacity signed a 1 GWh framework supply agreement, OX2 took its first final investment decisions on self-operated BESS, and a cascade of acquisitions from firms like Allianz GI, Luxcara, and Return signaled that institutional capital is flooding into the sector.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-quantumscape-eagle-line-solid-state-2026 2026-03-06T19:07:18.723Z 2026-03-06T00:00:00.000Z

QuantumScape is developing solid-state lithium-metal batteries that could transform EV range and charging. The technology is promising — but commercialization remains the challenge.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-eu-industrial-accelerator-act-battery-local-content-march-2026 2026-03-07T01:06:32.000Z 2026-03-06T00:00:00.000Z

The EU's proposed Industrial Accelerator Act sets local content requirements for EV batteries, mandating that at least three components including cells be produced in Europe by 2027, rising to five by 2030. Critics warn that loopholes around cathode precursors and free trade agreement exemptions could undermine the law's impact. Meanwhile, T&E is pushing for mandatory V2G-ready standards in all new EVs by 2032, aiming to turn parked electric vehicles into distributed grid storage assets.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-romania-battery-storage-boom-march-2026 2026-03-06T01:11:47.000Z 2026-03-05T00:00:00.000Z

A wave of regulatory reforms has turned Romania into a magnet for grid-scale battery storage investment. Projects totaling more than 7 GW of capacity have been announced by developers from Austria, Denmark, Greece, Jordan, and Romania, led by Enery's €460 million financing for a 1 GWh hybrid solar-plus-storage project.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-battery-chemistries-101-lfp-nmc-nca-sodium-ion 2026-03-05T19:05:40.914Z 2026-03-05T00:00:00.000Z

A comprehensive guide to the four dominant lithium-ion battery chemistries — how they work, where they excel, and the tradeoffs that determine which chemistry powers your EV, grid, or device.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-lfp-batteries-explained 2026-03-04T19:05:42.000Z 2026-03-04T00:00:00.000Z

A comprehensive explainer on LFP (LiFePO4) batteries: how the chemistry works, why the iron-phosphate bond is so thermally stable, real performance numbers, BYD blade and CATL cell-to-pack innovations, cost advantages vs NMC, and where each chemistry wins.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-jupiter-power-massachusetts-bess-australia-nsw-energy-march-2026 2026-03-05T01:04:22.000Z 2026-03-04T00:00:00.000Z

Jupiter Power received Massachusetts EFSB approval for its Trimount BESS project, a 700MW/2,800MWh lithium iron phosphate facility on a former ExxonMobil oil depot in Everett. The project uses Hithium LFP battery units and will connect to the Mystic Substation. Separately, New South Wales created an Investment Delivery Authority and immediately endorsed 16 energy projects worth AU$34.4 billion, including multiple battery storage and pumped hydro developments.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-solid-power-sulfide-solid-state 2026-03-03T19:05:59.004Z 2026-03-03T00:00:00.000Z

Solid Power is taking a different path to solid-state batteries, using sulfide electrolytes and existing lithium-ion manufacturing equipment.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-sodium-ion-disruption-moonwatt-us-storage-roundup 2026-03-02T19:06:29.000Z 2026-03-02T00:00:00.000Z

Netherlands-based Moonwatt announced its first sodium-ion BESS project using distributed architecture, California community choice aggregators secured capacity from Hydrostor's 500MW compressed-air facility, and PowerSecure broke ground on resilience microgrids in Northern New Mexico. The convergence of these deals highlights a storage market moving beyond lithium-ion monoculture.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-byd-battery-maker-ev-powerhouse 2026-03-01T19:06:27.872Z 2026-03-01T19:06:27.872Z

BYD is both the world's largest EV seller and its second-largest battery producer. Vertical integration is their superpower.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-global-energy-storage-boom-europe-india-2026 2026-02-27T19:04:18.000Z 2026-02-27T00:00:00.000Z

Northern European energy companies are pushing forward with multi-hundred-megawatt BESS projects backed by long-term tolling agreements, while India is diversifying beyond lithium-ion with 100MWh flow batteries and a 100GW pumped hydro roadmap.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-ev-battery-thermal-management-explained 2026-03-24T01:23:32.000Z 2026-03-24T01:23:32.000Z

