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Just when you thought all the acquisitions and buyouts of A123 were old news, Japan's NEC Corporation has acquired A123 Energy Solutions from Wanxiang Group for around $100m.

The acquisition relates to the portion of former A123 Systems that supplies grid-level lithium-ion energy storage systems based on A123’s lithium iron nanophospate technology.

A123 Energy Solutions will be integrated into the NEC Group of companies and, under the working name NEC Energy Solutions, will begin operation in June 2014 under the direction of NEC. The company will continue to work in the grid-connected energy storage space with plans to also look into behind-the-meter energy storage.

Flowgroup, a UK energy technology developer, has received an order for two compressed air batteries totaling 150kW capacity from Trane Canada for a telecoms company.

Flowgroup’s air battery business, ambiguously named Flow Battery, will supply one 100kW and one 50kW compressed air battery units for a telephone exchange in Toronto which is part of a national network.

German machinery maker Münstermann has developed a plate-curing oven that cures battery plates in less than four hours using the Concure process rather than the conventional 30 hours.

The Concure process is a patented rapid curing process, which Münstermann claim that including the loading and unloading time the total process time is approximately five hours. The short turnaround time allows manufacturers to switch between batches of product types quickly with no need to intermediary storage of plates. 

Johnson Controls and Fraunhofer Institute have entered into an agreement for developing lithium-ion batteries for vehicles.

R&D staff from JCI will work with the Fraunhofer's Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (UMSICHT) and its Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM). Under the agreement the group will investigate technologies and thermal management strategies for lithium-ion battery packs.

Battery separator manufacturer Entek is investing £10m ($17m) to develop its next generation lead-acid separator materials for automotive batteries at its UK manufacturing plant.

The company is keeping the new separator, which will be formally unveiled at the 14th European Lead Battery Conference in Edinburgh this September, under wraps. The first phase of the investment includes £2.5m of new machinery installed at its site near the city of Newcastle, with more to follow in the coming 18 months.