Foreign media report (Source: Energy-Storage.news, August 19): Switzerland's Phenogy AG and Germany's HD Advanced Technologies (HDAT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, have announced a strategic partnership to jointly develop and manufacture sodium-ion battery cells in Europe. According to the partners' joint statement, HDAT and Phenogy plan to develop sodium-ion battery cells via a joint venture company that will combine their core competencies: Phenogy will contribute its sodium-ion cell chemistry and cell design while Heidelberg provides its specialized printing process.
The JV will cover the full spectrum from R&D to industrial-scale production of sodium-ion battery cells, enabling the development of innovative cell formats with specific design and performance requirements. Under the manufacturing agreement, HDAT will implement the industrial production of cabinets, containers and other system products for Phenogy across the entire value chain based on a long-term framework supply agreement, initially covering Germany and Europe with plans to extend to the US in the future, with production based on local supply chains and HDAT's manufacturing and industrialization expertise.
From a background perspective, Phenogy entered the European energy storage market in September 2025 by deploying a megawatt-hour-scale sodium-ion energy storage system at a commercial site in northern Germany. This collaboration is another case of European companies integrating cell chemistry with precision manufacturing capabilities: Heidelberger Druckmaschinen, with over a century of precision manufacturing and scale-process experience, applying its printing process to battery manufacturing represents European exploration of cross-industry process reuse in sodium battery manufacturing; Phenogy, as a sodium battery startup, aims to close its industrial manufacturing capability gap through the partnership with Heidelberg. The partners state that both agreements represent fundamental steps toward establishing a 'European technology and industrial platform for sodium-ion battery technology', covering the complete chain from cell chemistry, cell and system design, industrial manufacturing to service and maintenance.
This announcement discloses cooperation intentions and plans; the JV's specific establishment time, investment amount, capacity scale, product specifications and mass-production timeline are all undisclosed, making this a plan rather than built capacity.