Battery thermal management systems (BTMS) control temperature across every cell in an EV pack, preventing overheating during fast charging, warming cold packs in winter, and maintaining cell-to-cell temperature uniformity within a few degrees. This explainer covers cooling architectures (air, liquid, immersion), heating strategies, thermal runaway prevention, cell-to-pack design implications, and what good thermal management means for long-term battery longevity.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-redwood-materials-company-profile 2026-03-25T01:17:32.000Z 2026-03-24T00:00:00.000Z

Redwood Materials, founded by Tesla co-founder JB Straubel in 2017, has built the most advanced battery recycling and materials production operation in North America. With over $2.3 billion raised, a $6 billion valuation, and the new Redwood Energy storage business, the company is working to close the loop on America's EV battery supply chain.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-us-bess-deployments-70gwh-2026-seia-forecast 2026-03-23T18:00:00.000Z 2026-03-23T18:00:00.000Z

Texas crossed 15.7 GW of BESS capacity in February, passing California as the #1 storage market. SEIA's 70 GWh forecast for 2026 holds, but tariff risks on Chinese supply chains and a domestic manufacturing surge are reshaping the market.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-europe-india-grid-storage-boom-february-2026 2026-03-22T18:00:00.000Z 2026-03-22T18:00:00.000Z

A single day in February 2026 saw over 1 GWh of grid-scale battery storage milestones across Germany, Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark. In parallel, India tendered a 100 MWh flow battery, piloted CO2 storage technology, and published a 100 GW pumped hydro roadmap targeting 2035.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-ev-battery-recycling-second-life-explained 2026-03-21T18:07:50.000Z 2026-03-21T00:00:00.000Z

A deep look at the three main EV battery recycling processes (pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and direct recycling), the companies building the industry (Redwood Materials, Li-Cycle, Ascend Elements), second-life battery applications for grid storage, and the regulatory frameworks (EU Battery Regulation, US IRA) driving investment in domestic battery recycling capacity.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-northvolt-rise-and-fall-2025 2026-03-20T18:07:28.000Z 2026-03-20T18:07:28.000Z

Northvolt was founded in 2015 by two former Tesla executives with a mission to supply Europe's automotive industry with locally-made EV batteries. Over nine years, the company raised approximately $15 billion, built a factory in northern Sweden, and became Europe's answer to Chinese battery dominance. Quality failures, cancelled contracts, and massive losses led to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2024 and Swedish bankruptcy in March 2025 — the largest in modern Swedish industrial history.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-sk-battery-america-cuts-958-jobs-pivots-to-energy-storage 2026-03-18T18:00:00.000Z 2026-03-18T18:00:00.000Z

SK Battery America cuts 958 jobs (37% of workforce) at its Commerce, Georgia plant after Ford dissolves the BlueOval SK joint venture. The company pivots toward BESS customers while navigating a broader slowdown in EV battery demand and a rollback of federal incentives.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-quantumscape-company-profile 2026-03-18T01:20:11.000Z 2026-03-18T00:00:00.000Z

QuantumScape, founded in 2010 at Stanford and backed by Volkswagen with over $300M in direct investment, is developing a ceramic solid-state separator lithium metal battery. Its QSE-5 cell achieves 844 Wh/L and 301 Wh/kg, with 1,000+ cycles and less than 5% capacity loss. B-samples began shipping in late 2025, and a 40 GWh/year volume production agreement with VW PowerCo positions the company as a frontrunner in the race to commercialize solid-state EV batteries.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-nmc-batteries-explained 2026-03-17T01:27:02.000Z 2026-03-17T01:27:02.000Z

An in-depth explainer on NMC battery chemistry: the role of nickel, manganese, and cobalt in the cathode; the evolution from NMC111 to NMC811 and beyond; energy density advantages over LFP; thermal stability trade-offs; key manufacturers; and the near-term roadmap including single-crystal cathodes, silicon anodes, and dry electrode manufacturing.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-sodium-ion-batteries-how-they-work 2026-03-14T18:07:54.000Z 2026-03-14T00:00:00.000Z

