Altech subsidiary sale secures $5 million for Cerenergy battery development

Altech Batteries has collected A$5.12 million as a portion of the two deferred instalment payments from Altech Advanced Material (AAM) for buying out 25 per cent of its tertiary firm, Altech Industries Germany GmbH (AIG). The last instalment has been scheduled for the month of December 2023, wherein AAM will pay another A$2.5 million or 1.583 million euros.

Altech bags A$5 million for the partial sell-out of its sister concern firm. In December 2020, Frankfrut-listed AAM bought 25 per cent of Altech’s German subsidiary AIG. Altech Batteries still have control over 75 per cent of AIG’s proprietorship. AAM at first paid 250,000 euros or A$415,000 on the signing of the contract, while the deferred payments are at this moment receding.

Altech Batteries Managing Director Iggy Tan was appreciative of the payment from AAM and claimed: “The original objective of establishing AAM on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was to attract investment from the European market and establish some local German ownership and presence in our projects. AAM has completed a very successful fundraising program which will support 25% of the Silumina Anode and Cerenergy Battery projects.”

Last year on June 30, Altech Batteries preceded over 27.1 per cent of Frankfrit-listed AAM. Currently, Altech is focusing all its expertise on three life-changing flagship projects, like the “Silumina” lithium-ion battery anode product, the “Cerenergy” batteries that run on common salt and a projected construction of a 4500tpa high-purity alumina project.

Altech’s Cerenergy batteries can be considered a more feasible and low-carbon option for grid power storage systems rather than lithium-ion or vanadium batteries. Altech claims the company’s flagship Cerenergy batteries are fire and explosion resistant; unlike the conventional lithium counterparts, also they have an extended life expectancy of 15 years.

These batteries can be optimised in chilly cold or horridly humid climates, unlike lithium-ion batteries. Other than the use of common salt, Cerenergy also incorporates nickel but is bereft of any other costly battery raw materials like graphite, lithium or cobalt.

Altech, in partnership with Europe’s biggest application-oriented research organisation Fraunhofer, is about to construct a 100MWh per annum Cerenergy battery plant at its site in Saxony, Germany. The original patent of the Cerenergy sodium alumina solid-state battery was developed by Fraunhofer. Thus, the company owns a 25 per cent stake in the Joint venture with Altech to properly commercialise the idea.

Altech Batteries has given AIG permission to develop and commercialise the company’s Silumina anode technology. AIG has also begun a feasibility study for the materialisation of a 10,000-tonnes per annum silicon-graphite alumina coating plant situated at Altech Batteries’ Saxony site in Germany. All the advancements are in alignment with the emerging European electric vehicle industry.

The company also has detailed its cracking of the “silicon code”, allowing a 30 per cent augmented energy storage with an enhanced lifecycle in a battery. With the use of this new technology, Altech will produce smaller, lighter batteries that release lesser greenhouse gases along the production line.

Altech and AIG are toiling hard to get their flagship technology attested for circulating in the market in order to boost the electric vehicle sector, which is gradually taking shape globally. The A$5.12 million will benefit the company’s R&D processes and propel its growth. Soon enough, the firm envisions being the highest bidder of technology and finesse in the electric vehicle market with its energy solutions.