SPARKZ Inc., a battery startup with exclusive licenses to produce domestic cobalt-free lithium batteries (earlier post), has won a grant for $2.6 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to extend its development into solid-state batteries. CEC funded the full amount possible for the first phase of the grant and... Read more →

StoreDot, the developer of extreme fast charging (XFC) technology for electric vehicles (earlier post), is opening an R&D innovation hub in California. The new US-based innovation hub is being established to help StoreDot in its mission to provide automotive battery technologies that will significantly enhance the electrified vehicle ownership experience,... Read more →

Solid-state sodium battery company LiNa Energy (earlier post) has closed out a £3.5-million (US$4.8-million) late seed funding round, attracting a combination of existing and new investors. This funding will enable the company to advance their technology through expanding their laboratory facilities, stepping-up recruitment and buying new equipment which will accelerate... Read more →

Solid Power, Inc., a developer of all-solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles, announced an award from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) for a multi-phase, multi-year research contract to develop nickel- and cobalt-free all-solid-state battery cells. Solid Power expects to receive up to $12.5 million to complete the project... Read more →

University of California San Diego nanoengineers, in collaboration with researchers at LG Energy Solution, have developed a battery that combines a solid-state electrolyte and an all-silicon anode. The initial rounds of tests show that the new battery is safe, long lasting, and energy dense. It holds promise for a wide... Read more →

Solid Power, Inc., an industry-leading developer of all-solid-state battery cells for electric vehicles, is adding a second Denver-area production facility in Thornton, Colorado. The new facility will greatly expand Solid Power’s capacity to produce key materials for its all-solid-state battery cells, including the ability to produce up to 30 metric... Read more →

In a livestreamed briefing on batteries and carbon neutrality, Toyota Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda said that the company will invest ¥1.5 trillion (US$14.3 billion) in the development of a battery supply system and research and development by 2030. Toyota currently assumes it will go beyond the 180 GWh worth... Read more →

A consortium of seven UK-based organizations has signed a memorandum of understanding to combine ambitions to develop world-leading prototype solid-state battery technology, targeting automotive applications. Solid-state batteries offer significant potential advantages over conventional lithium-ion batteries and could be transformational in meeting the UK’s net zero commitments through the electrification of... Read more →

Sakuú Corporation, an additive manufacturing technology company, announced the start of its solid-state battery (earlier post) pilot line and learning center. Sakuú’s pilot line will have the capability to produce up to 2.5 MWh per year of solid-state batteries and in the future will also serve as a customer learning... Read more →

Quanergy Systems, Inc., a leading provider of Optical Phased Array (OPA)-based solid state LiDAR sensors and smart 3D solutions for automotive and IoT, announced the successful driving demonstration of its S3 Series LiDAR, a solid-state LiDAR sensor using an industry-first Optical Phased Array (OPA) technology and a scalable CMOS silicon... Read more →

Sakuú Corporation (previously KeraCel Inc.), a developer of multi-process additive manufacturing (AM) technology, has produced a 3Ah lithium-metal solid-state battery (SSB) that equals or betters current lithium-ion batteries. (Earlier post.) Sakuú has been developing its first-generation SSB battery technology alongside its additive manufacturing platform, set for commercial launch by the... Read more →

Solid-state battery developer Quantumscape reported that it has made and is currently testing its first 10-layer cells in a commercially relevant (70x85 mm/ 2.8x3.4 inches) form factor. The cells are being tested at 1C and C/3 (one- and three-hour charge and discharge) rates under standard temperature (25 °C) and pressure... Read more →

In April, Factorial Energy, a start-up solid-state battery technology company, emerged from stealth mode with a 40Ah solid-state battery cell for electric vehicles (EVs) and other applications. (Earlier post.) Now, Factorial Energy announced that the company’s initial round of testing of the 40 Ah cell cycle behavior at 25 ˚C... Read more →

A new report from IDTechEX forecasts the solid-state battery market will grow to $8 billion by 2031. Under most of the mass-production plans, the solid-state battery will likely take off after 2025, although small-scale production may happen even earlier, IDTechEX said. The car plug-in market will take the largest share... Read more →

Following the announcement by solid-state battery company Solid Power that it will become a publicly listed company through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), materials technology company Umicore announced that it holds a stake in Solid Power’s pre-SPAC transaction. This stake was built through two successive investment rounds (series A... Read more →

Solid-state battery technology developer Sakuu Corporation (previously KeraCel Inc.) recently announced the approval of three patents: a hybrid solid-state cell with a sealed anode structure; an additive manufacturing system with the ability to create an active device such as a micro-reactor or solid-state battery; and an electrophotographic multi-material 3D printer.... Read more →

In a perspective piece in the journal Joule, researchers at the University of Michigan lay out the main questions facing lithium-metal, solid-state batteries. To develop the questions, they worked in close collaboration with leaders in the auto industry. Major automakers are going all-in on electric vehicles this year, with many... Read more →

