FREYR strengthens R&D leadership for clean battery cell production in Norway
FREYR has appointed Motoaki Nishijima as Head of Research and Development to support clean battery cell production in Mo i Rana, Norway. Nishjima is a specialist in next generation batteries and has over 30 years of R&D experience. He will lead FREY’s development of clean, low-cost and high energy-density battery cells made with renewable hydro and wind power.
“FREYR has an ambition of accelerating decarbonization of energy and transport systems and long-term value creation by developing a market-leading clean, low-cost, high density battery solutions based on renewable energy. People, technology and strong R&D capabilities are key elements of delivering on that ambition. We are therefore very pleased to welcome an industry capacity such as Motoaki Nishijima to FREYR. Together with our CTO Ryuta Kawaguchi, he completes our technology leadership team who will help drive our future growth”, says Tom Jensen, the CEO of FREYR.
Prior to joining FREYR, Nishjima worked as a manager for Next Generation Battery at the Japanese research institute KRI Co Ltd. and at Sharp Corporation. He will soon join the FREYR team in Norway, where he will formally establish the company’s R&D organization in close cooperation with the battery cell research department at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).
“FREYR has a very attractive business model and I am very excited to take part in establishing and scaling a new large industry in Norway,” says Motoaki Nishijima, the newly appointed Head of R&D at FREYR.
“In our generation, growth has been a function of resource waste and continuous CO2 emissions. Going forward, we need to develop more environmentally friendly technologies. A competitive and sustainable battery cell production in Norway based on renewable, low-cost energy from hydro- and potentially wind power, will be a substantial contribution on the path to zero emissions. My task at FREYR is to leverage extensive battery cell R&D experience to accelerate the development of these new environmentally friendly battery technologies”, continues Motoaki Nishijima
Recently, FREYR has announced MoUs for industrial scale offtake for battery cells in marine and stationary segments with Siemens, Maersk, Scatec and ITOCHU. FREYR has also announced MoUs for supply of battery materials with Elkem Carbon and battery cell manufacturing equipment with ITOCHU and Sumisho Metalex. In November, FREYR announced its framework agreement with 24M Technologies for the in-licensing of a fundamentally improved lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing process and platform where ITOCHU is a key investor.
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About FREYR AS
FREYR is a Norwegian company developing, financing, constructing and operating environmentally friendly lithium-ion based battery cell facilities and an adjacent wind-park in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway. The company is developing an initial pilot plant, a scalable and modularized 2-25 GWh fast-track facility and a 32 GWh giga-factory using best available technology and globally leading partners powered by low-cost, renewable hydro while also developing a 600 MW wind park. FREYR will supply safe, high energy density and cost competitive green battery cells to the rapidly growing markets for electric vehicles, energy storage, marine and aviation applications in Europe and globally. FREYR is committed to supporting cluster-based R&D initiatives and the development of an international ecosystem of scientific, commercial, and financial stakeholders to support the necessary expansion of the battery value chain in our region. For more information, go to www.freyrbattery.com.
Contact details
Tom Einar Jensen,CEO tom.jensen@freyrbattery.com
Steffen Føreid, CFO steffen.foreid@freyrbattery.com
Hilde Rønningsen, Director of Communications hilde.ronningsen@freyrbattery.com