In Teverola, we started-up the first plant in Italy and Southern Europe for the production of lithium-ion cells, modules and battery packs. The plant has an initial installed capacity of 0.35 GWh/year and the goal is to develop a pilot line for the production of cathode material (LFP).

The main applications include:

• Motive Power: applications in the material handling segment (e.g. electric forklifts, AGVs, telehandlers, cranes, etc.), agriculture, platforms, ground support equipment, pallet trucks, railways and light traction
• Storage: lithium storage solutions (Battery Energy Storage Systems) serving renewable energy plants, stabilising electricity grids, serving the Mini-Grid and Off-Grid, domestic, telecom, data centre, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)
• Marine: electric boat applications, e.g. Cruise & Ferry, Offshore, Subsea, Fishing and Merchant vessels
• Electric mobility: public transport (electric buses, trams, trolleybuses), commercial vehicles and integrated storage solutions for electric vehicle charging stations (so-called fast recharge)
• Military: land and marine

Teverola 1 is the present and first operational plant in Italy and Southern Europe in the production of lithium cells, modules and batteries.

Teverola 2 is the next step with a production capacity of >8GWh/year, including a pilot line for end-of-life battery recycling and active material recovery.

The Teverola area will be the first technology cluster for lithium battery production in Italy and Southern Europe.

The cluster is part of the IPCEI programme.The IPCEI project is part of the policies aimed at fostering the energy and ecological transition, promoting electric mobility and reducing emissions as a strategic goal for Europe. For more information visit https://www.ipcei-batteries.eu. Our project involves the development of environment-friendly and beyond-the-state-of-the-art lithium-ion cells and batteries to accelerate the European energy transition.

FIB is strongly supporting the development of a production process using so-called 'water-based' preparations, without the use of organic solvents.

This process reduces atmospheric emissions into the environment due to both the lower energy consumption of the plant resulting from the absence of a chemical solvent recovery system (the aqueous solution is recycled and reintroduced into the production cycle) and the lower temperature present in some processes. In addition, the use of water instead of solvents allows greater security and flexibility in the future recycling process of the battery, as there is no need to treat the solvent at the end of its life.

In addition to producing cells and modules with fully automated processes, FIB also manufactures complete battery packs.

With its vertical production, FIB also includes in the process the design, customisation and realisation of the Battery Management System (BMS), for battery management and safety and ensuring a high versatility of the final product. Our approach to the market is to integrate complete systems, starting with the production of the cell up to the realisation of the battery pack.

FIB, through the development of the Teverola 2 project, will also set up a pilot line for the recovery of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, with the aim of recovering the metals contained in the active material, in full compliance with the cardinal principles of the Circular Economy and Green Economy, and taking full advantage of the know-how on waste recovery processes.

Repeating what we have already done for lead-acid batteries, we will produce all the components of lithium accumulators, controlling the entire production chain: anode and cathode assembly cell formation, module assembly and lithium accumulators, also producing in-house the electronics for the BMS (Battery Management System), which makes possible the management and control of the accumulator and communication with any connected equipment.

In 2017, the company chose to focus on LFP (lithium-iron-phosphate) chemistry, instead of NMC (nickel-cobalt-manganese) or NMC-high nickel (with reduced cobalt levels) chemistry.

A strategic choice that, in our opinion, combines safety with high performance and sustainability of the materials used.