Sakuu opens engineering facility in the USA
Sakuu, a California-based developer of 3D-printed solid-state batteries, has opened a new engineering centre in Silicon Valley. This multi-million dollar expansion follows the recent opening of Sakuu’s battery pilot line.
Announced last year, this pilot line is now producing its first batteries for customers. The new facility is said to allow Sakuu to scale its 3D printed battery platform as the company aims to build factories around the world with a total capacity of 60 GWh by 2028.
The facility will house teams from battery, engineering, materials science, R&D and additive manufacturing to collaborate and hold training sessions. The site is expected to employ 115 people by the first quarter of 2023, Sakuu said.
Although the 3D printing process developed by Sakuu is said to be suitable in principle for other industries, the company sees the greatest leverage in battery manufacturing. According to the company, various additive manufacturing processes will be combined. For example, “completely different materials” can be sprayed onto the powder bed in a single layer. In addition to ceramics and metals, the process also uses a carrier material developed by Sakuu called PoraLyte. This support material is said to enable “simple and fast” 3D printing of components with cavities without brittle ceramic layers.
“We are in a rapid growth phase due to strong demand for our forthcoming printed batteries,” says Sean Sharif, vice president of global supply chain and logistics. “Our new facility paves the way for our first 3D printing platform gigafactory, dubbed Sakuu G-One. The facility will allow our teams to fine-tune all aspects of our battery printing technologies to enable swift deployment of our gigafactories.”
Earlier this year, Sakuu had raised $62 million in a funding round.
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