On August 5th, The African Development Bank Group has approved a €100 million loan to Gotion Power Morocco to finance an integrated cathode-to-cell lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery gigafactory in the Rabat-Salé Kénitra Free Trade Zone. AfDB plans to mobilize up to an additional €141 million from financial partners, acting as Mandated Lead Arranger under the New African Financial Architecture for Development (NAFAD). The project is led by Gotion High-Tech, a Hefei-headquartered, Shenzhen-listed battery manufacturer, and will mark the first integrated battery manufacturing plant in Africa and the MENA region. Phase 1 targets 10 GWh of battery cell and pack production for EVs, with capacity plans to scale up to 100 GWh. The facility is expected to create over 600 direct jobs and reach a 70% local industrial integration rate. AfDB's Kevin Kariuki called battery storage the missing link in Africa's clean energy transition, noting the renewable-powered facility will support large-scale solar and wind integration while building green industrial jobs. AfDB's Morocco country manager Achraf Tarsim said the gigafactory will strengthen Morocco's industrial competitiveness and support local beneficiation of critical minerals used in the energy transition. SMM View: The project signals growing downstream investment in Africa's battery value chain, moving beyond raw mineral extraction toward integrated cathode-to-cell manufacturing. As Morocco positions itself as a mobility and green-tech hub, this development adds to a broader continental trend of localizing value-add stages of the lithium supply chain a shift that could reshape where and how African critical minerals are processed in the years ahead

Samsung SDI said its US prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cell production line for energy storage systems (ESS) has entered mass production quality validation and is scheduled to begin production in October 2026, with customer deliveries starting before year-end. The company said ESS orders have already secured a substantial portion of its production capacity through 2029 and demand is expected to exceed capacity from 2028, prompting a review of additional capacity expansion. Samsung SDI has also established a Non-FEOC-compliant LFP supply chain to support the US ESS market.

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) has officially approved a €100 million (approximately $114 million) loan to Gotion Power Morocco, a subsidiary of Gotion High‑Tech, for the construction of the first lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery gigafactory in Africa and the MENA region. As the lead arranger under the “New Architecture for Financing Africa's Development” (NAFAD) initiative, the AfDB also plans to raise up to an additional €141 million from partner financial institutions to ensure sufficient project funding. The project is located in Phase III of the Kenitra Atlantic Free Zone, in the Rabat‑Salé‑Kenitra region of Morocco, and covers the full industrial chain from cathode material production, cell manufacturing, to battery pack assembly. Phase I is planned with an annual capacity of 10 GWh for EV battery cells and packs; with subsequent phased expansions, the total capacity is expected to gradually reach 100 GWh in the long term. Phase I is projected to directly create more than 600 high‑skilled jobs and raise Morocco's local industrial integration rate to 70%, significantly boosting the local supplier ecosystem and technical workforce development. AfDB Vice President Kevin Kariuki noted that battery energy storage is the “missing piece” in Africa's clean energy transition. The plant will primarily operate on renewable energy (wind and solar power), which will not only support large‑scale grid integration of new energy but also provide low‑carbon and reliable energy storage solutions. Leveraging Morocco's abundant phosphate resources and China's advanced battery refining and manufacturing technologies, the project will accelerate the local high‑value‑added conversion of critical minerals, shifting away from the traditional export of raw materials. It will help Morocco establish itself as a green mobility industrial hub serving both Europe and the entire African continent. This investment is highly aligned with the AfDB's four strategic pillars: resilient infrastructure development, accelerated industrialization, regional integration, and value addition to natural resources. It marks a milestone in the improvement of Africa's new energy industrial chain.

In 2026, as restored lithium iron phosphate (LFP) capacity expands from 150,000–160,000 tons to 170,000–180,000 tons, traditional hydrometallurgical LFP recycling companies are facing a wave of profit and competitive landscape reshaping driven by rivalry between different technological routes.

On July 28, the Yantai Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau formally approved the Environmental Impact Assessment for Wanhua Chemical (Penglai) Co., Ltd.'s 240,000-tonne-per-year iron phosphate project. The project, located on reserved land in Phase II of the Wanhua Penglai Industrial Park, involves a total investment of RMB 1.5 billion. It will build a 240,000 t/y iron phosphate production unit along with supporting auxiliary facilities and environmental protection systems. The batching section operates on an intermittent basis, with 2,000 batches per year (one batch every four hours), each producing 120 tonnes of iron phosphate. The project will help alleviate raw material supply pressures driven by Wanhua’s rapidly expanding lithium iron phosphate (LFP) capacity in Shandong—where the company is set to add 820,000 tonnes of LFP capacity in 2026 alone, making Yantai a key LFP production hub.

The Weifang Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau has recently published the public notice of the Environmental Impact Assessment acceptance for the "50,000 t/a Lithium Battery Material Recycling Project" of Weifang Chuanghai New Materials Co., Ltd. The project is located in the Changyi Longchi Chemical Industry Park, Weifang, Shandong, within the existing site of Haineng Chemical. It covers an area of 50 mu (approx. 3.3 hectares), and will be built after demolishing the existing hardware warehouse. New facilities including a production workshop, a comprehensive warehouse, a control room, and an electrical distribution room, totaling 9,000 square metres, will be constructed. The process involves acid leaching, filtration and impurity removal, iron phosphate synthesis, lithium precipitation and purification, and evaporation crystallisation of battery black mass, enabling comprehensive resource utilisation of spent lithium iron phosphate battery black mass. Upon completion, the project is expected to produce 8,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate, 10,000 tonnes of anhydrous iron phosphate, and 32,000 tonnes of dihydrate iron phosphate annually. The total investment is estimated at RMB 1.011 billion, with environmental protection investment of RMB 1 million, accounting for 0.1% of the total. The construction period is 6 months.

