Oxis Energy UK has signed a contract with Codemge Participacoes – a public company incorporated in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil – to establish the world’s first digital manufacturing plant for the mass production of Oxis’s lithium sulfur cells. Oxis Energy Brazil Holdings will manage the plant.
Codemge’s US$60m investment will go toward the building of the plant in Belo Horizonte and Phase 1 will have a capacity of two million cells per annum.
Collaborating with Siemens Digital Factory, among others, the aim is to design a plant that will produce around five million cells by the mid 2020s. Oxis expects to complete Phase 1 in 2022.
The Oxis Li-S cells will be developed, designed and produced to meet the demands of three sectors – aviation, defense and electric vehicles such as buses, trucks and light commercial vehicles, reflecting the clients currently in partnership with Oxis.
“The decision made by Codemge to invest alongside Oxis to develop and build the first ever lithium sulfur cell technology manufacturing plant is of great significance to the widespread adoption of pure electric vehicles for worldwide consumption,” said Huw Hampson-Jones, CEO Oxis Energy.
“It also displays the foresight of the State Government of Minas Gerais in moving away from its dependency on North American or Asian cell manufacturing capabilities.
“Brazil will emerge as being a major future supplier of rechargeable lithium batteries, while at the same time exploiting its natural mineral reserves of lithium in the state of Minas Gerais.”
“This collaboration with Oxis Energy illustrates the diversification of the Minas Gerais industrial structure. Its entry into the high technology sector will increase its scientific and business relationships with the UK,” added Marco Antonio Castello Branco, CEO of Codemge.
“The lithium sulfur cell plant represents a strategic downstream integration of Codemge’s engagement in lithium mining and chemicals production.”
