Finding
Third-party services fill the gap between lab cells and gigafactories, and in the US the most consequential one is process licensing from Chinese cell makers
CATL's license-royalty-services model supplies the cell design, process and line know-how while the licensee owns the plant; Ford's BlueOval Battery Park Michigan in Marshall is the flagship US case. Below that tier, pilot lines (Battery Innovation Center in Indiana, Fraunhofer FFB in Münster), test and certification labs (UL Solutions, TÜV SÜD, Intertek, SGS, DEKRA, Element) and failure-analysis labs (Exponent) carry ramp risk for OEMs and startups.
The service layer exists because cell plants are capital-heavy and some steps are time- or infrastructure-gated: dry rooms and formation capacity in particular. Toll manufacturing means the customer owns the recipe and usually the materials while the provider runs the process for a fee; contract manufacturing adds procurement and quality systems. In China, the equivalent independent testing role sits with CATARC (China Automotive Technology and Research Center) and CQC, which certify packs against GB 38031.
Demand for services rises when new chemistries (sodium-ion, LMFP, silicon anodes, solid-state) need scale-up before a dedicated line is justified, and when insurers and regulators demand third-party reports after field incidents.
The tables below list 59 providers, 4 of them Chinese. Most US entries are small specialist labs and pack builders; the global certifiers (UL Solutions, TÜV SÜD, Intertek, SGS, DEKRA, DNV) and the Chinese state test centers CATARC, CQC and CAERI carry the type approvals that cell and pack makers need to sell. Element bought Energy Assurance's Georgia lab in 2022 and Ultralife bought Electrochem Solutions in 2024, part of a slow consolidation of US test and specialty-cell services.
Categories
Primary battery manufacturing services
Some providers sell flexible capacity, some sell time-based throughput, and some sell risk reduction.
| Category | What it provides | Typical buyers | When used | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Process licensing | Cell design, process recipe, line specification and ramp support for a royalty | OEMs building their own cell plants | Greenfield plants without in-house cell know-how | CATL (Ford Marshall), Gotion |
| Toll and contract cell manufacturing | Cells built to customer recipe on shared or dedicated lines | Chemistry developers, OEM programs, specialty storage | Pilot to early commercial | American Lithium Energy, Forge Nano |
| Pilot lines and scale-up | Process development, equipment bring-up, manufacturability proof | Cell startups, JV programs | Lab-to-pilot and pilot-to-commercial | Battery Innovation Center, Fraunhofer FFB, ORNL |
| Formation and aging | Formation cycling, screening analytics, aging storage | Cell makers and new entrants | Ramps with constrained formation capacity | Mostly captive; few independents |
| Independent testing and certification | Safety, abuse, lifetime and compliance testing; third-party reports | OEMs, regulators, insurers | Qualification, validation, incident follow-up | UL Solutions, TÜV SÜD, Intertek, SGS, CATARC |
| Pack assembly and integration | Module and pack build, harnessing, thermal integration, EOL test | Low-volume and specialty vehicles, industrial | Niche packs, regional production | Epec, Nuvation Energy |
| Failure analysis and teardown | Root cause, diagnostics, teardown, defect attribution | OEM quality and warranty teams, insurers | Field incidents, warranty spikes | Exponent, ESRG |
Toll vs contract
Toll manufacturing vs contract manufacturing vs licensing
Who owns the recipe, the materials and the quality system.
| Model | Customer provides | Provider provides | Who owns output | Best fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toll manufacturing | Recipe, IP and often materials | Capacity, process execution, QA/QC to agreed plan | Customer | New chemistries; capex avoidance |
| Contract manufacturing | Specification and acceptance criteria | Execution plus procurement and quality systems | Customer, or per contract | Scaling programs that want outsourced operations |
| Process licensing | Plant, capital, workforce | Cell design, process recipe, equipment specs, ramp engineers | Customer (licensee) | OEMs that want local cells fast |
Bottlenecks
Which bottlenecks services relieve
Services bypass the most common ramp constraints before dedicated capacity is committed.
| Bottleneck or risk | Where | Service relief | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilot-to-commercial scale-up failure | Cell | Pilot lines, licensing | Proves manufacturability before full capex |
| Dry room availability | Cell | Shared lines with existing dry rooms | No new infrastructure for early volume |
| Formation and aging capacity | Cell | Formation services | Offloads time-gated steps |
| Pack joining, leak and EOL throughput | Pack | Pack integration services | Validated tooling without new lines |
| Qualification and compliance risk | Cell and pack | Independent testing and certification | Third-party validation speeds approvals |
| Field incident root cause | Fleet | Failure analysis labs | Narrows containment and recall scope |
Test labs
Testing, certification and failure analysis labs
Independent labs that run safety, abuse, performance and transport tests and issue third-party reports, plus failure-analysis and teardown firms. Provider names link to their official sites.
