A variety of new batteries are coming to power EVs

The tall grey buildings covering an industrial complex at Nysa, in south-west Poland, look like a modern car factory has been teleported into the surrounding farmland. The plant, though, does not make cars, but it is a new and vital part of the automotive supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs). These rely on batteries containing materials that can be expensive, hard to come by and are mostly processed in China. The plant at Nysa is the first to produce those materials at scale in Europe.

The lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries that power most EVs are their single most-expensive component, typically representing some 40% of the price of the vehicle when new. The materials these batteries are made from define its performance, hence they help determine how far an EV can travel on a single charge, how fast it can go and how long its battery will last. In turn, the most critical component in those batteries are its cathodes, accounting for around half their value. The Nysa plant makes cathode materials, which puts it at the heart of a battery revolution.