NAATBatt 2026 Recycling & Lifecycle Management Workshop

NAATBatt will hold its 9th annual workshop on lithium battery recycling and lifecycle management on July 7-8, 2026, at Michigan State University's MEC Center in Troy, Michigan. The workshop will examine the technologies, business models and economic challenges involved in recycling and reusing lithium batteries in North America. Building a secure supply chain of battery materials in North America may ultimately depend heavily on the "urban mining" of battery materials. Learn about the prospects for lithium battery recycling and reuse in North America and meet the companies and experts that are already doing business in this sector. Watch this newsletter for additional information about the 2026 Recycling & Lifecycle Management Workshop and for the opening of registration for it.

Affordable Power Conference & Expo: Innovative Energy Storage for Grids & Data Center

NAATBatt and NY-BEST are partnering on a new conference and expo focused on the energy storage and power generation needs of data centers and grid operators. Affordable Power Conference & Expo: Innovative Energy Storage for Grids & Data Centers will be held on November 3-5, 2026 at the On Center in Syracuse, New York. The Expo will be a free-to-attend event offering companies providing energy storage and energy generation products to data centers and other microgrids the opportunity to highlight their expertise and meet potential customers. The Expo will be co-located with a conference discussing the policy drivers, economics, and innovative new energy technologies shaping this rapidly growing market. Watch this newsletter for more information about this program and for a link to the exhibitor prospectus.

NAATBatt 2027 Annual Meeting & Conference

It is not too early to start planning for NAATBatt 2027. NAATBatt 2027, the 18th annual meeting of NAATBatt International, be held on February 8–11, 2027, at the Westin Rancho Mirage in Rancho Mirage, California, just outside Palm Springs. The NAATBatt annual meeting features presentations by leading consulting firms and market analysts about various sectors of the battery market, in-person meetings of all 18 NAATBatt communities, short Member Update Presentations by NAATBatt member firms, and simply the best networking available anywhere in the North American advanced battery industry. Mark your calendar and watch this newsletter for updates about NAATBatt 2027.

NAATBatt Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain Database

The National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), formerly the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), has released a major update to the NAATBatt Lithium-Ion Battery Supply Chain Database. Developed in collaboration with Avicenne Energy US, the enhanced edition expands coverage to 1,178 facilities and 1,022 companies across North America. New features include real-time production data, detailed construction timelines, and expanded tracking of upstream, midstream, downstream, and recycling activities. The database is available through an online interface or as an Excel download to support strategic planning. An updated edition of the database will be released in April 2026.

First launched in 2021, the database remains the most comprehensive directory of North American lithium-based battery companies, organized by product line and including suppliers of goods and services used in battery production. The February 2025 update added NAATBatt member professional service providers serving the industry. Updated twice yearly, the database allows companies to submit additions, corrections, or requests for inclusion directly to NLR.

New NAATBatt Website

NAATBatt’s new website is now live! Visit us at: www.naatbatt.org. Certain information and resources are available exclusively to members, and an account is required to access this content. Employees of all NAATBatt member firms should register to gain entry to the private member portal. The portal contains links to special resources and tools. For a guide on how to register and take advantage of this new NAATBatt member only resource, go to: https://www.naatbatt.org/blog/welcome-to-the-new-naatbatt-website

NAATBatt Communities

NAATBatt has 18 active subject matter committees/communities, offering NAATBatt members a way to hear about new developments in 18 different sectors of the advanced battery industry. And here's the kicker: It costs nothing to join a NAATBatt committee and participate in the community discussions. Just sign up here. NAATBatt subject matter communities are the new "water cooler" of the North American advanced battery industry: the place to hear the scuttlebutt about what is really going on. It makes no sense not to join.

Upcoming Meetings:

• April 7, 8:00 a.m. PT | 11:00 a.m. ET – Energy Materials Community
• April 9, 9:00 a.m. PT | 12:00 p.m. ET – Onshoring Community 

Member Press Releases

TIME Recognizes ZincFive Among America’s Top GreenTech Companies 2026

The company has been named to the list for the third consecutive year, highlighting its high-performance, sustainable power solutions.

Click here for the full news release.

NAATBatt members interested in publishing press releases about developments at their companies in this section of the newsletter should send their releases by e-mail to Vivian Yu at NAATBatt by Thursday of each week.

Community Pulse

The Rise of Long-Duration Energy Storage: Market Shifts and Emerging Opportunities

Long-duration energy storage is gaining momentum as a critical component of the evolving energy landscape. During this week's ESS and Data Center Community meeting, Nathan Niese, Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group, shared insights from a recent industry survey highlighting key trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the market for energy storage solutions exceeding four hours.

