To support the development of the battery ecosystem in Europe, Rio Tinto has announced that it has invested in battery technology and manufacturing company, InoBat.
This investment will support the completion of InoBat's research and development centre and pilot battery line in Voderady, Slovakia. The investment follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed in May, summarizing an intention to work together to progress the establishment of a "cradle-to-cradle" electric vehicle battery value chain in Serbia.
Managing director of Rio Tinto's battery materials business, Marnie Finlayson said "We are delighted to be able to deepen our partnership with InoBat through our investment and look forward to benefitting from a broader perspective of the battery materials sector, as well as insights into future battery chemistries and technologies.
"Our Jadar lithium project in Serbia is on the doorstep of the European electric vehicle market. Capable of producing enough lithium to make around one million electric vehicle batteries a year to the highest environmental standards,2 we believe Jadar will be a critical supplier of the European battery ecosystem and, through our investment in InoBat, we hope that we can assist in making some of those batteries locally."
Marian Bocek, Chief executive officer of InoBat Auto said "InoBat is thrilled to further partner with Rio Tinto. Our mission has always been to provide solutions across the entire value chain – a cradle-to-cradle approach, which showcases the concept of the circular economy and will support Europe's bid for technological independence. Side-by-side with Rio Tinto, we are looking forward to further developing our manufacturing capacities and working closely on the downstream development of a battery ecosystem with common decarbonization efforts at its core."