Townsville “Gigafactory” partner also working on high performance electric racing car

One of the companies behind the planned $2 billion lithium-ion giga factory battery plant in Townsville is working with the world-famous Williams Formula 1 team on a high performance electric racing car, the 320km/h Dendrobium D1.

Magnis Resources has just signed a four party joint development agreement with Dendrobium Automotive Limited, Dendrobium Advanced Technologies Limited and Charge CCCV LLC (C4V).

The agreement is to produce the next generation of high performance batteries, including semisolid state batteries.

An ASX announcement from Magnis said under the agreement a working group was started to develop and produce the batteries using technology developed by Magnis and C4V.

The technology is being developed for Dendrobium Advanced Technologies.

This company is an electric vehicle and plug-in vehicle hybrid development and production company with an “all-electrical hypercar”.

The ASX statement said the car was engineered to an advanced concept stage by Williams Advanced Engineering, which is part of the famous Williams F1 Group, to determine its “advanced technologies through dynamic performance”.

Magnis chairman Frank Poullas said the announcement was exciting for Magnis and was testament to its technology.

“To work with groups like Dendrobium, who have been developing their hypercar with Williams Advanced Engineering and who are at the cutting edge of EV performance engineering, is something that is thrilling for Magnis, its partners and shareholders alike,” he said.

Magnis is a member of the consortium set to build a lithium-ion battery giga factory near Townsville to cater for the world’s booming electric vehicle market. Other world-class companies involved are Germany’s Siemens, Boston Energy and Innovation, a company led by former Macquarie Bank senior executive Bill Moss, alongside Eastman Kodak, and Australian graphite producer Magnis, as well as US battery outfit C4V and C&D Assembly

The consortium has identified a number of potential local council and state development sites for the Townsville plant, which it says will produce enough storage for one million home battery units, 300 microgrids, or 250,000 electric vehicles each with 400km of range.