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This week, Mercedes-Benz announced that its partnership with Sila Nanotechnologies, a battery materials company, is about to come to fruition. That’s because Sila’s next-generation lithium-silicon battery technology is ready for primetime.
Instead of the typical battery cells found in electric vehicles, Sila has been working on an entirely new silicon anode technology that is much more energy dense. In fact, the press release suggests potentially increasing battery capacity by 20-40% in the same size as current battery cells or using smaller cells overall within vehicles.
And while Mercedes invested in the startup in 2019, they are now taking that partnership to another level with a supply deal. These next-generation battery cells should debut in upcoming Mercedes-Benz G-Glass vehicles, like the exciting 2025 G-Wagon.
Silicon anode battery technology isn’t necessarily new, but getting it stable enough to run for the life of the battery without breaking down has been a challenge. And with this recent announcement, it looks like Sila has solved that problem and is ready to equip the sleek Mercedes G-Wagon with the technology. If so, we can expect other manufacturers to jump on board soon, as a larger range is certainly welcome.
Sila’s next-generation silicon anodes will be manufactured at a new facility in Washington state and will produce between 100,000 and 500,000 battery packs (100 kWh/unit) per year when the factory becomes operational in 2024.
Mercedes-Benz says that silicon anode batteries will not compromise safety or performance while increasing range thanks to being more energy dense. This is an exciting development, and we’ll be keeping an eye out for more details.
via TechCrunch
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