Major expansion of lithium-ion battery business
ENTEK has committed to a transformational expansion of its US lithium-ion battery separator footprint, at a scale and a pace, to meet the US Department of Energy’s imperative for a sustainable and resilient domestic US lithium battery supply chain to support the growing advanced electric vehicle market.
ENTEK is decisively expanding its production capacity. By 2025, the company will have completed its first major expansion of separator production for lithium batteries in the US with continued expansion through 2027 totaling ~1.4 billion square meters of annual production. When complete, this initial expansion will produce enough separator for the batteries to power ~1.4 million electric vehicles.
Sebastian Lange, Vice President Film Division at Brueckner Group USA, stated, “ENTEK’s proprietary process know-how together with Brueckner’s vast experience in plastic film production equipment form a uniquely strong combination. This takes US’ battery separator landscape to a whole new level. We are honored and thrilled being part of this long-term partnership.”
Rick Pekala, ENTEK’s CTO, added, “We are excited to have secured a contract with market leader Brueckner Group USA to provide the biaxial stretching equipment and related technology critical to the production of separators for lithium batteries. Brueckner’s equipment and technology, coupled with ENTEK’s extrusion and material handling equipment, investment in advanced polymer film products, and years of separator production experience, provides ENTEK with technology unique in North America to meet the strict technical requirements of EV battery producers – and their enormously growing demand. This partnership will ensure market ready, high quality battery separator film to support early and exponential growth in domestic lithium-ion battery manufacturing.”
About:
ENTEK has over 35 years of experience producing battery separators for batteries to support standard vehicles, advanced start-stop vehicles, trucks, emergency vehicles, emergency backup power, utility scale energy storage, and industrial batteries. ENTEK enjoys more than two decades of experience as the only US owned and US based producer of ‘wet-process’ separator for lithium batteries and continues to invest in the future of the domestic lithium battery industry. ENTEK also designs and manufactures extruders and material handling equipment for the production of battery separators.
In the area of plastics and fiber machinery, Brueckner Group USA sells, services and supports the Brückner Group GmbH family of products in the US, Canada and Mexico, operating as a separate entity. This family includes: Brückner Maschinenbau, Brückner Servtec, Kiefel Technologies, and PackSys Global.
Photo Caption: (Left) Sebastian Lange, Vice President Film Division, and Richard Pekala, Chief Technology Officer, sign the final contract. (Right) Sebastian Lange, Vice President Film Division, Richard Pekala, Chief Technology Officer, and Karl Zimmermann, Director Sales and Marketing, celebrate the contract being signed.
