Battery

Supplier Agratas sacks its main building contractor on the government-backed project amid a budget mismatchJaguar Land Rover faces the risk of delays to the first deliveries of electric car batteries from a £5.2bn government-backed factory in Somerset after construction problems.The British carmaker is planning to rely on the Agratas factory in Bridgwater, Somerset, to supply the batteries for its new electric models. Agratas and JLR are owned by the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata. Continue reading...

Actor sentenced to probation for incident in which he attacked three men and yelled homophobic slurs, according to witnessesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Shia LaBeouf on Wednesday pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery charges filed against the actor after his arrest over allegations that he struck three men at a New Orleans bar in February.After his plea in the city’s criminal district courthouse, the Transformers film franchise star received a sentence of two years’ probation, rehabilitation for alcohol abuse, sensitivity training and anger management classes. Continue reading...

Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policiesThe timing was rich with symbolism. As intense heatwaves pummelled Europe and Asia, and oil markets around the world leapt and sputtered, the two big chimneys of one of Australia’s largest power stations were being demolished. Meanwhile, the Australian energy minister was holding a media conference to hail a fall of up to 10% in the benchmark electricity price in parts of the country.Quietly, and with surprisingly little fanfare from the rest of the world, Australia is pioneering a revolution in home renewables and battery use, proving what is possible with the right policies. The country was already one of the global leaders in domestic solar power, with panels on one in three homes. It also remains, however, a major contributor to the climate crisis through its vast fossil fuel exports.. But it is batteries that are giving Australia a new burst of speed. Continue reading...

• MIT researchers reported a new lithium extraction approach that could make it cheaper and more energy-efficient to recover battery-grade lithium from hard rock deposits. • The method uses a liquid solution inspired by a bathroom renovation product, works at room temperature, can be reused, and may cut costs by about half compared with current techniques. • The advance matters because lithium supply is a key bottleneck for batteries and the energy transition, and the team says the leftover waste could be repurposed into useful materials.

Investigation finds number of dairy farms where cows cannot go outside has more than doubled since 2015There has been a huge rise in factory-style dairy farming of “battery cows” in the UK as farmers struggle with increasing costs and face selling milk at a loss.The number of intensive dairy farms that permanently confine some of their cattle indoors has more than doubled in the past 10 years, an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) has found. Data suggests there are now at least 180 dairy farms where cows have no access to the outdoors, up from about 70 in 2015. Continue reading...

Prosecutors opt not to pursue hate-crime charges over February incident despite anti-gay slurs captured on videoNew Orleans state prosecutors on Thursday filed formal misdemeanor battery charges against Shia LaBeouf, four months after police officers there arrested him on allegations that he struck three men at a bar.That move from the office of local district attorney Jason Williams means prosecutors opted to not pursue hate-crime charges against LaBeouf, the star of the Transformers film franchise, despite claims evidently supported by video that LaBeouf aimed anti-gay slurs at the alleged victims. Continue reading...

FoI responses collected by insurer show brigades tackled 1,760 battery-linked fires in 2025, up 147% in three yearsFire brigades across the UK are tackling lithium-ion battery fires at a rate of one every five hours, figures show, as fire chiefs warn that public awareness and government regulation have not kept pace with the ubiquity of this new hazard.Lithium-ion batteries power most rechargeable devices including mobile phones, electric toothbrushes, toys and vapes, as well as ebikes, e-scooters and electric vehicles. Continue reading...