Freyr opens demo plant for 'gigawatt-hour-scale' battery cell production

Freyr Battery opened a demonstration lithium-ion battery cell production line in Norway on March 28, marking the start of "gigawatt-hour-scale" production for the company's novel semi-solid technology.

The so-called customer qualification plant (CQP) in Mo i Rana, in northern Norway, will produce sample cells for customers and validate the production process ahead of commercial-scale manufacturing by Freyr at planned gigafactories on both sides of the Atlantic.

"When we master [the CQP] then we can replicate it many, many times over," Freyr CEO Tom Jensen told delegates during a launch event for the plant. "Opening the CQP today is the start of our commercialization."

The plant will showcase a "fundamentally improved lithium-ion battery production process," Jensen said. Compared to large, conventional gigafactories, Freyr said the CQP represents 50% lower capital expenditure, 60% less energy usage and 80% less space, while producing three times as many batteries per employee.

Freyr's production will focus initially on lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) technology licensed from US-based 24M Technologies Inc. LFP is a type of lithium-ion battery that is growing in prominence globally, with 24M's semi-solid platform producing "much larger [and] much thicker" batteries designed for use in electric vehicles or energy storage systems, Jensen said.

The company secured indicative and firm orders from customers totaling more than 130 GWh, including a firm sales contract with Japan's Nidec Corp. On March 28, Freyr announced it had entered discussions about a potential strategic coalition with Nidec, along with Glencore PLC, Caterpillar Inc. and Siemens AG, to pursue the scale-up of battery manufacturing.

"Make no mistake: there is an insatiable demand for clean battery solutions and we are having ongoing conversations about how to increase our capacity," Jensen said.

The CQP will pave the way for commercial-scale production at Freyr's "Giga Arctic" factory, currently under construction in Norway, and its recently announced $2.6 billion manufacturing complex in the US state of Georgia, known as "Giga America."

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Whereas the CQP has one production line, both Giga Arctic and Giga America will have "eight or more," according to Jensen.

Development of the two facilities is ongoing but at different paces. Freyr executives said previously that their plans in the US were being accelerated due to the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which contains billions in tax credits for clean technology manufacturing, including batteries.

"The IRA definitely will spearhead and spur massive investment into the battery industry," Jensen told S&P Global Commodity Insights in an interview after the CQP's opening, adding that support from the European Union is "largely symmetrical" to the US legislation.

However, capital spending on Giga Arctic is being done at a more "measured pace" until the government in Norway — which is not an EU member — outlines the conditions under which battery manufacturing is going to be incentivized.

"If [the conditions] are strong, we will put the foot back on the accelerator," Jensen said. "But we need clarity."

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