The contract gives the company 3,000 square metres of plant site, owned by the investment company, LRM which has excellent facilities including test rooms that are built to a very high standard and are ready for immediate use.
The company will move into the plant in January 2023 and will start pre-production of its solid-state cell technology later that year. It has acquired access to seven well equipped test rooms, which will be used to establish an international test centre for its partners and customers.
“SOLiTHOR can now move swiftly to upscale the production and manufacture of our solid-state lithium batteries with the support of our investors” said Huw Hampson-Jones, Founder and CEO. “It means moving forward towards the commercialisation of our cell and battery systems technology. This is a significant step forward not only for Belgium, but for Europe as a whole and means being less dependent on Asia or the United States.”
The company has also awarded a multi-million-euro contract to Munters – a global leader in energy-efficient air treatment and climate solutions – who will build a 400 square metre dry room within the site.
The plant will allow the company to upscale its production over the next 3 years to build proof of concept battery modules and systems, as well as prototype batteries for electric vehicle manufacturers and the aviation sector. Local architects DBV, based in Hasselt, have been appointed to project manage and coordinate the additional new building work.
It is hoped that the local airstrip in Sint Truiden, also owned by LRM, will be used to develop and test aerospace and defence battery systems in the future.
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