Lyten, a lithium-sulfur batteries developer, announced the acquisition of a lithium-metal battery manufacturing facility and cell-making equipment in San Leandro, California, from Cuberg, a battery manufacturer owned by Northvolt.
Lyten will lease Cuberg’s 119,000-square-foot facility, which includes manufacturing, office, and warehouse space. It will also acquire battery cell development and manufacturing equipment and make additional equipment investments to expand the facility’s capacity.
The company also plans to convert the facility into a lithium-sulfur production facility and expand the capacity to enable up to 200 MWh of lithium-sulfur battery production to help the region meet the demands for energy storage, defense, and other industrial applications. Commercial production of the facility is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2025.
Batteries produced in this facility will be sourced by a U.S. materials supply chain, making the batteries U.S. National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA) and Inflation Reduction Action compliant.
“The acquisition of additional manufacturing capacity for Lithium-Sulfur is in direct response to fulfilling customer demand more quickly,” said Dan Cook, Lyten’s CEO and co-founder. “Our customer pipeline has grown nine-fold since the start of 2024 and now numbers in the hundreds of potential customers. We are now working to allocate capacity from both San Leandro and our previously announced Reno gigafactory.”
This expansion in manufacturing follows the October announcement of the company’s plans to build a 10 GWh lithium-sulfur gigafactory in Nevada. The first phase of that plant is expected to come online in 2027.
According to the company, lithium-sulfur battery cells feature high energy density and are up to 40% lighter than lithium-ion and 60% lighter than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.
According to Mercom’s 9M and Q3 2024 Funding and M&A report for Energy Storage and Smart Grid, A total of 18 Energy Storage M&A transactions were announced in 9M 2024, up from 11 M&A transactions in 9M 2023.
