Enevate is a start-up company from Irvine, California that began its journey in 2005 to develop Lithium-Ion (Li-ion) batteries. With the increasing demand and production of electric vehicles (EVs), the company turned its attention to producing EV batteries in 2016.
Enevate has more than 200 patents worldwide including their HD-Energy® technology that allows for 5-minute charging via high energy density and improves upon conventional Li-ion batteries by being ideal for use in low temperatures and cold climates.
Conventional Li-ion battery anodes are made from graphite when you replace the graphite with silicon it can instantly boost energy by up to 25%, according to Enevate founder and CEO Benjamin Park.
The challenge that using silicon presents is, it swells by up to 400% when it charges, which will cause cracking and degrading of the battery surfaces. The battery will only last for a few hundred cycles.
Enevate set out to solve this problem, so they designed a conductive film that is both hard and porous. Enevate says they have “cracked the code” by using a silicon-dominant anode layer that works like many small balloons of silicon, which can expand and deflate without causing structural damage.
The company removed the polymer binder that’s in conventional batteries because they’re too weak according to Park. He goes on to explain how they solved this problem:
We solved this problem by, first, eliminating the binder. We basically just have a film of material. Our approach has been to create an active material piece. It’s basically one piece of powder instead of a billion powder particles held together with a polymer. That way the silicon can expand and contract within an entire rigid structure, and everything is conductive.
Their second solution involved the electrochemistry. By eliminating the graphite, it gave them more options to work with. Park continues his explanation: “We’re able to use silicon in a more reasonable way. We use less of it, and that’s okay because our silicon is less expensive. By using those two mechanisms [eliminating binders and using less of the available silicon], we were able to solve the major issues with silicon.”
This technology could be a game-changer for EVs. Instead of waiting for your battery to charge, this would be the same as a stop at a gas station, charging your battery 10x faster in just 5 minutes. Enevate batteries also have 30% more range than conventional Li-ion EV batteries.
Enevate batteries also offer improved safety over conventional batteries by removing the lithium plating. The company that dubs themselves Li-ion Battery Pioneers have received several industry safety certifications.
Having worked on this technology for nearly four years, they are now preparing to make this technology mainstream with more than $111 million from investors that include: Nissan, Renault, LG, Mitsubishi, and Samsung.
Jarvis Tou is the Executive VP of Marketing and Products for Enevate, he talked about the timeline for the batteries and when we can expect to see them in EVs:
New car platforms take 4-6 years to get to production, especially from the traditional automakers. So, we’re on that timeline now—we’re currently designing for the 2024 and 2025 model years.
Park was quick to point out in an interview with Charged that the company is also looking to release this technology in other “gateway markets” in around 2 years, which will give the company enough time to make improvements before rolling them out on a large scale for EVs.
