Transportation

It Promised 20%, But Battery Startup Backed By BMW and Daimler Says 40% Density Gains May Be Possible


With advancement in lithium-ion battery technology slowing, companies are researching alternate materials to increase density—a must if automotive manufacturers will be able to make good on their goals to electrify their fleets of heavy SUVs that consumers are starting to favor.

A start-up founded by former Tesla engineers Gene Berdichevsky and Alex Jacobs has developed a silicon-based anode that replaces graphite in lithium-ion batteries, which according to the company can improve the energy density of batteries by 20%.

But in a recent article in Wirtschaftswoche, a German weekly business news magazine, Berdichevsky says he’s optimistic that his silicone anode that uses a composite to allow it flexibility could yield up to a 40% gain in energy density.

To put it in perspective, increasing the capacity of lithium-ion batteries by 40% means that an electric vehicle would be able to travel 620 miles (1,000 km) on a single charge, according to the article.

This density gain could enable heavy vehicles to travel longer distances on smaller battery packs, and lowering cost and weight of batteries would facilitate making electric vehicles accessible to the masses. This promise of significant engineering gains and potential cost-savings—not to mention the end of range anxiety—has caught the attention of many investors, including Next47, the Siemens-backed global venture firm, and sparked a partnership with BMW Group. Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz and other truck brands acquired a 10% stake in the Sila in April with its approximately $122 million (£100 million) investment into the Alameda, Calif.-based company, bringing its total investment to $300 million, and its valuation to more than $1 billion.



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