CA: Solid-state battery start-up Sparkz opens pilot plant
A new battery company from the US called Sparkz announced opening a pilot facility in Livermore, California, for its patented solid-state battery technology. Last year, Sparkz won a grant for $2.6 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC).
The money was to extend Sparkz’ development into solid-state batteries. The company is banking on a zero-cobalt approach that they say offered double the energy density compared to other zero cobalt batteries (LFP) predominantly made in China.
The California facility will be its first pilot manufacturing plant in the USA. The company said its move was “spurred by continued support from the California Energy Commission” as they prepare to shift a second product line from development to commercialisation.
“Our pilot production facility in Livermore is the first, exciting step towards advancing the development and scale-up of our solid-state battery technology,” said Sparkz CEO Sanjiv Malhotra. “The California Energy Commission’s funding and continued support of Sparkz was an important step towards securing this facility.”
Sparkz is also exploring plants in Appalachia to begin manufacturing its zero cobalt, lithium-ion batteries for OEM partners, which they will disclose “in the near future”. The company claims it has the exclusive licenses to produce cobalt-free lithium batteries and is committed to making them in the US.
Sparkz already has an R&D and Innovation Center in Knoxville, TN, where it is conducting the development and scale-up of lithium batteries based on zero cobalt cathodes.
For the Livermore plant, Sparkz said it would bring jobs and eventually manufacturing to northern California but did not go deeper into numbers or a schedule.
The company was founded in 2019 and has since completed the transfer of six patents from the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which continues to be an R&D partner.
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