24M announced that it has developed and delivered commercially-viable, high energy density lithium-ion cells. Using its novel SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design in its pilot facility (earlier post), 24M achieved energy densities exceeding 250 watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), the current state-of-the-art industry benchmark for EV applications.

These deliveries represent a significant milestone in the 24M mission to scale its unique, capital-efficient, low-cost approach to advanced lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

The development of the high energy density nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells is part of a $7-milion, three-year contract awarded to 24M in 2016 by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium LLC in cooperation with the US Department of Energy.

The program is chartered with developing electrochemical energy storage technologies that support the commercialization of hybrid, plug-in hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles. To achieve the final USABC 2020 density target of 350 Wh/kg by the end of 2019, 24M has developed a multi-faceted, lab-proven approach that includes a novel use of silicon for high energy density anodes.

24M also delivered similar NMC cells with energy densities above 280 Wh/kg to an industrial partner. With these cells, the higher energy densities were achieved by optimizing 24M’s SemiSolid electrode technology, which eliminates the use of a pore-clogging binder, enabling higher active material densities than can be achieved with conventional electrodes.

The demonstration of this technology is a major milestone on the 24M roadmap to achieving even higher energy densities (>400 Wh/kg) using its capital-efficient manufacturing process.

24M introduced its novel SemiSolid lithium-ion battery design in 2015, and has since leveraged its own semi-automated pilot facility to substantially advance both cell design and production readiness.

The SemiSolid process, which uses electrolyte as the processing solvent, eliminates capital and energy intensive steps such as drying, solvent recovery, calendaring and electrolyte filling.

It’s very gratifying to see science translated from the lab into innovative new products as 24M has done by developing and delivering these high energy density cells. Moreover, we were able to leverage our novel electrode, cell and manufacturing approach to exceed 280 Wh/kg, a significant step towards delivering low-cost lithium-ion cells with industry-leading performance to the EV market.

—Naoki Ota, CTO of 24M