The lithium-ion battery news keeps on coming. So far we’ve told you about GM’s plan to build a battery factory (which will use cells made by Korean LG Chemicals), A123’s plan to build a battery factory of their own in Michigan (and, although GM is using LG batteries for the Volt, they plan on collaborating with A123), Tesla’s plan to build batteries for the Smart Car and, on top of all that, the coalition of battery researchers gathering together at Argonne National Lab.

To make things even more exciting, there seems to be some reciprocal business going on between the US and Scandinavia (not the same exact countries, but still). First you’ve got Boston-Power, a battery company headquartered in Massachusetts, which just received $55 million in Series D financing from a Swedish investment firm. Unlike the battery players mentioned above, Boston-Power is making batteries for laptops rather than vehicles, and has already built a battery that is available in certain HP laptops.

On the flip side, Norwegian electric car company Think had announced that they didn’t have enough capital to get their new, small, electric Think City ready for market as early as originally predicted. That delay might be shortened a bit by $5.7 of interim financing that they just received from Ener1, a US battery manufacturer that will be supplying the battery for the Think City.

The attention on batteries is not likely to go away any time soon. It’s the single most important factor when it comes to electric vehicles, and whichever manufacturers end up on top will enjoy very rich rewards indeed.

Via CNET Green Tech (2)