CBMM Niobium-Based Battery Test On Volkswagen Electric Trucks

JAKARTA - Brazilian mining company CBMM has started testing the niobium-based battery on Volkswagen electric trucks. This battery is claimed to be recharging much faster than other batteries on the market, the company announced on Wednesday, June 19.

CBMM, backed by Brazil's billionaire family Moreira Salles and also runs Bank Itau Unibanco, hopes the project can help them achieve revenue targets from its battery units nearly ninefold to US$100 million (Rp16.4 trillion) by 2026.

The company sells niobium products to steel manufacturers as its main business, but CBM has been working on diversifying its sources of revenue. On Wednesday, at an event at their factory in Araxa, CBMM launched a prototype of a new ion battery developed with Toshiba and made with lithium and niobium.

Rodrigo Amad, executive commercial manager in the CBMM battery division, told Reuters that the technology used in batteries allows full charging within ten minutes when used on electric buses. In comparison, conventional batteries take three to eight hours to charge.

For now, the product will be tested on an electric bus from Volkswagen Caminhoes e Onibus, a Brazilian unit of Volkswagen's truck division, Traton. The truck that will receive this test has a range of 60 kilometers (37.3 miles) and will carry four batteries.

CBMM stated that it plans to sell these products in the market as soon as next year. Executives of the companies involved in the project say that these batteries can also have up to three times longer lifespans than conventional batteries, as the technology operates at lower temperatures.

In addition, sales of new electric cars in the European Union experienced a sharp decline in May, highlighting the importance of new innovations such as niobium-based batteries to attract market interest.