Solid Power, a producer of all-solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, provided details on its All-Solid-State Platform technology and the three unique battery designs it enables. Solid Power has also announced the successful transition of its high-content silicon all-solid-state battery to the company’s Colorado-based production line. Solid Power’s proprietary sulfide solid... Read more →

A team at Harvard has a developed a design for a solid-state battery that uses a hierarchy of interface stabilities (to lithium metal responses), to achieve an ultrahigh current density with no lithium dendrite penetration. Cycling performance of the Li-metal anode paired with a LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 cathode is very stable, with... Read more →

Solid-state battery developer QuantumScape Corporation (earlier post) has entered into an agreement with Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. to select the location of their joint-venture solid-state battery pilot-line facility by the end of 2021. The companies currently contemplate Salzgitter, Germany for the location. The pilot-line facility, QS-1, will initially be... Read more →

SK Inc., the holding company of SK Group, has invested an additional US$35.9 million (40 billion won) in SES (formerly SolidEnergy Systems), a developer of next-generation lithium metal batteries (earlier post). With this second investment, following the original 30-billion won (US$26.7 million) investment in 2018, SK now is the third-largest... Read more →

Solid Power, a developer of all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, announced a $130-million Series B investment round led by the BMW Group, Ford Motor Company and Volta Energy Technologies. Ford and the BMW Group have also expanded existing joint development agreements with Solid Power to secure all solid-state batteries... Read more →

Factorial Energy, a start-up solid-state battery technology company, emerged from stealth mode with a 40Ah solid-state battery cell for electric vehicles (EVs) and other applications. Factorial also announced the appointment of senior industry leaders with deep technical and automotive experience to its leadership team. Factorial Energy is naming Joe Taylor... Read more →

UK-based OXIS Energy, a developer of Li-S battery technologies (earlier post), says it will deploy solid-state Lithium Sulfur (Li-S) cells and battery systems to its clients and partners worldwide by Autumn 2021 for use in trials, proof of concept and demonstrator battery systems for the Aviation, Marine, Defence and Heavy... Read more →

Saint-Gobain, the global technical material expert, will partner with the Israeli battery technology start-up Addionics to develop next generation solid-state lithium-ion batteries with novel electrode components under the Israel - US BIRD Energy program. The partnership aims to offer major improvements in EV battery performance, such as longer driving range,... Read more →

In March, BMW presented the Neue Klasse generation of vehicles, to be launched by the middle of this decade, which will be clearly focused on all-electric drivetrains. For the Neue Klasse, the BMW Group is developing the next generation of its battery technology. (Earlier post.) With the Neue Klasse, we... Read more →

Ampcera Inc., a developer of solid electrolyte technologies for advanced electric vehicle batteries (earlier post), announced a new, low-cost, energy-efficient internal heating battery architecture that directly targets the solid electrolyte separator, the key component in solid-state batteries. This novel technology enables solid-state batteries to deliver superior performance, including starting and... Read more →

Hercules Electric Vehicles—a Detroit-based startup—is opening a $20-million Series A investment round managed by CMD Global Partners, a boutique investment bank. Hercules is developing an all-electric sport pickup truck, the Hercules Alpha, which will be available in late 2022. Hercules expects to demonstrate its first drivable architectural mule in April... Read more →

Interest in higher energy-density batteries that pair alkali metal electrodes with solid electrolytes is high; however, such batteries have been plagued by a tendency for dendrites to form on one of the electrodes, eventually bridging the electrolyte and shorting out the battery cell. N A team of researchers from MIT,... Read more →

RoboSense (Suteng Innovation Technology Co., Ltd.) has launched China’s first automotive-grade solid-state LiDAR production line and will start mass production and delivery of the automotive-grade solid-state LiDAR RS-LiDAR-M1 for contract projects in Q2 this year. At CES2021 in January, RoboSense officially unveiled the SOP version of the automotive-grade LiDAR RS-LiDAR-M1,... Read more →

ion Ventures, a modern utility and energy storage infrastructure specialist, and LiNa Energy, a solid-state battery technology developer, concluded their first successful trial of LiNa’s proprietary solid-state sodium-nickel battery platform at an undisclosed location in South East England last week. LiNa Energy is commercializing a safe, ~$50kWh (at mass manufacturing),... Read more →

A new fabrication technique could allow all-solid-state automotive lithium-ion batteries (ASSLBs) to adopt nonflammable ceramic electrolytes using the same production processes as in batteries made with conventional liquid electrolytes. The new technique, reported March 8 in the journal Nature Materials, could allow large automotive Li-ion batteries to be made safer... Read more →

Market analysis firm FutureBridge expects that cost-parity between Li-ion and solid-state batteries could be achieved in another five years. Solid-state batteries (SSBs) promise a leap forward, compared to incremental gains from Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs), with improved safety, higher energy density, faster charging times, and longer life. However, today their commercialization... Read more →

