Echion Technologies gets £10m boost for XNO production

Echion Technologies, the world-leading supplier of niobium-based anode materials, has secured a £10million investment from Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital and existing investor BGF.

The XNO niobium-based anode material produced by Echion enables lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries to safely fast charge in under 10 minutes, maintain high-energy densities even at extreme temperatures and deliver high power across a cycle life of more than 10,000 cycles.

XNO has been specifically engineered to allow electrified heavy-duty industrial, commercial and mass-transport vehicles to operate with the highest productivity and lowest total cost of ownership.

As reported in the Cambridge Independent earlier this month, XNO is available at scale thanks to Echion’s manufacturing partnership with the world’s leading producer of niobium, CBMM. In November, Echion opened the world’s largest niobium-based anode production facility, capable of producing 2000 t/year of XNO, equivalent to 1 GWh of Li-ion cells.

The new funding will enable Echion to accelerate the speed at which its network of partnered cell manufacturers is able to produce commercially available cells which utilise Echion’s innovative niobium-based XNO anode material. It will also provide additional resources to connect cell manufacturers with industrial original equipment manufacturers. This will see XNO utilised in more real-world applications, at volume, in the near future.

Jean de La Verpilliere, CEO of Echion Technologies, said: “This investment by Barclays and BGF is strong recognition of the value delivered by XNO.

“By utilising XNO, cell manufacturers can deliver the most-innovative, sustainable, and high performing batteries to facilitate the effective electrification of heavy-duty vehicles.

“Their investment will enable us to take the next major step forward in our fast-moving company journey.”