February Round Up 2026

Mar 04, 2026

Iron-air takes centre stage and deals are completed. A concise summary of the shortest month of the year.

🔧 Iron-air taking the world by a rusty storm

Google has paid Form Energy $1 billion for the 100-hour system that will make up part of the mix powering its new data centre in Minnesota. Form Energy has been around for several years, with rounds raising up to $1.4 billion to date. The idea for Google is to be able to power its data centres renewably without raising local power bills, and support the push to expand AI and cloud infrastructure ‘responsibly.’

Ion-air batteries work by reversibly rusting - oyxygen pumped into the cells rusts iron, releasing electrons: demonstrated by the below diagram:

Lithium ion batteries are usually 4-12 hour systems, but iron air can discharge for multiple days due to its reversible rusting process. For this reason, they are often used in complement to wind energy, where there are days in a row of maximum production needed to be stored. Lithium ion in contrast is best paired with solar generation.

Since the Form Energy system is rated at 300 MW with a 100-hour duraction, this totals 30 GWh, and with an investment of $1 billion, making the capital cost $33.33 per kWh, significantly lower than utility scale LFP cell projects which price at $80 - $140 per kWh. There is a smaller company, Ore Energy, doing this in Europe, with some small batteries already hooked up to Dutch grid.

🔑 New owners

Northvolt files for bankruptcy in major blow to European EV sector — Image source.

The purchase deal for Northvolt’s assets by Lyten is now complete, and battery production will be restarting in Skellefteå, Sweden. The site will also include a data centre as a tenant in an area previoulsy marked for gigafactory expansion. There are union concerns raised over the American style contracts in Sweden, which may present some difficulties for Lyten, but we wish them and the people of Skellefteå the best in getting this back off the ground.

🎂 Something we haven’t mentioned?

Everyone is talking about one particular battery, but we’re saving our take for when there’s more data than marketing exercises.

🍬 Tidbits

📦 EVE Energy has announced that the world’s first 100 MWh-class energy storage facility is now operating, with 628 Ah cells. It features 80 Mr Giant energy systems.

🚙 Lucid Motors has laid off 12% of its workforce reportedly to “improve operational effectiveness and optimize our resources as we continue on our path toward profitability”.

🇷🇸 ElevenEs has closed a Series B investment round backed by Caterpillar VC, which will fund a 1GWh factory in Serbia that makes LFP blade cells. The value was not announced by the intention is that the funds will go to infrastructure and equipment.

🏔️ NREL, now National Lab of the Rockies, has laid off 134 employees to ‘adjust to existing and projected funding levels and alignment with DOE priorities.’

💧 Aqua Metals, Nevada-based recycler & refiner, has entered into a term sheet to acquire Lion Energy, uniting battery energy systems business with recycling and metals technology. Aqua Metals will get around $25 million in equity.

🎧 What else we’re reading and listening to

Upcoming webinar series on polymer electrolytes:
Podcast on Battery Energy Storage Systems with Noah Ryder
A policy report from the Nordic Africa Institute on mineral value chains in the Copperbelt in DR Congo and Zambia.
Opinion piece from Shmuel de Leon on the state of European and Northern American battery manufacturing. Not the cheeriest read!
Ethiopia’s EV Boom: read by Bloomberg.
Why Are Chinese EVs So Cheap? report by Rhodium Group.