Recently, the National Environmental Information Disclosure Platform for Construction Projects released the first public notice regarding the environmental impact assessment of Jiangsu Chenfeng Renewable Resources Co., Ltd.'s annual 30,000-ton lithium battery recycling and reuse project, soliciting public comments and suggestions. The project is a new build with a total investment of 100 million yuan. Upon completion, it is expected to produce annually: 2,970 tons of anode graphite materials; 2,565 tons of copper; 1,569 tons of aluminum; 1,710 tons of steel; and 6,840 tons of crude black powder and lithium iron phosphate black powder, the latter processed through oxygen-atmosphere lithium extraction conversion, blending, drying granulation, solid-phase calcination, and other processes.

Ark Energy has secured a final investment decision for its AUD 1.3 billion Richmond Valley Solar Farm and BESS in New South Wales, Australia. The priority phase includes a 200MW AC solar farm and a 275MW/2,200MWh lithium iron phosphate battery storage system. The project has secured planning, environmental and grid connection approvals, as well as a Long-Term Energy Service Agreement under the New South Wales Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap. Financial close is targeted for September 2026, construction is expected to begin in October 2026, and commercial operation is planned for January 2029.

L&F will supply lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials to U.S. battery startup Coreshell Technologies for 8 years. Coreshell announced on July 10 local time that it has signed a long-term LFP cathode supply contract with L&F.

In the first half of 2026, the new energy commercial vehicle (NECV) sector truly took off. According to CAAM data, China's NECV sales reached 548,000 units in H1 2026, up 36% YoY . Domestic sales accounted for 495,000 units, up 40%, while exports reached 53,000 units, up 8% . The strength in domestic sales can be attributed to two main factors: supportive policies and declining costs . On the policy front, the "two new" initiatives continued to support the scrappage of commercial vehicles with China IV emission standards or below, replacing them with low-emission models, with priority given to electric vehicles. Subsidies for new NECV purchases can reach up to RMB 140,000 per vehicle, and in some regions, this can be stacked to as high as RMB 220,000 per vehicle, substantially shortening the payback period for the price gap between electric and diesel vehicles. On the cost side, with oil prices remaining high this year, the cost advantage of electricity over diesel has become evident . Electric commercial vehicles can save approximately RMB 0.8 per kilometer in energy costs, translating into RMB 80,000 in annual savings for a vehicle travelling 100,000 km per year. In addition, declining battery prices, along with the growing maturity of battery swapping and leasing models, have significantly narrowed the initial purchase price gap between NECVs and their internal combustion engine counterparts. With both policy support and cost improvements in place, the penetration rate of NECVs has climbed steadily. In May, the penetration rate of NECVs in domestic sales reached 40%, up 15 percentage points from the same period last year. Among these, heavy-duty trucks stood out as the brightest spot, with cumulative domestic sales reaching 126,200 units in H1 2026, up 85% year-on-year . The "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Large-Scale Application of New Energy Heavy-Duty Trucks," jointly issued by the Ministry of Transport and other departments, sets clear targets: a penetration rate of 40% and a total stock of 1.6 million units by 2030, providing a clear growth trajectory for the segment. NECV exports have also progressed steadily. In May, the export penetration rate of NECVs exceeded 10% for the first time . Although its share in total commercial vehicle exports remains relatively small, the strategic significance of exports is evident amid increasingly fierce domestic competition. China is deepening its presence in traditional markets such as Asia-Pacific, South America, and Africa, while also breaking into higher-standard markets like Turkey, Australia, and Germany. Chinese commercial vehicles are gradually transitioning from a cost-effective positioning to one defined by high technological sophistication. With domestic NEV sales contracting by 13% year-on-year in H1 2026, and pressure on domestic sales likely to persist, the NECV sector still represents a blue ocean. SMM projects that the ratio of passenger to commercial vehicles in China's NEV market will be approximately 91:9 in 2026, shifting to 87:13 by 2030 . While passenger vehicles will remain the dominant segment, commercial vehicles have higher battery capacities per vehicle, which will meaningfully support long-term demand for upstream battery materials, particularly lithium iron phosphate. In terms of battery capacity, commercial vehicles are also seeing significant gains. In May, the average battery capacity of new energy buses and trucks both exceeded 210 kWh, compared with around 180 kWh in the same period last year. The rise in the share of heavy-duty trucks has been a key factor—the current average battery capacity for new energy heavy-duty trucks has already reached 460 kWh . Looking ahead, as heavy-duty truck penetration continues to increase, the average battery capacity per new energy truck is expected to exceed 300 kWh by 2030. From a global perspective, SMM estimates that in 2026, ICE vehicles will still account for 77.5% of the commercial vehicle market, while NEVs will take a 22.5% share, within which BEVs and PHEVs will account for 17.4% and 5.1%, respectively . BEVs have become the mainstream in NECVs for simple reasons: commercial vehicle operators prioritize per-kilometer costs, and pure electric operation is far cheaper than diesel. Heavy-duty trucks and buses tend to operate on fixed routes, making them ideal for battery swapping solutions, while policy support also favors BEVs. In the long run, BEVs are set to maintain their dominant position in the NECV sector .