Sodium-ion batteries are emerging as a low-cost, abundant alternative to lithium-ion. Here's the science, the limitations, and where sodium-ion is already winning.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-form-energy-30gwh-iron-air-battery-google-data-center-2026 2026-03-13T18:08:08.000Z 2026-03-13T18:08:08.000Z

Form Energy has closed the largest long-duration energy storage contract in history: 300 MW / 30 GWh of iron-air batteries for Xcel Energy in Minnesota, paired with 1.4 GW of wind and 200 MW of solar to deliver 24/7 clean power to a Google data center. The deal comes as U.S. grid battery installations hit a record 13 GW in 2025, pushing total capacity past 45 GW.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-google-form-energy-30gwh-iron-air-battery-minnesota 2026-03-12T00:03:41.000Z 2026-03-11T23:00:00.000Z

Google, Xcel Energy, and Form Energy announced a 300 MW / 30 GWh iron-air battery installation at a data center in Pine Island, Minnesota. The project uses Form Energy's 100-hour discharge technology to provide multi-day storage backup for renewable-heavy grids. Despite round-trip efficiency concerns (40-50% vs. 85-90% for lithium-ion), the project's backers argue iron-air's low material costs and multi-day capability fill a gap lithium-ion cannot. Google has pledged to cover all infrastructure costs, shielding ratepayers.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-grid-storage-boom-pge-oregon-australia-2026 2026-03-04T01:10:06.000Z 2026-03-04T01:10:06.000Z

In a week that underscored the rapid mainstreaming of grid-scale battery storage, Portland General Electric finalized contracts for 1,015MW of solar and battery projects in Oregon (its largest-ever clean energy deal), while Australian developer Edify Energy selected DT Infrastructure to build 3.6GWh of solar-plus-storage in Queensland. Falling LFP cell costs below $70/kWh and maturing grid-forming inverter technology are driving utilities to commit billions to multi-hundred-megawatt systems.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-lyten-northvolt-canada-bess-energy-storage-march-2026 2026-03-03T01:05:12.000Z 2026-03-02T20:00:00.000Z

Two major developments mark the start of March 2026 in energy storage: the 300MW/1,200MWh Hagersville project becomes Canada's largest operating BESS, and US startup Lyten finalizes its takeover of Northvolt's Swedish factories with plans for a combined battery manufacturing and AI data centre campus.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-lyten-acquires-northvolt-sweden-battery-data-center-hub 2026-03-02T01:02:56.000Z 2026-03-02T01:00:00.000Z

Lyten completes acquisition of Northvolt's Swedish battery operations, plans to supply NMC cells for BESS, scale lithium-sulfur R&D, and build a 1GW data center campus at the Skellefteå site.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-doe-26b-southern-company-bess-eu-storage-investment-2026 2026-02-27T01:08:07.000Z 2026-02-27T01:00:00.000Z

A record $26.5 billion DOE loan package to Southern Company subsidiaries in Georgia and Alabama will fund battery storage alongside nuclear, gas, and transmission upgrades. Trina Storage and Gore Street Capital announced a €1 billion EU battery fund targeting 12 GWh. Recurrent Energy sold a 200 MWh Texas BESS to Hunt Energy Network.

CurrentCells currentcells-article-germany-grid-fees-australia-bess-boom-2026 2026-02-26T01:13:17.000Z 2026-02-26T01:13:17.000Z

At the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London, Fluence warned that Germany's BNetzA has undermined investor confidence by casting doubt on grid fee exemptions for storage operators. The regulator's own targets call for growth from 2.8 GW to 68 GW by 2037, but the fee uncertainty is freezing investment decisions. In contrast, Germany's new Momentanreserve inertia payment mechanism offers 10-year contracts for grid-forming batteries. In Australia, RE Development filed for a 250MW/1,000MWh BESS in Western Australia valued at AU$500 million. In the US, FlexGen updated its HybridOS EMS after absorbing Powin's assets, while LandGate launched an automated BESS site selection tool.

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