Niese highlighted strong growth in demand for these solutions, driven by increased renewable energy integration, grid congestion, and ongoing market reforms. While lithium-ion batteries remain the dominant technology, a range of complementary technologies is emerging as the market is projected to expand significantly over the next several years.

A key theme was the shift in revenue models. As ancillary service markets become saturated, energy arbitrage is emerging as a primary value driver, increasing the importance of longer-duration storage for reliability and grid stability. Despite this shift, most deployments remain short in duration. In 2022, approximately 98 percent of installations were under four hours, though this is expected to decline to 91 percent by 2030 as longer-duration solutions gain traction.

The discussion also highlighted a gap between current data center backup practices and resiliency needs. While some projects specify only minutes of runtime, developers are beginning to evaluate longer-duration and alternative backup strategies.

Looking ahead, lithium-ion is expected to dominate through 2030, with more than 290 GWh of projects in development globally. However, emerging technologies such as sodium-ion, compressed air energy storage, and flow batteries may become increasingly competitive for durations beyond sixteen hours.

If you are interested in becoming engaged in these conversations and shaping the future of energy storage, you are encouraged to join the ESS and Data Center Community by completing the participation form available through this link.

Meet the Board Member of the Week

Mike Sandoval – Maccor, Inc.

Mike Sandoval, Vice President of Business Development at Maccor and NAATBatt Board member, brings nearly four decades of experience in advanced battery test equipment manufacturing. He offers deep technical expertise and a collaborative approach to advancing North America’s battery ecosystem. At Maccor, he supports next-generation battery development through advanced testing systems and materials analysis. He also leads marketing initiatives, website modernization, and process improvements, including a Python-based tool. As an active participant in the NAATBatt Recycling Community and the North American Manufacturers Community, Mike champions industry collaboration and values of integrity, curiosity, creativity, and long-term partnerships built throughout his career.

• Watch the full interview here
• Want to meet Mike and other members of the NAATBatt community? Learn more about NAATBatt membership and apply for it here
• Click here for the NAATBatt LinkedIn post.

Li-Bridge Corner

DOE Launches $500M Funding Opportunity to Boost U.S. Battery Supply Chain

The U.S. Department of Energy has launched a $500 million Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the third round under its Battery Materials Processing and Battery Manufacturing and Recycling programs, to expand domestic critical mineral processing, battery manufacturing, and recycling. Announced on March 13, 2026, the NOFO targets demonstration- and commercial-scale facilities for lithium, graphite, nickel, copper, aluminum, and other battery materials, directly supporting defense, grid resilience, transportation, and AI-driven energy demand.

This opportunity marks a timely push to reduce reliance on foreign supply chains and advance U.S. energy dominance. It represents both a direct effort to decouple from non-U.S. suppliers and a bullish signal for domestic processors and recyclers.

If your company operates in critical minerals processing, battery recycling, or component manufacturing, now is the time to act. Awards will provide substantial federal backing, a competitive edge in the reshoring push, and alignment with national security priorities under the current administration. A 50% cost share is required, but successful projects will strengthen America’s supply chain resilience for decades.

Nonbinding letters of intent are requested by March 27, 2026. However, you can still submit full applications if you miss this deadline, provided you apply by April 24, 2026.

Advanced Battery Industry News

Toyota Motor North America announced a $1 billion investment in its Kentucky and Indiana plants as part of a up to $10 billion additional investment plan over the next 5 years in the U.S. The company will invest $800 million in its Kentucky plant for the production of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and increase production capacity for the Camry and RAV4; $200 million in its Indiana plant to increase production capacity for the Grand Highlander. (Source: Toyota Motor)

American Battery Factory (ABF) announced it has secured offtake agreements for its planned Tucson, AZ Gigafactory with A Rated energy storage solution (ESS) companies for over 4.5 GWh (gigawatt-hours) of its initial factory output of approximately 5.5GWh through at least the first 5 years of production.

(Source: ABF)

Sungrow has signed an agreement with Herholdt's Group, its official distribution partner in South Africa, to deploy a total of 1,155MWh (megawatt-hour) of commercial and industrial battery energy storage systems (BESS). (Source: Sungrow)

Energy Vault announced the acquisition of the 175MW/350MWh McMurtre BESS project located in Texas from Belltown Power. The project is expected to receive Notice to Proceed (NTP) in 4Q26 with commercial operation targeted for December 2027. (Source: Energy Vault)

Crusoe and Form Energy announced a capacity agreement to deliver 12 GWh of ESS to support AI data centers starting in 2027. Under the agreement, Crusoe has secured reserved volume, pricing and delivery terms along with access to Form Energy’s iron-air battery technology. (Source: Crusoe)

