US-based Group14 Technologies, a global provider of silicon-carbon composite materials for lithium-ion markets, announced the launch of its first commercial-scale 27,000-square foot US manufacturing factory to meet demand for higher-performing lithium-silicon anode materials. The new factory, located at Group14 HQ in Woodinville, Washington, also will house a new R&D center, corporate offices, and serves as the first of several planned commercial manufacturing sites.

The commercial manufacturing factory is capable of producing 120 tons per year of Group14’s lithium-silicon technology, SCC55, which can deliver up to 50% more energy density per volume than lithium-ion batteries available on the market for automotive and consumer electronics applications. SCC55 is a combination of carbon, silicon, and void space and is readily available as a drop-in ready for any blend ratio with graphite or as a complete displacement to deliver unmatched energy density and cycle life stability.

Fully compatible with graphite, SCC55 boosts energy density by 30% over 1000 cycles even with a 20% blend. For any blend ratio, SCC55 delivers a solution for lithium-silicon batteries rivaling the high first cycle efficiency of graphite and outperforming other technologies on the market such as silicon oxide (SiO_x). SCC55’s high performance minimizes capacity loss over time while retaining a higher end-of-life capacity, with critical implications for the second-life market.

As growing appetite for EVs punctuates the need for both higher quantity and higher quality battery production, the commercial-scale factory signals Group14’s biggest step to date in establishing a domestic battery ecosystem to address lithium-ion supply-demand imbalances.

We leveraged our team’s deep commercial manufacturing experience to prioritize process development and designing for cost from the beginning, which is key to scaling as rapidly as possible without sacrificing quality, performance and safety. The process to manufacture SCC55 was designed from the start to be scaled quickly and efficiently, an approach that has kept us on track to bring our technology online to help power consumer electronics, electric vehicles and more—immediately.

—Rick Costantino, CTO of Group14 Technologies

The commercial factory is already delivering SCC55 to top consumer electronics and automotive manufacturers globally, leveraging the company’s recent international footprint in Asia to further its customer pipeline.

Globally, battery suppliers are in the midst of the validation process of 82 Ah automotive batteries using SCC55 as a blend or full displacement of traditional battery anodes for EV applications, the latter of which would give current EVs a massive range boost of 50% between charges at the pack level.

With its commercial production fully underway, Group14 is expanding rapidly and is expected to double in size by the end of this year. Later this year, Group14 plans to break ground on its second large-scale commercial factory co-located at REC Silicon’s Moses Lake plant, enabling Group14 to reach capacity to meet global demand from the EV market.