StoreDot to use Group14 Technologies silicon tech
The Israeli battery developer StoreDot is cooperating with the US company Group14 Technologies, a supplier of lithium-silicon battery materials. StoreDot says it will integrate Group14’s lithium silicon technology into its cell technology called XFC (Extreme Fast Charging).
Group14 already has partnerships with Slovakian battery company InoBat and Chinese manufacturer Farasis. With Group14’s battery materials, StoreDot says the XFC cell technology should accelerate the market introduction of XFC lithium silicon cells for electric vehicles. Using the novel battery material, StoreDot says it should be possible to achieve an energy density of 300 Wh/kg, a lifetime of over 700 cycles and charging from 0 to 80 per cent in ten minutes.
“We are extremely excited by the prospects of this partnership with Group14. This partnership will give StoreDot the potential to accelerate the time to market of our XFC cells and reduce battery cost which can eventually be passed onto customers,” said Dr Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO and co-founder.
“We see the partnership with StoreDot as a union of the best of both worlds: high energy density and extreme fast charging, both critical elements of the electrification equation that consumers are demanding,” said Rick Luebbe, CEO and co-founder of Group14 Technologies. “With a solution that addresses both of these concerns, we now can forge a pathway to the electrification of everything.”
The ‘XFC-FlashBattery’ promoted by StoreDot is in itself a self-designed cell with a silicon-dominant anode. This is supposed to be distinguished by its enormous fast-charging capability. In 2019, the Israelis company demonstrated in an intermediate step that their technology can charge the battery of an electric scooter in five minutes. The first development samples were demonstrated to potential partners in early 2021, and then in May, a strategic framework agreement was concluded with the Chinese battery manufacturer EVE Energy – with the aim of series production by 2024.
For its part, Group14 Technologies is a US-based supplier of a patented anode material called SCC55TM, founded in 2015. Cells with SCC55 technology are said to “significantly increase the range of electric vehicles without compromising the cycle life standards set by high-quality graphites and synthetic graphites”, according to an earlier Group14 announcement. The material is manufactured at Group14’s ‘Battery Active Materials (BAM)’ factory in Washington state.
Currently, much of the factory’s current production capacity is reserved for consumer electronics customers. However, the US company is increasingly looking to tap into the electric car market as the recently agreed cooperations with InoBat and Farasis would attest. In fact, Group14 is currently working on expanding its capacities in order to be able to offer larger quantities than the current batch to automotive customers. In July, the company announced a joint venture with the South Korean company SK Materials for this purpose. The sister company of battery cell manufacturer SK Innovation wants to build a factory for lithium-silicon battery materials in South Korea together with Group14. Construction of the $52 million plant in Nabe is scheduled to begin in 2022. SK Materials has already invested in the company in a Series B financing round that Group14 closed in December 2020. BASF, among others, is also a shareholder in Group14.
reporting by Cora Werwitzke
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