| Provider | Service | What they provide | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A&D Technology | Testing and certification | Battery and powertrain test systems; test consulting and analysis | Ann Arbor, MI, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Applus+ IDIADA | Testing and certification | Vehicle and battery testing and homologation | Santa Oliva, Catalonia, Spain | active |
| Battery MD, Inc. | Testing and certification | Battery validation testing | McClellan Park, CA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Belmont Scientific, Inc. | Testing and certification | Battery safety testing | Lowell, MA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Bitrode Corporation | Testing and certification | Battery test equipment service and calibration | St. Louis, MO, USA | active: Test equipment maker; also listed in the testing equipment dataset |
| CAERI (China Automotive Engineering Research Institute) | Testing and certification | EV and traction battery testing | Chongqing, China | active |
| CATARC (China Automotive Technology and Research Center) | Testing and certification | Vehicle and traction battery type testing and certification, including GB 38031 battery safety | Tianjin, China | active: State research and certification body under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission |
| Coulometrics | Testing and certification | Battery testing | Chattanooga, TN, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| CQC (China Quality Certification Centre) | Testing and certification | China Compulsory Certification (CCC) and voluntary certification, including traction batteries | Beijing, China | active |
| CSA Group | Testing and certification | Battery and energy storage testing and certification for North America | Toronto, Ontario, Canada | active |
| DEKRA | Testing and certification | Battery testing and certification for vehicles and energy storage | Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany | active |
| Digatron Power Electronics | Testing and certification | Battery testing services and test equipment | Shelton, CT, USA | active: US office of the Aachen, Germany test equipment maker |
| DNV | Testing and certification | Battery testing and certification; operates the BEST Test and Commercialization Center in Rochester, New York | Høvik, Norway | active |
| EC Power | Testing and certification | Cell testing and materials characterization | State College, PA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Eclipse Energy LLC | Testing and certification | Battery testing | Greenfield, IN, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Electric Applications Incorporated | Testing and certification | testing for cells, modules, packs; certification | Phoenix, AZ, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Element (formerly Energy Assurance) | Testing and certification | Battery safety, performance and transport testing (UN 38.3, UL) | Gainesville, GA, USA | active: Element bought Energy Assurance in April 2022; the Gainesville lab operates as Element |
| Energy Safety Response Group (ESRG) | Failure analysis | Battery fire and thermal-runaway testing, failure analysis and incident response | Delaware, OH, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Exponent | Failure analysis | Battery failure analysis, fire investigation and testing; test and engineering center in Phoenix | Menlo Park, CA, USA | active |
| Intertek | Testing and certification | Battery performance, safety and abuse testing; EV battery labs in North America, Europe and China | London, UK | active |
| Munro & Associates | Failure analysis | Vehicle and battery teardown, cost and design benchmarking | Auburn Hills, MI, USA | active |
| NEI Corporation | Testing and certification | Battery characterization and electrochemical testing services | Somerset, NJ, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| NSL Analytical Services | Testing and certification | Battery materials testing and chemical analysis | Cleveland, OH, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Polaris Battery Labs LLC | Testing and certification | Characterization testing, performance verification and QC testing | Beaverton, OR, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Sandia National Laboratories Battery Abuse Testing Laboratory | Testing and certification | Abuse and thermal-runaway testing for DOE and industry | Albuquerque, NM, USA | active |
| SGS | Testing and certification | Battery testing, inspection and certification | Geneva, Switzerland | active |
| Southwest Research Institute | Testing and certification | Battery and energy storage testing, abuse and safety testing, cell and pack research | San Antonio, TX, USA | active: Legacy record carried an Ann Arbor address that belongs to A&D Technology; SwRI is in San Antonio |
| TÜV Rheinland | Testing and certification | Battery testing and certification for vehicles and energy storage | Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | active |
| TÜV SÜD | Testing and certification | Battery testing and certification (UN ECE R100, UN 38.3, IEC 62660); test centers in Germany, North America and China | Munich, Bavaria, Germany | active |
| UL Solutions | Testing and certification | Cell, module and pack safety testing and certification (UL 2580, UL 9540A, UN 38.3) | Northbrook, IL, USA | active |
Pilot and toll
Pilot lines, toll and contract manufacturing, pack builders and licensors
Shared pilot lines, toll and contract producers of cells and materials, low-volume pack builders, and cell makers that license their process.
