Automotive fast-charge battery specialist StoreDot claims it is successfully manufacturing the first-ever prismatic extreme fast-charging (XFC) silicon-dominant battery cells ahead of bringing it to market.
The Israeli company says the new battery cells provide a commercially viable solution to several engineering challenges and manufacturing complexities facing the battery-electric vehicle industry’s favored prismatic cells which are rectangular and stacked in layers. While these allow improved better thermal management and safety in battery packs, they suffer from issues when using silicon-based chemistry for extreme fast-charging capabilities.
The company claims its solution is based on careful design of the stack thickness, formation currents and pressure regimes as well as managing the associated swelling of silicon-dominant anode technology and high currents in a prismatic hard case enclosure.
StoreDot says its new cells can be adapted to different cell form factors needed by a variety of automakers. The company will continue to optimize the design to achieve up to 170Ah of cell capacity and over 700 Wh/L volumetric energy density. It also claims that it remains on track this year with production-readiness of XFC cells that can deliver 100 miles (161 km) charged in 5 minutes, 100 miles charged in 4 minutes by 2026 and 100 miles charged in 3 minutes by 2028.
Doron Myersdorf, CEO StoreDot, says: “Successfully producing and passing initial tests of prismatic cells represents a huge leap towards delivering our XFC batteries in a format that can easily integrate into mass-produced EVs. This milestone moves us decisively closer to mass adoption of affordable, long-range EVs capable of extreme fast charging – creating an experience similar to fueling an internal-combustion engine.”
