Enevate, a specialist in silicon-dominant lithium-ion battery technology, announced $81 million in Series E funding (and $191 million to date), led by Fidelity Management & Research Company.
The California-based company is backed by well-known names like Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (Alliance Ventures), LG Chem and Samsung Venture Investment Corp, which indicates a promising solution for electric vehicles.
In the case of Enevate, the focus is on the pure silicon anode (that could be paired with a variety of cathodes, including NCA, NCM, NCMA and others) to achieve high energy density (800 Wh/L and 340 Wh/kg), extreme fast charging capability (like 5-minute charging to 75% capacity) and reasonable cost and acceptable cycle-life. We listed most of the targets a year ago.
Having promising technology and resources, now it's the time to bring the product to the market.
"Enevate said that the investment would enable the company to significantly expand its pre-production line designed to guide EV and other battery customers toward implementing larger-scale battery manufacturing utilizing Enevate’s silicon anode-based batteries. The funding would also enable Enevate to scale and grow. Included will be the hiring of additional personnel with an emphasis on scientists and engineers."
Enevate says that it holds the largest portfolio of patents related to silicon Li-ion cell technologies. The company is offering technology transfer and intellectual property licensing to automotive OEMs and EV battery manufacturers. Only time will tell whether the big players will decide to pick up the tech and invest billions of dollars in the endeavor.
A few of the key EV/battery-related investors seem cautiously optimistic:
Hadi Zablit, Chairman of Alliance Ventures, a partnership of Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi said:
“We congratulate Enevate on this latest round of funding, and look forward to additional collaboration as we continue to develop competitive and exciting products for our customers,”.
Sungrok Bang, Director of Open Innovation from LG Energy Solutions, the battery spinout from LG Chem said:
“Our collaboration with Enevate started in 2017 and progresses today, we are excited about fast charge, high energy density technology and we are working to bring it to the EV market. Congratulations to the Enevate team on this latest milestone,”.
A representative from Samsung Venture Investment Corporation said:
“As an investor, we believe Enevate’s technology possesses a combination of advantages that is highly attractive to both the EV and power tool battery markets in both pouch and cylindrical cell formats. The advantages are enabled by Enevate’s unique silicon anode technology, which attracted us as an investor. We congratulate Enevate’s funding achievement on its expeditious path to commercialization.”
See also
