Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday.
Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said.
TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a joint statement.
Photo: CNA
The TNO-based batteries are also considered to be more suitable energy solutions for electric buses, power storage devices, hybrid vehicles, stackers and drones, the statement said.
The value of the global lithium-ion battery market is forecast to climb to US$450 billion in 2030, Largan said, citing McKinsey & Co’s research.
Largan Precision owns about 20 percent of Largan Energy Materials, with an investment of NT$450 million (US$14.33 million), according to registration information on the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Web site.
The government-funded ITRI holds the remaining 80 percent stake in the venture.
“The collaboration with ITRI shows the company’s confidence in lithium-ion batteries using TNO anodes. The company also has high confidence about applying the batteries to different applications,” Largan president Huang You-chih (黃有執) said.
Largan Energy Materials plans to build a pilot-run production line at Largan Precision’s headquarters in Taichung this year, with an initial annual capacity of 24 tonnes.
By 2026, its aims to boost capacity to 600 tonnes, Huang said.
Lithium-ion batteries are essential for mobile electronics, electric vehicles and power storage systems, and the world’s major battery makers and researchers have been striving to develop new battery materials amid growing demand for safe batteries with a long lifespan, ITRI executive vice president Chang Pei-zen (張培仁) said.
The Department of Industrial Technology has invested NT$1 billion over the past five years in scientific research on developing fast-charging, solid-state lithium-ion batteries and low-carbon-emission process technologies, the ministry said.
Elon Musk’s lieutenants have reached out to chip industry suppliers, including Applied Materials Inc, Tokyo Electron Ltd and Lam Research Corp, for his envisioned Terafab, early steps in an audacious and likely arduous attempt to break into the production of cutting-edge chips. Staff working for the joint venture between Tesla Inc and Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) have sought price quotes and delivery times for an array of chipmaking gear, people familiar with the matter said. In past weeks, they’ve contacted makers of photomasks, substrates, etchers, depositors, cleaning devices, testers and other tools, according to the people, who asked not to
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Taiwan is attracting a growing number of foreign jobseekers as companies increasingly recruit overseas talent to ease labor shortages and expand global reach, recruitment platform 104 Job Bank (104人力銀行) said yesterday. More than 40,000 foreign nationals searched for jobs in Taiwan through the platform last year, a 28 percent increase from a year earlier, the company said. Malaysians accounted for the largest share of overseas jobseekers at 12.2 percent, followed by Indonesians at 11.9 percent and Vietnamese at 10.8 percent. Indonesian applicants surged more than 50 percent year-on-year, while Vietnamese jobseekers rose by more than 30 percent. Applicants from the
RSS