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Helios Horizon Completes Test Flight of Solid-State Battery Electric Glider, First Checks Focus on Weight and Balance

Helios Horizon completed its first test/demonstration flight of a solid-state battery on June 5, 2026, at Zephyrhills Airport in Florida, using a modified Pipistrel Taurus Electro electric glider. All three sources confirm this was a test flight centered on solid-state battery technology; the confirmed testing focus was the aircraft’s weight and balance after the new battery installation, as well as short-duration flight performance after full-power ground runs. Details on flight duration, technical significance, and project framing differ in some cases or appear in only one source, and could not be fully cross-checked.

Jun 9, 2026

Waymo to Retire Robotaxi Batteries for Grid Storage in California and Texas

Waymo has announced a partnership with B2U Storage Solutions to repurpose retired Robotaxi batteries for grid-scale energy storage in California and Texas. The three sources largely agree on the parties involved, the battery reuse purpose, and the application regions. However, they differ on the scale of the project, with some sources referring to thousands of batteries and another citing hundreds of megawatts of storage capacity. Additional details about the partnership, project timeline, and battery supply scale were not provided or could not be confirmed from the available sources.

Jun 6, 2026

U.S. Q1 Battery Storage Installations Hit Record: 9.7 GWh, Up 32% YoY, Multiple Sources Point to Rising Demand

According to SEIA, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, and related media reports, new battery storage capacity in the United States reached 9.7 GWh in the first quarter of 2026, up 32% year over year, setting a new all-time Q1 record. Several reports also noted that the storage market remains highly active and speculated about deployment prospects through 2030; other coverage placed battery storage in the broader context of clean energy investment and project development. As for whether data centers are a direct driver, the provided sources did not offer a consistent or clear confirmation.

Jun 1, 2026

Ford Energy and EDF North America Sign Five-Year Energy Storage Supply Agreement, Up to 20 GWh, Deliveries Starting in 2028

Ford Energy announced a five-year energy storage supply agreement with EDF North America, with total volume of up to 20 GWh. EDF may purchase up to 4 GWh per year of DC Block containerized BESS, with deliveries expected to begin in 2028. The three sources are broadly consistent on the contract term, total volume, annual procurement cap, and delivery timeline. Statements about Ford’s localized manufacturing of LFP energy storage systems at its existing Glendale, Kentucky facility, and supplies for customers such as data centers and utilities, appear only in some sources and cannot be fully confirmed across all three.

May 20, 2026

NEMA Says U.S. Annual Electricity Consumption Will Rise by More Than 55% by 2050; Data Center Power Use May Jump 300% Over the Next 10 Years

According to an updated electricity demand forecast from NEMA, U.S. annual electricity consumption is projected to grow by more than 55% by 2050, with the fastest growth concentrated in the current decade. Data center electricity use is expected to rise by 300% over the next 10 years. The same forecast also says electricity’s share of U.S. final energy consumption will increase from 18% to 28%, electric transportation energy use could grow by 2,000% by 2050, and storage, wind, and solar power generation are expected to increase by 300%.

May 18, 2026

CATL Reveals Multi-Chemistry Battery Roadmap: LFP Nears Its Limit, NCM Retains High-Energy-Density Edge, Freevoy Reaches 230 Wh/kg

CATL has recently highlighted a series of battery innovations in a product launch/technical briefing, with three sources collectively pointing to its push for performance upgrades through a multi-chemistry strategy. The Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery can reportedly deliver around 230 Wh/kg, up to 600 kilometers of all-electric range, and 10C ultra-fast charging. At the same time, LFP is being discussed as approaching its practical energy-density ceiling, while NCM continues to serve the high-energy-density route. Another source says sodium-ion batteries are moving toward scale-up. Some claims about the “ceiling,” “mainstream readiness,” and the production timeline differ across sources or cannot be fully verified.

May 4, 2026