Enerpoly opens milestone zinc-ion battery megafactory in Sweden

Swedish zinc-ion battery cell technology specialist Enerpoly has opened a large-scale factory in northern Sweden. The 6,500m2 facility is a significant development in Enerpoly’s ambitions to make Europe a manufacturing powerhouse for zinc-ion cell technologies.

The plant will boost Enerpoly’s ongoing co-development of market-ready battery products with clients, as well as enable the company to carry out pilots targeting commercial, industrial, and utility applications. It has state-of-the-art dry electrode manufacturing equipment, an end-to-end battery production line, and process development capabilities.

Commissioning at the facility has already begun and production is expected to start in 2025. It is targeting a final capacity throughput of 100 MWh annually by 2026.

Enerpoly first launched work on the EPIC site after it secured funding from backers including the Swedish Energy Agency in 2023. Only one year prior, it assembled its first commercial prototype zinc-ion battery cell.

The company has dubbed its new building the Enerpoly Production Innovation Center (EPIC) to reflect its scaling strategy.

“With EPIC, our focus is firmly on driving sustainable innovation and meeting the growing demand for renewable energy storage. By scaling up our production, we can deliver first-of-all-kind deployments in partnership with utilities and battery system integrators across Europe and globally,” said Enerpoly CEO, Eloisa de Castro.

“Our new manufacturing facility marks a pivotal moment in our journey toward revolutionizing the energy industry.” It will house all the company’s operations going forward.

Since 2018, Enerpoly has been using its own patented technology to develop and produce zinc-ion-based battery cells and packs. The company was co-founded by two scientists with links to the University of Stockholm.  

Its technology uses zinc metal for the anode, manganese dioxide for the cathode and a water-based electrolyte. The products can be deployed across multiple applications, from residential to utility-scale.

Enerpoly has always been vocal about its aim to revolutionize energy storage using zinc-ion battery technology. In a previous interview with pv magazine, de Castro outlined the benefits of zinc-ion, including its lower cost and relative ease of access for European miners. She said that there is more than 200 times more mining capacity for zinc than there is for lithium in Europe. She also claimed that Enerpoly has solved some of the issues associated with zinc-ion materials in batteries such as rechargeability.