Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd (TSX-V:GMG, OTC:GMGMF) (GMG) has provided an update on its ongoing investment in its Battery Development Centre (BDC).
The Australia-based clean-tech company said critical members of its Battery Team have visited its United Kingdom partners to inspect and test the partially automated cell assembly equipment.
That company said that follows the December 2022 approval by the GMG board of additional capital expenditure to accelerate the progress of semi-automatic pouch cell prototype production in the BDC for customer trials and Graphene Aluminium Ion (G+AI) Battery cell development.
READ: Graphene Manufacturing Group wins regulatory development approval for future battery plant
GMG noted that the equipment will automate key steps in cell assembly for pouch cells to reduce manual processing and enable consistent and simple repeatable outputs, all of which it considers important for the next stage of the G+AI battery development roadmap.
"We anticipate this investment will significantly improve GMG's capability and flexibility to further develop GMG's G+AI Battery pouch prototypes in various sizes in a wider group of potential customers,” GMG managing director and CEO Craig Nicol said in a statement. “We look forward to the prototype assembly equipment being operational by the end of 2023.”
GMG said it intends to expand the Battery Development Centre, and work with various scientific and engineering methods to optimise capacity, energy and power density, other battery parameters and overall design to achieve production of commercial coin cell and/or pouch cell prototypes.
The company said this latest milestone aligns with its four critical business objectives, namely:
- Produce graphene and improve/scale production process;
- Build revenue from energy savings products;
- Develop next-generation batteries; and
- Develop supply chain, partners & project execution capability.
GMG produces graphene and hydrogen by cracking methane (natural gas) instead of mining graphite. By using a proprietary process, GMG can produce scalable, 'tuneable' and no or low contaminant graphene in clean-tech applications. It is developing value-added products that target the energy efficiency and energy storage markets. It is also pursuing opportunities for GMG graphene-enhanced products, including developing next-generation batteries.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com