This Week in Batteries: VW/Rivian, Sila, Tesla, and More.

• Volkswagen plans to invest up to $5B in Rivian , starting with an initial investment of $1B (Link)

• Sila Nanotechnologies, Inc. raised $375MM in a Series G round led by Sutter Hill Ventures (Link)

• Tesla ’s 4680 batteries at cost parity with cheapest suppliers’ by year-end (Link)

• China has spent at least $230B to build its EV industry, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Link)

• Hyundai unveils the INSTER sub-compact EV for Europe, starting at an MSRP below $27,000 (Link)

• Ford will develop its next generation of EVs at new Long Beach campus (Link)

• Kia will launch EV4 (sub-$35K) production in early 2025, aiming to build 70,000 models a year (Link)

• Zeekr's sales jump as Chinese dominate Russian EV market (Link)

• Rivian pre-announces 2Q deliveries of 13.0-13.3K vs 10.2K expected (Link)

• Ferrari to offer €7,000 subscription fee to replace EV batteries (Link)

• GM Defense is providing commercial EV battery technology to a study in testing EV batteries for military applications (Link)

• Nissan to start producing EVs for Dongfeng Motor by year-end (Link)

• Rivian is now leasing R1T and R1S EVs in 33 US states (Link)

• AIMA Technology Group unveils AIMA Q7 2-wheeler (Link)

• Mate Rimac launched a level 4 autonomous EV brand, claims 2026 timeline (Link)

• SK On signs MOU with ExxonMobil for 100 kpta of lithium offtake in the U.S. (Link)

• Enovix signs agreement with a mixed reality headset manufacturer (Link)

• LG has confirmed a portion of their $5.5B battery facility has been put on hold in Queen Creek (Link)

• ZincFive surpasses 1GW of delivered Nickel-zinc batteries (Link)

• Aricell’s Lithium Thionyl Chloride (Li-SOCl2) battery factory in South Korea sustained a massive fire causing 22 fatalities (Link)

• BASF, Eramet cancel $2.6B nickel project (Link)

• E3 Lithium announces the summary of key results from the Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) for its Clearwater Project in Alberta, initial production is slated for 32.5 ktpa of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (Link)

• Pacific Green buys 400MWh BESS developments, PGE Group tenders 900MWh project (Link)

• Trina Storage launches cell-to-AC BESS solution in US, signs first Germany project deal (Link)

• SRP inaugurates 340MW/1,360MWh BESS assets ahead of Arizona summer peak challenges (Link)

• Wildcat Discovery Technologies produces 1 ton of LFP, announced multiple offtake agreements (Link)

• Stratus Materials led by Jay Whitacre claims its LXMO-containing pouch cells surpassed 1,000 cycles while maintaining >80% of their initial capacity (Link)

• Novonix has been granted a patent for its proprietary all-dry, zero-waste cathode synthesis technology in Japan (Link)

• Toyota announced it’s opening Lexus charging stations to other EVs in Japan (Link)

• Tesla now distinguishes cars by battery suppliers for tax credit eligibility (Link)

• China hopes negotiations will lead to a "mutually acceptable solution" with the EU on preliminary tariffs on Chinese EVs scheduled to take effect on July 4 (Link)

• Stellantis could axe UK production unless government acts on EVs (Link)

• Peru attempting to lure BYD auto plant with industrial park incentive (Link)

• U.S. DOE announces over $63MM to support commercialization of transformative energy technologies, namely Ion Storage Systems and Antora Energy (Link)

• e-Zinc secures $31MM in Series A2 funding to advance commercialization initiatives (Link)

• Feon Energy secures $6.1MM Seed round for electrolyte innovation and achieves UN 38.3 certification for Li-Metal batteries (link)

• SQM Lithium Ventures invests $3MM in long-haul battery-electric truck developer Terraline (Link)

• Berkshire reduced its stake in BYD's issued H-shares to 5.99% on June 19 (Link)

• Ford trims EU leadership as it struggles to keep pace in the shift to EVs (Link)

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