We have covered the exploration and development of silicon battery anodes For good more than a decade, but most of the breakthroughs have taken place at the laboratory level. In recent years, the technology has moved towards commercialization, and Silicon Valley battery materials company Sila announced this month that its Titan Silicon anode is now available. The new anode is already set to feature in the next all-electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class and promises the potential for a 20% increase in range and a dramatic reduction in charging time of up to 10 minutes.
Sila announced the availability of Titan Silicon last week, calling it a high-performance nano-composite silicon technology designed to replace common graphite anodes on a large scale. He estimates that alternative anode technology could increase battery capacity enough to increase electric vehicle range by up to 20%, which is the potential addition of more than 100 miles (161 km) to current leaders. of the market range as the 516 miles (830 km). ) 2023 Lucid Air Grand Touring. He thinks future iterations could double those gains.
“Titan Silicon is the highest performing nanocomposite silicon on the market today,” said Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila. “Our battery and materials teams are constantly renewing and improving our chemistry to deliver the best and most cost-effective results possible. With the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, consumers are looking for best-in-class solutions that deliver the best in their category. performance, and our solutions deliver exactly that: longer battery life and faster charging.”
As for faster charging, Sila quotes a charging time as low as 20 minutes for 10-80%. It doesn’t sound any faster than current generation drums, such as the 18 minutes 10-80% faster with Hyundai’s 800V super-fast charging, but Sila says its 20-minute time would be an improvement for packs that currently take 60 minutes to charge the same 10-80% gap. He thinks he can halve that figure to 10 minutes in the future.
Sila also points out that Titan Silicon is a market-proven graphite anode replacement material already used in screenless Oops 4.0 fitness band, which advertises a battery life of four to five days. Plans are also underway for the technology to integrate the fleet of Mercedes-Benz electric vehicles, starting with the all-electric Mercedes G-Class previewed in 2021.
Mercedes-Benz
Several months after revealing the EQG Concept 2021 to preview its next battery-powered 4×4, Mercedes announced in May 2022 that the production version would feature Sila’s anode technology. The German luxury automaker first developed a strategic partnership with Sila in 2019 and estimates that the nano-composite silicon anode will deliver a 20-40% increase in battery energy density, potentially reaching levels of up to 800 Wh/l at the cell level. The companies are targeting mid-decade for the launch of a full-range EQG loaded with Sila anodes.
Sila’s announcement of Titan Silicon’s availability this month came after it reached an important milestone, completing development of new equipment at its manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington. It will begin mass production at the facility in the second half of 2024, with plans to build enough anode material to power one million electric vehicles within five years.
The Titan Silicon Anode is an integrated solution designed to work with any type of battery cell shape – cylindrical, ladle or prismatic – and integrates seamlessly into battery manufacturing systems. It is designed to be used as a full or partial graphite replacement, depending on airframe or automaker performance goals and product development schedule.
The video clip below offers a brief automotive overview for Sila technology.
Silah | Advancing the performance of electric vehicles
Source: They