ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that ITOCHU and PowerX, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Masahiro Ito, Director, President & CEO; hereinafter "PowerX"), which aims at the production of battery energy storage system in Japan, entered into a business partnership agreement for cooperation in the energy storage business between the two companies. Both companies will collaboratively promote the energy storage business and electric vehicle (EV) charging business through this agreement.

Energy storage system and EV charging businesses are critical for accelerating the shift towards decarbonization. In these fields, both companies will accelerate their joint projects in a variety of businesses, including 1) collaboration in PowerX’s EV charging station business, 2) creation of new business opportunities by utilizing the data derived from EV charging devices, 3) promotion of the energy management business through the deployment of energy storage battery system, 4) production and sales support for PowerX’s battery products, and 5) power supply of renewable energy to PowerX.

Energy storage systems powered by batteries are the key in expanding the use of renewable energy. PowerX is establishing one of Japan's largest battery assembly plants in Okayama Prefecture, which enable PowerX to manufacture energy storage systems and ultrafast EV chargers with large volume at low cost. In particular, PowerX aims to promote and expand EV charging stations within Japan, which are insufficient compared to other countries where EV have become popular. The goal is to establish 7,000 ultrafast EV charging stations in Japan by 2030.

ITOCHU has been working on its battery business since 1990s and, to date, has sold a cumulative total of more than 500MWh (as of the end of March 2022) of energy storage systems. Through the business, it has been focusing on creating solutions to social issues, such as Demand Response(DR), VPP service through its AI control software and IoT platform.

Through this business collaboration agreement, ITOCHU will contribute to the launch of the production and sales business of PowerX’s battery products through the ecosystem regarding to production and sales of energy storage systems ITOHU has accumulated until now, and will spread and promote EV charging stations through ITOCHU`s broad Group network as a general trading company. ITOCHU and PowerX will make joint efforts to promote the energy management business utilizing energy storage system with EV chargers and create a variety of new businesses utilizing EV battery data through EV charging devices based on ITOCHU`s knowledge and experience of energy management.

Both ITOCHU and PowerX will contribute to the realization of distributed energy in a decarbonized society through this collaboration.

reference：ITOCHU Announces Investment in PowerX That Aims at Becoming Japan's Top Producer of battery energy storage system