Rohm, Toshiba and Mitsubishi Electric are planning to start discussions on integrating their power semiconductor operations to form a semiconductor alliance. Power semiconductor demand is expected to expand as they are used not only in EVs and data centers but also in a variety of electronic products. (Source: NHK World)

Polestar announced that its Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 batteries now include at least 50% recycled cobalt. The company is partnering with Volvo Cars battery centres where Polestar 2 and Polestar 3 vehicles that require a battery replacement receive a refurbished battery. (Source: Polestar)

Summit Explore (subsidiary of Summit Nanotech) has executed a non-binding term sheet with Power Minerals for the proposed development of Power Minerals’ Salta Lithium Project in Argentina. The project comprises five lithium brine salars — Incahuasi, Rincón, Pocitos, Pular and Arizaro — located within Argentina’s Lithium Triangle. (Source: Summit Nanotech)

Crusoe and Redwood Materials announced an expansion of their partnership to scale renewable-powered AI compute. Following the deployment of a Redwood Energy 12MW/63MWh last June, the companies are expanding the campus deployment from 4 to 24 Crusoe Spark™ modular data centers, bringing compute capacity to nearly 7x the original deployment. (Source: Crusoe)

Amprius Technologies has secured a purchase order totaling $21 million for its SiCore® cylindrical cells from an electric mobility customer in China. The company’s cells were chosen for use in light EVs including scooters, three-wheelers, and motorcycles. (Source: Amprius Technologies)

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) announced an investment plan in Australian Super-backed Syrah Resources (parent company of the Vidalia Active Anode Material processing facility and Balama graphite mine in Mozambique). DFC will convert a $31M existing loan to shares in Syrah in two tranches that will result in ownership of a ~20% stake in the company. (Source: U.S. IDFC & MSN)

Vianode and Ateios Systems have signed a letter of intent for the supply of synthetic anode graphite for use in Ateios’ electrode platform. Initial volumes are to be supplied from Vianode’s Via ONE facility in Norway with a transition to Via TWO in Ontario, Canada, as additional capacity comes online. (Source: Vianode)

NVIDIA and Emerald AI announced that they are working with AES, Constellation, Invenergy, NextEra Energy, Nscale Energy & Power and Vistra to power and advance a class of AI factories that connect to the grid faster, generate AI tokens and intelligence and operate as flexible energy assets that can support the grid. (Source: NVIDIA)

Ateios Systems and Kodak announced the expansion of the Ateios RaiCore™ battery electrode platform to three cathode chemistries; lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), while earning third party verifications for eliminating perfluoralkoxy alkane (PFA) forever chemicals. The verification continues to maintain RaiCore’s status as the world’s only PFAS-free battery electrodes verified by an independent third party. (Source: Aterios Systems)

Charge_iN by Mahindra and Hindustan Petroleum (HPC) announced a partnership towards setting up EV charging stations at HPC fuel stations across India. HPC operates over 24,400 retail outlets nationwide and over 5,400 charging stations under HP e-Charge brand. (Source: Mahindra)

Global Battery Materials (GBM) announced the opening of its graphite lab in Quebec and the completion of 1st shipments of graphite product samples from its Kearney Mine in Ontario for qualification by U.S.-based customers. (Source: GBM)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Energy Storage Engine in New York will receive $45 million over 3 years for the 2nd phase of the program. The initiative, led by Binghamton University is 1 of 9 inaugural Engines launched under NSF’s Regional Innovation Engines program. (Source: BingUNews)

Zenobē has expanded its North American fleet with the acquisition of Revolv. The acquisition adds 13 operational sites, 100-plus electric trucks and a project pipeline complementing the company’s transportation and public transit portfolio in the U.S. and Canada. (Source: Zenobē)

Sony Honda Mobility (SHM) announced it is discontinuing the development and launch of its first model, AFEELA 1, and its second model of AFEELA electric vehicles (EVs) that had been under development. SHM will continue discussions with Sony and Honda regarding its future business plans. (Source: AFEELA)

KULR Technology Group (KULR) announced a co-development collaboration with Robinson Helicopter to develop a battery system for an eR66 battery-electric helicopter demonstrator. (Source: KULR)

Entreprise Générale du Cobalt SA and Mercuria Energy Trading SA announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the development of the Kasulo mine site in Kolwezi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and its associated cobalt supply chain. The partnership aims to establish a premium "Gold Standard" for responsible artisanal and small-scale mining. (Source: Mercuria)

Lyten announced its interest in establishing an Industrial Hub in Poland and will conduct a feasibility study to assess manufacturing requirements for its products, potential private and public partnerships, and the necessary energy and utility infrastructure. The industrial hub will be built around Lyten Dwa – the energy storage production plant and R&D center in Gdańsk. (Source: Lyten)

Source: CRU Group

Executive Director's Notes

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