On July 6, battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) announced a strategic investment and partnership with New Zealand–founded CarbonScape Ltd. to advance the commercial scale-up and deployment of sustainable bio-based graphite materials. The collaboration pairs CarbonScape’s proprietary biographite technology—which converts forestry by-products into battery-grade graphite suitable for lithium-ion anodes—with CATL’s expertise in industrialization, large-scale manufacturing, and process optimization.
Under the terms of the agreement, CATL will take a board seat and act as a key industrialization partner as CarbonScape prepares for demonstration- and gigafactory-scale production. The partnership aims to validate and refine CarbonScape’s graphite production process at CATL facilities, laying the groundwork for full-scale commercial plants in the U.S. and Europe. Automakers and policymakers have highlighted the need for low-carbon, locally sourced, cost-competitive anode materials to meet growing electric vehicle and energy storage demand.
CarbonScape CEO Ivan Williams noted that the collaboration extends beyond financial support: it offers access to CATL’s global market reach, world-class manufacturing facilities, and proven scale-up methodologies. He said the partnership “validates the strategic significance of biographite in the future of electrification” and set the goal of bringing commercial production online by the end of the decade.
CATL Executive President Oscar Luo emphasized the importance of sustainable innovation across the battery value chain. He described CarbonScape’s renewable-resource approach to graphite production as “a true breakthrough in material science” that aligns with efforts to achieve a zero-carbon future.
Graphite accounts for up to 50 percent of the volume in a lithium-ion battery and is expected to see a six-fold increase in demand by 2040. Currently, more than 75 percent of battery-grade graphite relies on oil-based feedstocks. CarbonScape’s biographite process addresses this challenge by offering a carbon-negative alternative that can support regional supply chains and help manufacturers meet stricter sustainability requirements.
Source: CarbonScape
