--- title: "The Log" canonical: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/issue/14/the-log" publication: "The Hysteresis" publisher: "The Hysteresis" language: "en-US" guide: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/llms.txt" permalink: "https://anchor.is/the-hysteresis/issue/14/the-log" issue: 14 section: "the-log" description: "What was announced, built, and cancelled" authors: ["Elise Huan-Cartwright"] published: 2026-09-14 updated: 2026-09-12 articles: 10 --- # The Hysteresis > The Hysteresis exists to give a small cross-functional team — strategy, investment, and procurement — a shared weekly instrument for reading the battery supply chain earlier than consensus. Success means the team consistently identifies inflection points in cell pricing, supplier health, and policy enforcement weeks or months before they surface in earnings calls, annual surveys, or trade press. The commercial mechanism is internal-first: the publication proves itself as a decision tool inside the organization, then extends to paid subscribers and a practitioner community as upside. Revenue follows utility — if the team makes better-timed procurement calls and competitive assessments because of what they read here, the publication earned its place. [Read on the website]() ## Issue 14 — The Log What was announced, built, and cancelled ### Divergence Sidebar - [NOVONIX clears 12 of 14 customer specs the same week PwC flags going concern]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-09-11 NOVONIX [reported](https://novonixgroup.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/lead-customer-feedback-marks-progress-qualification-0) September 9 that its lead customer's testing of a mass-production C-sample from Riverside found 12 of 14 specifications met. One missed parameter was within ~1% of requirement; the other failed a binary pass/fail criterion. Corrective actions identified, no retest date disclosed. Mass production sales targeted for H2 2027, subject to qualification completion. ### Ford Marshall Audit - [Ford BlueOval Battery Park Michigan (Marshall) — Stated vs. Observed Audit]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-09-11 · Format: The Stated vs. Observed Audit DOT Secretary Duffy called Ford's Marshall LFP plant "operational" on September 3. Ford's most recent disclosure, from June, describes production-verification testing and shipments planned for later this year — no commercial volume, accepted GWh, or run rate. This audit runs every public milestone from the original 35 GWh announcement through the cut to 20 GWh, sets Ford's $3B investment claim against the state's $1.41B verified figure, and tracks the CATL effective-control question through three years of congressional requests for contract terms that have not been answered. ### Covington Transfer Anatomy - [What Transferred When R3 Lithium Bought Ascend's Covington Plant]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-09-11 · Format: Covington Transfer Anatomy R3 Lithium said on September 10 that it has initiated operations at the former Ascend Elements facility in Covington, Georgia — the first completed bankruptcy sale of a US battery-materials plant in the registry's coverage. The sale closed July 7. We ran the transfer against the bankruptcy docket as eight separate chains of title: equipment, lease, permits, contracts, IP, customer qualification, personnel and liabilities. They did not resolve together. Equipment and leasehold moved. The permission that governs whether the plant can take in end-of-life batteries is in open dispute between Georgia EPD and R3. The IP came across as a site-locked, scale-constrained license rather than ownership, and no public document shows a customer has accepted material produced under the new owner. This piece reconstructs what moved, what didn't, and sets out how the registry will record ownership changes from here. ### Pre-Rule Readiness Map - [DOE's BESS Grid-Security RFI Opens a Docket Without Setting a Single Threshold]() — By [Elise Huan-Cartwright]() · Published 2026-09-11 · Format: Pre-Rule Readiness Map DOE's cybersecurity office published a thirty-six-question Request for Information on September 9 asking industry to help define which BESS attributes a future grid-security restriction should cover: voltage thresholds, firmware provenance, remote-access architecture, how deep component-origin tracing should go. No threshold is set and no vendor is named. Comments close October 9, four weeks from the first working day after Labor Day. What DOE asks about is the best available signal of what it will eventually require, and the documentation gaps it points to can be closed now. ### Source Pack - **DOE Bulk-Power RFI Opens 60-Day Window — BESS Thresholds, Foreign-Origin Definitions, and Firmware Scope All Unresolved Under EO 14421** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Comment period runs through November. DOE soliciting definitions it lacks — BESS coverage criteria remain structurally undefined. - **Rhodium: US Battery Manufacturing Announcements Hit $915M in H1 2026, Post-IRA Low — Global Investment Down Sixth Straight Quarter** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Announcement pipeline at its weakest since IRA passage. Actual US spending stabilized in Q2 after Q1 contraction. - **DOT Letter to Ford on Marshall Plant CATL Ties Carries No Enforcement Mechanism — Ford Identifies Factual Error, Calls Letter "Wrongheaded"** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Letter misidentified the JV partner. Plant pre-SOP; PFE applicability cannot be determined from public record. - **SCMP: Beijing Froze New Energy-Storage Battery Plant Approvals Since May — No Published MIIT Instrument Located** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Reported as window guidance, not formal regulation. Utilization-linked re-approval could accelerate export pressure on US market. - **NOVONIX Riverside: Lead Customer C-Sample Meets 12 of 14 Specs — Two Parameters Outstanding, PwC Going-Concern Emphasis Persists** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Qualification advancing but not closed. Zero revenue, $59.5M cash. DOE loan conditional commitment has not reached financial close. - **R3 Lithium Acquires Former Ascend Elements Covington Recycling Plant for $3M in Bankruptcy Sale — Claims $1B Offtake Pipeline** — [Source]() — Published 2026-09-11 Ascend's CTO retained. Continuous commercial-scale output under new ownership not yet demonstrated. Offtake claims unverified. ## Other sections in Issue 14 - [Signal]() - [China]() - [Korea]() - [Defense]() - [Qualification]() ## More - [Publication guide]() - [Issue archive]()