Electrification Continues, Enovix Battery Cells Have the Potential to Offer EV OEMs A Better Battery in the Future
By Patrick Donnelly, Vice President of Strategic Business Development, Enovix Mobility
Over the last several months at two major industry conferences — the 2022 Advanced Automotive Battery Conference (AABC) in December and the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, one major theme prevailed — momentum behind automotive electrification continues to accelerate. As more and more EVs enter the market, OEMs are seeking to differentiate their offering from their peers. One such differentiator would be an EV battery with high energy density, high cycle and calendar life, extreme fast charge capability and excellent thermal performance.
States such as California are establishing rules such that in 2035 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in-state must be zero-emission vehicles.[1] The new regulation accelerates requirements that automakers deliver an increasing number of zero-emission, light-duty vehicles each year beginning in model year 2026.[2] I believe there are a few issues hindering adoption:
o Fast charge infrastructure (1/3 of Americans can’t charge at home[3])
o EVs are expensive[4] (need lower cost, longer range without compromising safety)
The Li-ion battery pack is the costliest part of a passenger EV.[5] According to Bloomberg NEF, continued battery cost reduction in the second half of the 2020s will require increased energy density for greater Watt-hour capacity at the cell and pack level. Historically, advancements in battery performance have come primarily from improvements in the active cathode and anode materials of the battery. While many other next-gen battery companies focus on incremental improvements through new chemistries, Enovix has developed a unique stacked battery design.
The electrodes in the Enovix cell architecture are stacked orthogonally and therefore do not face the largest side of the battery, as in conventional stacked architecture. Because the anode faces are small in area, much less pressure is needed to contain expansion. For the mobile electronics consumer market, this has enabled Enovix to go into production with a 100% active Si anode, delivering a battery with a step-change increase in energy density. You can read more about how our battery architecture solves the challenges of Si here:https://enovix.medium.com/overcoming-the-four-killer-problems-of-silicon-to-create-a-better-battery-61bb9eec041c
We believe the electrode orientation in the Enovix battery architecture has huge benefits, including:
· Enabling an order of magnitude improvement in cell thermal distribution due to the horizontal stacking of our electrodes.
· Managing swelling during charge/discharge with our constraint system inside the cell, thereby potentially reducing the mechanical design requirements at the pack level.
We believe a battery with our orthogonal stacking architecture can improve the thermal distribution and swell management at the cell level, potentially offering significant advantages over today’s automotive cells. Additionally, our constraint system surrounds the cell and provides sufficient force to limit the battery from swelling. This is a very practical way to limit first charge expansion with a silicon anode, as well as expansion during subsequent charge cycles for other advanced chemistries.
With more EV specific chemistries we continue to see excellent results within our battery design from our test cells using NMC cathodes coupled with our 100% active silicon anodes. Our test cells surpassed 1,500 cycles while retaining 88% of their capacity — well ahead of the Department of Energy program goal of 1,000 cycles with 80% capacity retention. You can learn more about these results in our presentation here: https://www.enovix.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/James-Wilcox_Enovix-AABC-12072267.pdf
While early in our EV program, we see great potential in applying the Enovix architecture to the EV market. Currently, we’re sampling batteries to a number of the most recognized OEMs in the world. Our goal is to translate this work into partnerships with automakers and/or battery OEMs to commercialize our technology.
As we saw at AABC and CES, there are enormous investments being made in the battery industry driven by environmental concerns, regulations, and the success of high-volume entrants making it clear that EVs are here to stay. We see this as an incredible long-term opportunity to help the world transition to a more sustainable future.
If you would like to speak to me or a member of the Enovix Mobility team, contact us at mobility@enovix.com.
[1] https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-moves-accelerate-100-new-zero-emission-vehicle-sales-2035
[2] https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/news/california-moves-accelerate-100-new-zero-emission-vehicle-sales-2035
[3] What do we do about all the people who can’t charge an EV at home?” Ars Technica August 2, 2022 https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/08/what-do-we-do-about-all-the-people-who-cant-charge-an-ev-at-home/
[4] https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/advice/why-are-electric-cars-so-expensive
