December 2020:
Dear friends,
It’s almost been a year since I took the helm as the new CEO at Altris, and I thought now was a good time as any to reflect on the many successes of the company in the months gone by. For those who do not know me, my name is Adam Dahlquist and I took over the reins at Altris from Tim Nordh in February this year. Tim now continues his fantastic work as CTO of the company.
2020 was a big year for Altris. In what was a challenging time around the world, Altris still managed to produce its groundbreaking cathode material Fennac®. In 2020, Altris delivered its product to battery cell customers and partners who are developing Fennac® based battery in flow-batteries, solid state batteries and most commonly, a Fennac®-hard carbon based battery which has performance parity with the type of lithium iron phosphate battery that you would find in the latest Tesla Model S. 2020 was also the year when Altris became an international company, shipping Fennac® to six countries around the world.
This year was also the year when more of the world got to know Altris’ name, and with it came recognition for the research and development we are carrying out. In May, Altris was invited to join EBA250, an industrial development programme of the European Battery Alliance. This project-driven community brings together more than 400 industrial and innovation actors, from the mining industry to recycling, with the common objective to build a strong and competitive European battery industry. Then in September 2020, Altris was named in the prestigious ‘Ny Teknik’ list as 1 of 33 of the best and most innovative tech companies in Sweden. The annual Swedish list gives recognition to up and coming companies that have the greatest potential of becoming big in tomorrow’s tech world.
2020 was also a strong year for Altris’ financial development. The Swedish Energy Agency and the EU placed it’s trust in Altris in the form of a 10 MSEK (1m Euro) grant, mainly to scale Fennac® production, another 10 MSEK grant was given to close partners in Sweden and another 75 MSEK to European partners to develop Fennac® based battery cells. Furthermore, Altris’ share issue in July was oversubscribed, giving the financial backing to scale up production.
With those partners, as well as with customers in Europe, China and India, our common goal is to demonstrate that the next generation of batteries will be based on elements that are available in abundance. Altris’ business model focuses on cathode manufacturing that can act as a drop-in solution for lithium-ion battery manufacturing, allowing for quick upscaling to be possible and to capture the great potential that exists around this new battery chemistry. The financial backing in 2020 has enabled Altris to invest in staffing and equipment that will support the continued success of the company in the years to come.
Looking to 2021 and Altris plans to increase the production capacity of Fennac® tenfold. This will enable enough cathode material to create 5 MWh of battery cells to be produced. This goes in line with Altris’ plan to scale production tenfold every year between 2017 until 2025. Currently Altris provides Fennac® to 7 entities that have already decided to learn how to make Fennac® based batteries. The increase in production in 2021 will not only enable us to ship to even more companies, but there will also be enough material for demonstrations of big battery packs.
2020 has been a challenging and eventful year – so I wish you all the best for the festive period, and look forward to working with you in 2021.
Best regards,
Adam Dahlquist
Altris CEO
Cathode material Fennac®
