Anaphite, a UK battery technology company, announced last week that an independent analysis of the carbon emission savings carried out by life cycle assessment firm Minviro helped confirm its previous cost savings estimates. This was that its technology makes EV battery manufacturing 30% less energy intensive and up to 40% cheaper overall.

Minviro found that Anaphite’s technology cuts carbon emissions by 3.57 kg CO2 eq. per kWh of cell capacity compared to the wet coating process.
“The energy reduction would result, on average, in a 1% to 2% reduction in the cost to an OEM for an EV battery,” Jennifer Channell, head of commercial at Anaphite told Batteries International at the Battery Event in Lyon, France.

The savings come from using a dry coating process for manufacturing electrodes that eliminates the energy intensive drying stage essential in traditional wet coating processes.

“There are other associated benefits,” Channell said. “The reduction in facility size — wet coating requires drying sheds that may be as long as 100 metres — by some 43%, also reduces its footprint in terms of facility size and the amount of machinery required.

“This technology is not only strategically important to the West in making battery production more competitive with China — where the process is not used — but also means that it would meet carbon emission targets for battery manufacturing likely to be introduced in the EU Battery Passport regulations in August 2027.” This is something that Chinese manufacturers may possibly be penalised for.

Dry coating electrode manufacturing is already being developed elsewhere. Korean battery giant LG is aiming to have the process on manufacturing lines by 2028. The lithium battery arm of VW, PowerCo and Elli, is looking for something similar by 2027 and Korea’s Samsung says it is also pioneering the technology.

Anaphite is a start-up and last year raised $13.7 million in a Series ‘A’ funding round.

Anaphite’s CEO Joe Stevenson says: “We’re scaling-up the Anaphite technology platform at our facility in the UK and deepening our in-house dry coating capabilities and expertise. We are working in close collaboration with the global automotive industry to bring dry coating to market.”