EnPower and Echion bring niobium anode cells to US robotics

Pouch-format cells like these move through final assembly before undergoing the high-rate cycling tests that matter most for robotics duty cycles

(Image courtesy of Echion Technologies Ltd)

Indianapolis cell manufacturer EnPower and Cambridge-founded anode developer Echion Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop and manufacture niobium anode battery cells in the United States for industrial robotics. The deal lands two weeks after the FCC placed foreign-made advanced robotic devices on its national security Covered List.

Battery cells for industrial robotics target demanding duty cycles

Under the MoU, EnPower will combine Echion’s XNO niobium-based anode material with its own cell design and manufacturing capability to produce cells built for automated guided vehicles, humanoid robots and AI datacentre power. Echion’s own technical documentation states XNO-based cells support symmetric 10C continuous charge and discharge, equivalent to a full charge in around six minutes, alongside a cycle life exceeding 10,000 cycles. According to Echion, the chemistry avoids the lithium plating that limits how fast conventional graphite anode cells can charge without permanent capacity loss.

EnPower intends to pair that material with its own integrated ceramic separator technology, an area of development supported in part by a US Department of Energy award. EnPower states the combination is aimed at heat dissipation, thermal stability and cell-level safety as robots operate at higher power in close proximity to people.

Robotics battery cell chemistry now sits inside a wider trusted-supply-chain policy

On July 28, 2026, the FCC added foreign-produced advanced robotic devices, a category the FCC defines to include mobile robots such as humanoids and quadrupeds, to its Covered List, barring new models from equipment authorisation absent a Department of War conditional approval. Legal analysis of the action notes it followed a National Security Determination from a White House-convened interagency body and closely trails a separate FCC order closing a component-part loophole for logic-bearing hardware from Covered List entities.

That action sits alongside an existing National Defense Authorization Act provision, passed in December 2023, that bars Pentagon procurement of batteries from CATL, BYD and four other named Chinese manufacturers starting in October 2027. Neither measure directly compels EnPower and Echion’s commercial partnership.

Robotics is the initial focus, with heavy industrial vehicles, industrial hybrids and AI datacentre load-buffering storage named as markets the companies intend to extend into, sharing the same demands for ultra-high power, uptime and total cost of ownership. Specific programmes for these adjacent markets will be formalised under separate agreements as they mature. EnPower and Echion describe the combination of technologies as one that will result in a highly differentiated, made-in-America cell portfolio.

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