Quebec City-based UgoWork has signed a pan-Canadian agreement with Liftow Limited to provide its line of lithium-ion batteries for electric forklifts.

Liftow is Toyota's Canadian partner for forklift and material handling equipment.

“We are thrilled that Liftow, as a reputable Canadian leader, recognizes the tremendous value UgoWork can bring to material handling teams — in terms of productivity, capacity and cost-savings,” Philippe Beauchamp, UgoWork’s president and CEO, said in a statement.

“Thanks to this agreement, companies throughout Canada can speed up their material handling throughout without breaking the bank. We look forward to working alongside the Liftow teams as they continue to expand their service offering with innovative new technologies and operational approaches that are adapted to today’s customer challenges.”

The company produces three batteries for different classes of forklift: 24-volt for Class 2 and 3, 36-volt for Class 1 and 2 as well as a 48-volt model for Class 1.

In December 2022, UgoWork raised $22.8 million in an all-equity Series B financing led by Fonds de solidarité FTQ. Export Development Canada and existing investors Desjardins Capital and Investissement Québec also participated.

NEO, NanoRial advance collaboration

Vancouver-based NEO Battery Materials Ltd. has advanced its collaboration with Waterloo, Ont.'s NanoRial Technologies Ltd., which is focused on developing carbon nanotube-coated silicon anodes for electric vehicle (EV) lithium-ion batteries.

Chitral Angammana, CEO and co-founder of NanoRial, has been appointed to NEO’s scientific advisory board. NEO will also commercialize NanoRial’s NBMSiDE-CNT (carbon nanotubes) in addition to its polymer-nanocoated products.

The collaboration was first announced earlier this year. Formally known as Project 2N-CSi, a release said it is the first EV battery materials collaborative product being developed by two Canadian-based companies.

NEO Battery (NBM-X) and NanoRial will continue to advance the product, progressing toward engaging global battery manufacturers and EV automakers for commercial-level testing. Both parties are jointly securing non-dilutive financing through discussion with Canadian governmental authorities.

“Having researched CNTs for over 10 years, this is another critical nanomaterial that must be adopted by battery cell manufacturers. With properties of superior electrical conductivity, tensile strength and elasticity, CNTs are being actively pursued as both a conductive additive and nanocoating material for electrodes,” Dongmok Whang, NEO’s lead scientific advisor, said in a statement.

“The CNT market is expected to grow from US$1.8 billion in 2025 to US$9.2 billion in 2030 with 120,000 tonnes and 600,000 tonnes produced, respectively.”

NEO uses a proprietary nano-coating process to integrate silicon with graphite – the most common material for battery anodes. Anodes are one of two electrodes which comprise parts of a battery.

Exro announces Q2 results

In Q2, Calgary-based Exro Technologies Inc. generated $2,443,292 in revenue through the execution of engineering services agreements.

It also posted a comprehensive loss of $12,649,383 compared to a loss of $8,739,338 in the same period in 2022.

The company’s Coil Driver replaces the inverter in an EV. The driver utilizes coil switching — the ability to switch electric motor configurations while in use, to maximize speed and torque.

That concept is not new, but most EV models require multiple motors and gearboxes, while the Coil Driver eliminates that requirement.

“The second quarter of 2023 demonstrated continued progress towards commercialization of our next-generation technologies for electric vehicles and stationary energy storage,” Exro CEO Sue Ozdemir said.

“We finished the quarter in a strong financial position, significantly expanded the expertise of our board of directors, and are in final preparations to start our production before the end of Q3.

"We have customers proceeding towards additional purchase orders and are digging in with our new leading global automaker partner on our power-train innovation project – evidence that we are capitalizing on the efforts we have put in over the last three years.”  

Exro (EXRO-T) remains on schedule to start production of its Coil Driver and Cell Driver products this fall. Low-voltage Coil Driver products are on schedule for deliveries in September, which will be followed by the start of high-voltage products in Q4 2023.

The company is also committed to an eventual uplisting to the NASDAQ.