32

By Paul Beck

NOVONIX

IS PAVING THE ROAD

EVS ARE DRIVING BATTERY

TECHNOLOGY, AND

atteries are ubiquitous in our modern lives.

Take a look around you and count how many

items need be plugged in and recharged. If

you’re at your desk, the answer might be four

or five. If you’re out for a run, perhaps two or three. If

you’re in a garage, there may only be one, but it’s a big

one: your electric vehicle.

In fact, despite the ubiquity of battery technology, it’s

EVs that are driving the industry forward because of

the sizeable batteries required. When battery makers

consider this growth, along with the capacity require-

ments of EVs compared to consumer devices like

laptops, they see a clear direction in which to turn their

efforts.

“The primary growth in batteries is being driven by

EVs, there’s no question about that,” said Phillip St Bak-

er, Managing Director of battery company Novonix.

Novonix was founded in Canada in 2013 to bring

high-performance battery testing equipment out of the

lab and into the hands of battery manufacturers. The

company’s founders, Chris Burns and David Stevens,

were part of a battery research group at the Dalhousie

University in Halifax that was led by the renowned bat-

B

Battery testing

start-up Novonix

has spun off

PUREgraphite

to manufacture

anode material

in the US

THE TECH

Image courtesy of Novonix