Authors: Christopher Gruen
- Battery Venture: Anodox will start battery production in Riga – Lativia
- Support has been gained from Latvia´s minister of economics – Janis Vitenbergs
- Anodox will enter the local “green corridor” priority investment support programme
- Anodox will be the first LFP cell production company in Europe
NovAzure, an international venture builder and investor in promising early energy and mobility startups, is pleased to announce that a key venture out of NovAzure´s investment portfolio: Swedish tech company Anodox Energy Systems has announced plans to produce electric vehicle batteries in Latvia, with the first factory in the Port of Riga expected to be operational by December 2022. A second factory for rapidly growing LFP cell technology will be established soon after. A total of €50 million will be invested and up to 300 new jobs will be created.
Commenting on the recent announcement, Christopher Gruen, Director at NovAzure, said:
“I’m very proud of what we have all achieved together with the Anodox leadership team. In times where oil and gas prices are reaching historical highs, it is important more than ever to accelerate the green energy space. Batteries play a huge contributing factor towards electrification of mobility and energy storage for renewable energy sources and production capacity needs to be deployed fast. Customer centricity, agility, sustainability and focus on value creation are the main mantras of NovAzure´s special venture building programme. Anodox’ announcement is a master example on how to do this right.”
In the first phase of their deploy plan into Latvia, Anodox will produce high-quality battery packs for electric cars and light trucks in an automated factory. In the second, Anodox will produce high performance cells leveraging LFP technology. LFP batteries have recently been adopted by Tesla Motors and are known to be longer lasting and produced at a lower cost than many of the electric vehicle batteries on the market today.
Commenting on LFP cells, Thomas Walsh, Co-founder of Anodox, said:
“In contrast to NMC cells which are dependent of rare materials such as Nickel from Russia, or Cobalt from unsustainable sources out of the Congo, LFP cells rely on raw materials which can be mined out of stable economies including the European Union. More importantly these materials can also be gained out closed recycling loops which are emerging even faster triggered by recent events between Russia and the Ukraine. So LFP cells are not only safer, have a longer life cycle and are more reliable, they also allow Europe to sever raw material dependencies so we are not repeating the same mistakes like we did with oil.”
The entire NovAzure team is looking forward to the next exciting milestone to report on, which we will achieve together with the Anodox team.
Please access Latvia’s official governmental link below for further details:
https://www.liaa.gov.lv/en/article/anodox-build-ev-batteries-latvia-create-300-jobs
