Solid-State Battery Race Has A New Entrant: Factorial Energy

Can a company that offered no details on its technology be a credible contender in the solid-state battery race? If it has names such as Dieter Zetsche and Mark Fields, it certainly hopes so. That’s the case of Factorial Energy, a company that showed its face with a 40 Ah about which it did not speak much.

Apart from saying the massive cell in the picture above has 40 Ah, Factorial also said it is made with the Factorial Electrolyte System Technology – FEST, for short. It would be made with high-voltage and high-energy-density electrodes, meaning it works with a lithium metal anode. That would allow it to be 20 percent to 50 percent better than regular batteries for the driving range.

It obviously has a solid-state electrolyte, which would suppress lithium dendrite formation. That is something QuantumScape also said its technology could do. The difference is that Factorial Energy would have already reached the manufacturing stage, like Solid Power.

This seems to be its major breakthrough. The method for manufacturing it would be compatible with “existing lithium-ion battery manufacturing infrastructure,” according to Joe Taylor, the company’s chairman and former Panasonic North America CEO. Other solid-state battery strategies failed to achieve a cost-effective manufacturing process.

Despite that, the focus of the new company is on the people around it. Mark Fields, a former Ford CEO and president, is an investor and part of the advisory board. Dieter Zetsche also integrates the board. He ran Daimler for 12 years. Taylor is also a relevant asset.

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These connections are probably what allows Factorial Energy to say it has “several major global automotive partners.” It is unclear if it is talking about car manufacturers or battery companies that could produce batteries with its technology. There’s nothing on the press release mentioning plans for Factorial Energy factories of any sort.

We’ll try to contact the company to learn more about its plans, technology, and partners. One thing is for sure: Mark Fields, Dieter Zetsche, and Joe Taylor have a lot of experience not to associate their names to something that deserves no attention.