A research team from Japan has recently developed a novel electrode material for all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) by combining lithium sulfate and lithium ruthenate, which results in improved performance. An open-access paper on their work is published in Science Advances. An all-solid-state lithium battery using inorganic solid electrolytes requires safety assurance... Read more →

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Tohoku University, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and Nippon Institute of Technology, have demonstrated by experiment that a clean electrolyte/electrode interface is key to realizing high-capacity solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs). Their findings could pave the way for improved battery... Read more →

The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding an additional $47 million in funding for seven projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) Seeding Critical Advances for Leading Energy technologies with Untapped Potential (SCALEUP) program. Three of the projects (Sila, 24M and Ionic Materials) are scaling up... Read more →

At NIO Day, in Chengdu, NIO launched its first autonomous driving model, the smart electric flagship sedan NIO ET7. The ET7 has a pre-subsidy price starting from RMB 448,000 (US$69,000), or from RMB 378,000 (US$58,400) with BaaS (Battery as a Service). The ET7 features a 180 kW permanent magnet motor... Read more →

Bremen’s public transport provider Bremer Straßenbahn AG (BSAG) has ordered five new Mercedes-Benz eCitaro electric buses equipped with solid-state batteries. Delivery of the locally emission-free eCitaro buses will take place in early 2022. The batteries combine a very high energy density with a particularly long service life. Seven battery packs... Read more →

Solid Power, a developer of all solid-state batteries for electric vehicles, announced that its Louisville, Colo. facility is producing 20 Ah multi-layer all solid-state lithium metal batteries on the company’s continuous roll-to-roll production line. In October, Solid Power had announced the production and delivery of the company’s first-generation multi-layer, multi-ampere... Read more →

Velodyne Lidar introduced the Velarray M1600, a solid-state lidar sensor designed to serve mobile robotic applications. The sensor is the latest in a new line of Velarray products and first in the new M-series. It is built using Velodyne’s proprietary micro-lidar array architecture (MLA) and leverages Velodyne’s manufacturing partnerships for... Read more →

QuantumScape Corporation, a Volkswagen Group-backed developer of next-generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles (EVs), released performance data demonstrating that its technology addresses fundamental issues holding back widespread adoption of high-energy density solid-state batteries, including charge time (current density), cycle life, safety, and operating temperature. A commercially viable... Read more →

The Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) in Austria has launched the Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory for Solid-State Batteries. The focus of the new CD laboratory is the reduction of interface resistances within the solid-state battery. The aim is to make this particularly safe energy storage system fit for electric... Read more →

Solid Power announced the production and delivery of the company’s first-generation multi-layer, multi-ampere hour (Ah) all solid-state lithium metal cells. Solid Power’s sulfide-based all solid-state lithium metal batteries are manufactured using lithium-ion industry standard processes and automated equipment. Every cell that Solid Power produces is free of any liquid or... Read more →

Miltec UV International has been awarded a contract from the Defense Logistics Agency, to demonstrate the cell technology to produce solid-state lithium-ion batteries using Miltec’s UV cured Gel Polymer Electrolyte. This technology will accelerate the advancement of solid-state lithium batteries. Miltec is working in partnership with Saft America, Inc.’s Cockeysville,... Read more →

Stanford University scientists have identified a new solid-state Li-ion electrolyte predicted to exhibit simultaneously fast ionic conductivity, wide electrochemical stability, low cost, and low mass density. The low-cost materials—made of lithium, boron and sulfur—could improve the safety and performance of electric cars, laptops and other battery-powered devices, according to the... Read more →

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced that Dr. Kyung-Joong Yoon and Researcher Ji-Su Shin from the Center for Energy Materials Research, together with Professor Yun -Jung Lee from Hanyang University (Hanyang University, President Woo-Seung Kim), have developed a single-atom Pt catalyst that can be used for SOFCs.... Read more →

Researchers from the University of Western Ontario (UWO), University of Toronto and Glabat Solid-State Battery Inc. have clarified the phase evolution of a prenucleator (MoS2) in all-solid-state lithium batteries (ASSLBs) for promoting fast Li nucleation and selective Li deposition. A paper on their work is published in the journal Advanced... Read more →

QuantumScape Corporation, a developer of next generation solid-state lithium-metal batteries for use in electric vehicles, and Kensington Capital Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in QuantumScape becoming a publicly listed company. Upon closing of the transaction, the... Read more →

ams and Ibeo Automotive Systems GmbH announced that they have made progress in bringing to market solid-state LiDAR technology for autonomous driving. ams and Ibeo began joint LiDAR development in 2018 on ibeoNext Solid State LiDAR. Their aim is to provide solid-state LiDAR to the automotive market for advanced driver... Read more →

Switzerland-based Blackstone Resources AG announced that it has achieved a series of important milestones for producing any kind of printed battery cells. The company has been investing in the next generation of battery technology through its German subsidiary Blackstone Technology GmbH. This includes patented 3D-printing techniques and research into the... Read more →