Choosing the wrong geography can kill a FOAK, but being forced to choose too early almost certainly will. Lyten is moving manufacturing from the US to Sweden and Poland, while trying to keep its FOAK in Nevada. Freyr started in Norway, shifted to the US, and eventually walked away from batteries altogether. In today’s increasingly fragmented world, choosing a location for your FOAK can be central to survival. And too many founders are being pushed to make that choice before t

My friend Jean Gravellier once drove me around the Dunkirk area. I’ve seen the ArcelorMittal steel plant, the nuclear power station, and locations for future battery gigafactories. “Why there?” I thought. So many polluting industries, all in one place? There are many reasons, but one is permitting - businesses with a higher environmental footprint go where it is easier to get approval from local governments. There is a reason that many battery companies in Europe are in Hunga

The lessons of Natron Energy collapse

In the end, it had to be a political decision. After half a year of sifting through more than twenty locations and countless meetings...

Alternative business model for a battery factory

How can you hype up, raise investments, burn the money, and do it all again? I have no idea, but life proves that it is possible, again and again.

This year, the mood at the Smarter E Europe expo in Munich is different. With many EU battery startups going under, the only way to survive is to find the right partner from Asia.

We don’t have a cleantech innovation problem — we have a FOAK execution problem. Over the past year, I’ve been building something I wish I had when I started scaling my first climate tech venture: a practical, experience-based framework for getting First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) projects off the ground. In my latest article, I’ve pulled together my 50+ posts into a structured overview that maps the FOAK journey—from the moment you decide to leave the lab to the day your NOAKs are r

What will be the next phase for the battery industry: boom, or bust?

If you want to understand the global battery industry, you had to be in Seoul this week. Here is why.

Your First-of-a-Kind (FOAK) project is where your climate tech startup is a startup no more. Investors, customers, and even your own team...

What to do wıth Europe's auto industry?

Investor's pressure to go big might have had a hand in it.

A 3-step framework for scaling-up to FOAK

Why do you need a Chief Production Officer in your startup?

Main FOAK risks

You have to choose between your ego and your fees. This was a phrase I heard while listening to the Redefining Energy podcast episode...

As 2024 wraps up, it’s time to reflect on a year that was anything but dull for the climate tech world. A buzzword dominated this year—...

This week, I listened to two excellent podcasts dissecting the saga of Northvolt

Observations from the second week of meeting EU battery players