OXIS Energy and the Minas Gerais Development Company have signed a 15-year lease agreement with Mercedes Benz Brazil (MBB) to take possession of a plant located at the MBB manufacturing site in Juiz de Fora in southeast Brazil, to produce lithium-sulfur battery cells.
NORDIKA Pharmaceutical of Brazil will undertake the design, engineering and machinery layout. Upgrading the site will begin immediately, with the goal of having the fully digitalized plant operating by 2023.
Phase 1 will be to lease 20,000 square meters to enable the production of 5 million Li-S cells per year, with the option to extend and double the estate and cell capacity.
OXIS CEO Huw Hampson-Jones said, “Within five years, this factory will be a center of excellence producing world-class lithium-sulfur cells and battery systems. Exporting worldwide to a range of markets—aviation, defense, EVs, light commercial vehicles, and large marine vessels—our aim is to aid the Brazilian government to eliminate all ICE buses over a period of 25 years, equating to the production of over 4 billion cells. Brazil has the third largest bus market in the world, with 700,000 ICE buses currently in circulation.”
Source: OXIS Energy