Enevate wants to enable electric vehicles to charge as fast as refueling gas cars and is now closer to make it happen.
This Californian company just announced a new production license agreement with the South Korean battery cell maker EnerTech International to commercialize Enevate’s silicon-dominant anode battery technology.
Commercialization is scheduled for 2022 and pre-production batteries have already been built and tested by Enertech’s existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing equipment.
IRVINE, Calif. – June 08, 2021 – Enevate, a pioneering battery innovation company featuring extreme fast charge and high energy density battery technologies for electric vehicles (EVs) and other markets, announced a new production license agreement with EnerTech International to commercialize Enevate’s silicon-dominant, XFC-EnergyTM battery technology in the transportation, mobility and reserve power markets. Silicon Battery Commercialization Scheduled for 2022.
South Korea-based Enertech International is a leader in delivering lithium-ion cells and uses state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to produce large format batteries in high demand by rapidly growing markets.
This production license agreement with Enertech is the next milestone in Enevate’s technology roadmap with commercialization scheduled for 2022. Pre-production batteries have been built and tested using Enertech’s existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing equipment. With the agreement, Enevate will deliver enabling technology to accelerate Enertech’s market expansion and triple its manufacturing capacity output.
Enevate’s next-gen lithium-ion battery technology delivers up to 10 times faster charging than conventional lithium-ion batteries with high energy densities along with a host of other benefits, including improved safety and low-temperature operation for cold climates. With its Extreme Fast Charge capability, Enevate technology allows for a battery to charge in as fast as five minutes.
Enevate develops and licenses advanced silicon-dominant Li-ion battery technology for electric vehicles (EVs), with a vision of EVs charging as fast as refueling gas cars, accessible and affordable to everyone, and accelerating EVs’ mass adoption. With a portfolio of more than 350 patents issued and in process, Enevate’s pioneering advancements in silicon-dominant anodes and cells have resulted in battery technology that features five-minute extreme fast charging with high energy density, low temperature operation for cold climates, low cost and safety advantages over conventional batteries.
Enevate’s vision is to develop and propagate EV battery technology that contributes to a clean and sustainable environment. The Irvine, California-based company’s other investors include Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi (Alliance Ventures), LG Chem, Samsung Venture Investment Corp, Mission Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Tsing Capital, Infinite Potential Technologies, Presidio Ventures – a Sumitomo Corporation company, Lenovo, CEC Capital and Bangchak. Enevate®, the Enevate logo, XFC-Energy™, HD-Energy®, and eBoost® are registered trademarks of Enevate Corporation.
Enevate uses an innovative, multi-layer design that allows us to safely pack more energy into a single cell, because our XFC-EnergyTM silicon-dominant anode layer requires a fraction of the space of a graphite anode layer used in a conventional cell. In fact, large-format EV size cells achieve over 1000 Wh/L and 350 Wh/kg energy density.
Pain Points for EV Adoption:
- Long, inconvenient charging time
- Driving distance and range anxiety
- Price premium over gas cars
- Low-temp performance
- Safety
Enevate Delivers:
- 10X faster charging; 5-minute Extreme Fast Charge
- 30% more EV range, higher energy density
- Enables lower cost and affordable EVs
- >100% better low temperature performance
- Safer battery with no lithium plating
Anyway, I doubt that the small South Korean company EnerTech International will mass produce this battery technology. I think that Enevate will use EnerTech’s equipment to produce multiple sample units and prove that the technology is ready for mass production, then LG Chem - that is also an investor of Enevate - should step up and get the license to mass produce it.
Now let’s forget Enevate for a moment and talk about silicon anodes in general and their importance in EV batteries.
Batteries with silicon anodes are revolutionary, especially when we consider that this battery technology can also be applied to cobalt-free batteries, such as LFP (LiFePO4). This was already demonstrated by Guoxuan early this year.
The possibility of charging 75 % of an EV battery in 5 minutes with a C-rate of 10 C is really impressive. Extremely fast charging is essential to make electric vehicles mainstream, since it allows them to have smaller and lighter batteries, yet still remain useful in everyday life.
Considering the examples below, which hypothetical electric car would you prefer? A or B?
Electric car A
- Range: 300 km (WLTP)
- Battery capacity: 40 kWh
- Consumption: 14 kWh/100 km (charging losses included)
- Weight: 1.200 kg
- Fast charging: 75 % in 5 minutes
- Price: 15.000 euros
Electric car B
- Range: 550 km (WLTP)
- Battery capacity: 80 kWh
- Consumption: 16 kWh/100 km (charging losses included)
- Weight: 1.450 kg
- Fast charging: 80 % in 30 minutes
- Price: 22.000 euros
I know I would prefer the cheaper and more efficient option A. Lower weight also means faster acceleration and shorter stopping distance, improving safety.
I really dislike when automakers complain that EV batteries are expensive but then show us that they don’t care about getting the most from their batteries. Their solution to increase the range of their electric cars is almost always to add more battery capacity, instead of improving efficiency first (just look at Volvo electric cars…).
Before thinking to introduce heavy 100 kWh batteries in electric cars, we should have more efficient electric cars that also charge faster. Adding more battery capacity to get more range should always be the last resort, especially if we believe automakers’ narrative that batteries are extremely expensive… (You know I don’t!)
Finally, it’s becoming obvious that the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) age is near the end. Technologies such as CTP (cell-to-pack), cobalt-free (or low-cobalt content) cathodes and silicon anodes make electric vehicles better than their gas counterparts in every single way.
Moreover, while ICE vehicles have already maxed out their potential, the potential of electric vehicles to become even better is enormous. Solar roofs, V2G (vehicle to grid) and V2L (vehicle to load) are some technologies that’ll soon become standard in EVs. How cool is that you will be able to use your electric car as a mobile power bank that can be charged with solar energy?
Some examples where large mobile power banks can be useful…
- Vacation house in a remote area without access to the electrical grid
- Construction work in remote communities
- Farmers’ market
- Music festivals
- Camping
- Emergencies during a power outage
- Charging other EV
I’m sure that you can think in a lot more uses for a big mobile power bank…
Honestly, when I look to current mainstream EVs I tend to think they are still a bit primitive, considering their true potential. They could already be so much better…
Thanks for the heads up Rok.
More info:
https://www.enevate.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ENEVATE-Enertech-p.r.-FINAL-Jun-8-2021.pdf
