Li-S Energy to build on battery plant with lithium foil facility

Queensland lithium-sulphur battery company Li-S Energy has capped the official opening of a 2 MWh cell production line in Victoria by announcing it has secured a $1.7 million federal government grant to develop Australia’s first lithium foil manufacturing facility.

August 13, 2024 David Carroll

Image: Li-S Energy

Battery tech company Li-S Energy said it has been awarded a $1.7 million (USD 1.12 million) grant by the Australian government to support the domestic production of high-quality lithium foils that can be used as anode material for lithium sulphur and lithium metal batteries.

Li-S has developed a 20-layer battery cell utilising semi-solid state lithium sulphur battery technology that it claims displays nearly double the gravimetric energy density and a comparable volumetric energy density to lithium-ion cells.

To scale up production of its technology, the Brisbane-based company has developed a $10 million lithium sulphur battery manufacturing plant at Geelong in Victoria that spans the entire production process from creating and coating cathode powders to final cell fabrication and testing.

Li-S officially launched the latest phase of the plant, a pouch cell production facility, on Friday and said it now plans to extend beyond its battery manufacturing capability to establish a high-tolerance lithium foil manufacturing process that will produce foils and laminates from lithium metal ingots.

The company said lithium metal foil is an essential anode material for advanced batteries including its own batteries but current imported supply has limited quality and is not optimised for lithium sulphur cells.

Li-S Chief Executive Officer Dr Lee Finniear said the new manufacturing capability will not only reduce supply chain risk for its own batteries but will also increase the value of Australia’s advanced battery materials with the company intending to export the foils and laminates as an additional revenue stream.

“Australia currently produces 52% of the world’s lithium ore, yet much of this is exported without adding additional value,” Finniear said. “With global demand for lithium metal foil forecast to reach USD 51 billion by 2032, Australia has a unique opportunity to capitalise on this emerging market to produce lithium foils here, adding value here, before exporting this high-value product to global markets.”

Li-S said it expects to start ordering key components of the lithium foil production line before the end of the year once it has received the federal government grant funding, awarded as part of the $392 million Industry Growth Program.

The company expects to deliver its first cells from the Phase 3 production facility for testing by the end of September.

Li-S said the applications for its lightweight and energy dense lithium-sulphur batteries are endless, including electric vehicles and mobile phones, but its initial focus is on using them for drones where they will last longer and be lighter.

The company is already working with New South Wales solar cell maker HaloCell and Queensland drone manufacturer V-TOL Aerospace to develop a drone that can operate from dawn to dusk on a single charge.

VTOL Chief Executive Mark Xavier said Li-S Energy’s batteries are a “game changer” for the aviation and drone industry, where weight is critical.

“By extending the range, flight time and payload of unmanned air systems, it opens up entirely new use cases in surveillance, agricultural monitoring and security,” he said.

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