| Provider | Service | What they provide | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24M Technologies | Process licensing | Licenses its SemiSolid electrode and cell process | Cambridge, MA, USA | active: Licensee list not re-verified |
| AA Portable Power Corp. | Pack design and assembly | Battery packs and pack testing | Richmond, CA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| American Lithium Energy | Toll and contract manufacturing | Toll manufacturing of cells and silicon anode materials | Carlsbad, CA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Argonne CAMP Facility | Pilot lines and scale-up | Cell Analysis, Modeling and Prototyping: electrode and pouch-cell builds for new materials | Lemont, IL, USA | active |
| Aved Electronics | Toll and contract manufacturing | Toll manufacturing of cells and packs | North Billerica, MA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Battery Innovation Center | Pilot lines and scale-up | Pilot cell and pack builds, manufacturing process development, testing and technical consulting | Newberry, IN, USA | active: Nonprofit pilot and test center next to NSWC Crane, Indiana |
| CATL | Process licensing | License, royalty and services (LRS): LFP cell design, process recipe, line specification and ramp support; the licensee owns the plant | Ningde, Fujian, China | active: Ford licenses CATL LFP technology for its Marshall, Michigan plant |
| Epec Engineering Technologies | Pack design and assembly | Custom battery pack design and manufacturing | New Bedford, MA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Forge Nano | Toll and contract manufacturing | Atomic layer deposition (ALD) coating of cathode, anode and separator materials, as a service and as equipment | Thornton, CO, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Fraunhofer FFB | Pilot lines and scale-up | Research fab for cell production; pilot lines for cell makers and equipment suppliers | Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | active |
| Koura Global | Toll and contract manufacturing | Toll manufacturing of liquid electrolyte; fluorinated battery materials | San Gabriel, LA, USA | active: Proposed $800 million for two battery-materials projects at St. Gabriel in October 2023; construction status unverified |
| MaxPower Inc. | Toll and contract manufacturing | Cell testing and toll manufacturing of cells | Harleysville, PA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Mobile Power Solutions | Pack design and assembly | Battery pack design, assembly and testing | Beaverton, OR, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| National Power Corp. | Pack design and assembly | Custom battery packs | Chicago, IL, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory Battery Manufacturing Facility | Pilot lines and scale-up | DOE battery manufacturing R&D; electrode and pouch-cell pilot line | Oak Ridge, TN, USA | active |
| PH Matter LLC | Toll and contract manufacturing | Toll manufacturing of silicon anode materials | Columbus, OH, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Synthio Chemicals | Pilot lines and scale-up | Manufacturing and process development for battery chemicals | Broomfield, CO, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) | Pilot lines and scale-up | Open-access scale-up facility for electrode and cell production | Coventry, UK | active |
Engineering
Engineering, design and consulting firms
Engineering consultancies, energy storage EPC firms and specialists in cell modeling, plus the recyclers and logistics firms that take plant scrap.
| Provider | Service | What they provide | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Hyperform, Inc. | Recycling and logistics | Battery recycling | Folcroft, PA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| AVL | Engineering and design | Battery and pack engineering; battery test centers | Graz, Styria, Austria | active |
| Battery Design LLC | Consulting | Battery modeling and cell design consulting | Pleasanton, CA, USA | active: Battery Design Studio software began here before passing to CD-adapco and then Siemens; services not re-verified |
| Black & Veatch | Engineering and design | EPC for battery energy storage facilities; monitoring and maintenance | Overland Park, KS, USA | active: Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas |
| Blue Whale Materials LLC | Recycling and logistics | Battery recycling and international logistics | Washington, DC, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Ecobat | Recycling and logistics | Battery collection, logistics and recycling | Dallas, TX, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Electrochem Solutions, Inc. | Engineering and design | Design and development of custom cells and packs | Raynham, MA, USA | active: Ultralife bought Electrochem Solutions from Integer for $50 million in November 2024 |
| FEV | Engineering and design | Battery and pack engineering and testing | Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany | active |
| GS Yuasa Lithium Power | Engineering and design | Applications engineering for specialized lithium-ion cells | Roswell, GA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Nuvation Energy | Engineering and design | Battery management systems and engineering design services for energy storage | Sunnyvale, CA, USA | active: Listed in the legacy dataset; not re-verified |
| Ricardo | Consulting | Electrified vehicle and battery manufacturing consulting | Van Buren Township, MI, USA | active: US technical center, Van Buren Township, Michigan |
Sources
Sources and scope
- Scope
- Battery Manufacturing Services
- Sources
- ElectronsX services dataset; Ford and CATL announcements; provider disclosures
- Updated
- October 2026