TaiSan raises over £1 million to develop sodium batteries

UK-based battery materials startup TaiSan announces the raise of £1.3 million in its pre-seed funding round. The investment is intended to enable TaiSan to progress its quasi-solid state sodium technology for BEVs, targeting best-in-class energy density.

The funding round was led by EIT InnoEnergy and TSP Ventures, with Heartfelt VC and Exergon, who collectively raised £1.3m for the automotive battery company. With the new funds, TaiSan is planning to improve its battery manufacturing processes, targeting a 20 per cent cost saving at the GWh-level. The company already has its customers lined up as well and has signed MOUs with automotive OEMs from seven countries.

So far, TaiSan explains that it has received nearly £500,000 in funding from multiple UK Government and Research organisations, including the Department for Transport (DfT), The Faraday Institution, Innovate UK, Advanced Propulsion Centre, Royal Academy of Engineering and Catapult Connected Places.

TaiSan was launched in 2022 with the objective of developing an industry-disrupting sodium battery for BEVs with increased energy density. Since then, TaiSan has developed its own proprietary, innovative polymer electrolyte featuring a metal anode. The company claims that its technology is “based on sustainable and abundant, environmentally friendly materials across the board,” meaning that “no lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper metals are used for the anode.”

“On behalf of our entire team, I am delighted to announce the completion of this pre-seed fund raise and would like to thank our expert strategic investors for their vision and full support. Sodium-ion offers significant cost, sustainability and safety benefits for the BEV industry,” said TaiSan’s CEO Sanzhar Taizhan, adding: “TaiSan’s novel electrolyte and anode material innovations will bring this technology to the next level – batteries becoming smaller, lighter, with best-in-class energy density, and major cost savings too. Our new investment will enable us to ramp up development and we will be announcing some game-changing results in the very near future.”

The CIO of TSP Ventures, Mike Doswell also said he was confident in the potential of sodium-ion battery technology: “We believe TaiSan’s technological breakthroughs can unlock the promise of sodium-ion by delivering cheaper, highly functional batteries with significantly lower environmental impact.”

Sodium battery technology has become an increasingly growing field of interest, with Chinese manufacturers already employing them in multiple fields, including aviation. BYD and Huahai have launched a joint venture to manufacture sodium batteries for the Chinese market, while the technology is still in earlier stages in Europe, as Varta, for example, is starting to explore the battery technology.

Source: Info via email