Dr. James Wilcox, Vice President of Business Development and Head of Mobility
Technologists, academics, OEMs, and leading cell manufacturers gathered last week at the 41st annual International Battery Seminar (IBS) Conference. This conference is a great opportunity to hear first-hand the latest innovations, trends, and perspectives in materials, product development, manufacturing, and applications for all battery systems and enabling technologies.
Particularly pressing is the need for new innovations to support the increasing demand of power-hungry applications in consumer electronics and provide EV OEMs with better performing batteries. It was abundantly clear that the conference continues to evolve toward EV applications. The Inflation Reduction Act provided significant support to the domestic EV battery market and supply chain, and despite the recent slow-down in EV sales, most people I met with are confident this is temporary. There is a growing need for more cost-effective, energy-efficient and safe batteries for EVs. This is critical since transportation continues to be the leading source of emissions in the U.S.
Those who follow our progress at Enovix know that we have created a completely different lithium-ion battery that is material agnostic due to our unique mechanical structure. Rather than having large electrodes that run parallel to the face of the battery, Enovix cells have many small electrodes that are orthogonal to the largest face of the battery. This change in architecture allows for volumetric efficiencies, improved thermal conductivity, as well as accommodating the use of a 100% active silicon anode.
With our recent acquisition of Routejade, a successful South Korean battery manufacturer, we added more battery experts to the team. Routejade has been manufacturing batteries for more than 20 years. The acquisition vertically integrated our business by bringing coating in-house, as well as pack and power control modules. It also expanded our product portfolio significantly.
My presentation at IBS titled: “Next-Gen Lithium-ion Battery Technology Advancing Consumer Electronics” provided an update on our journey to scale to high-volume manufacturing, our roadmap and the integration of Routejade into our business.
The need for a better battery in consumer devices
In my talk, I highlighted a significant challenge facing the consumer electronics industry: lithium-ion batteries haven’t advanced much since 1991, subsequently limiting the full capabilities and performance of current and future consumer devices. The need for a higher energy density battery is critically important for smartphones as OEMs are adding more features and applications to meet consumer demands, but are hampered by current technology. Another challenge is the surge in artificial intelligence (AI) applications on smartphones, which is threatening all-day battery life that we’ve come to expect. Some tests have demonstrated that up to 50% more battery runtime is required for on-device AI to run effectively.
At Enovix we realize the urgent need for a higher energy density battery to power consumer electronics. Our unique battery technology enables increased energy density without compromising safety. Our batteries are designed for fast charge, improved battery capacity and cycle life. Our next-generation smartphone battery is designed to deliver more than 30% more battery capacity in the same size as the leading cells on the market today.
Envisioning the future in EVs
While our immediate focus has been on advancing battery technology for consumer electronics, our vision extends to the EV market and we recently announced signing a development agreement with a leading automaker. Our unique architecture is designed to enable next generation materials through our optimized mechanical design, and reduce thermal gradients and enable higher charge rates. I am excited about the opportunities this presents for both Enovix and the broader automotive industry.
Enovix Wins Honorable Mention in Best of Show
In addition to my talk, we were thrilled to receive an Honorable Mention award for IBS’ Best Of Show New Product awards for our Enovix Industrial Cell EXHPR-73548. This award is very special to our team because attendees at IBS voted live on the most impactful new products of the year. This award is recognition for our Industrial Cell, which is designed for IoT, military, and industrial applications with a rugged cell architecture that provides a significant energy density advantage compared to other cells on the market today.
I believe we are entering a new era in battery technology. Many of us have been in the industry for decades working on exciting R&D projects but this year, the advancements are coming to fruition. As we continue to scale our technology at Enovix, I am inspired by the future and its potential to transform our lives. You can also follow our progress on LinkedIn. To read more about our EV strategy, please see my blog recap from AABC.
