Volvo Cars has made an investment in a breakthrough battery technology company that could see its future electric vehicles get nearly 100 miles of range from a five-minute charge.
Having been the first major automaker to announce it was leaving internal combustion engine cars behind as it races towards an all-electric future, its investment is in StoreDot, an Israeli company developing extreme-fast-charging battery technology for electric cars, through the Volvo Cars Tech Fund, its venture capital arm.
StoreDot is working on a pioneering technology that, according to the company, should result in batteries that can charge to 99 miles (160km) of pure electric range in just five minutes. The investment gives Volvo Cars the opportunity to collaborate closely with StoreDot on exciting new battery technology, as it aims to become a pure electric car company by 2030.
By working together with Volvo Cars, StoreDot aims to accelerate the time to market for its technology and it targets mass production by 2024. Volvo Cars is the first premium carmaker to invest in StoreDot.
The collaboration between both companies will mainly take place within the battery technology joint venture that Volvo Cars established last year with Northvolt, the Swedish leading battery maker. Through its investment in StoreDot, Volvo Cars has secured access to any resulting technology from the collaboration.
“We aim to be the fastest transformer in our industry and the Tech Fund plays a crucial role in establishing partnerships with future technology leaders,” said Alexander Petrofski, Head of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. “Our investment in StoreDot perfectly fits that mindset, and their commitment to electrification and carbon-free mobility matches our own. We’re excited to make this a successful collaboration for both parties and work towards bringing this groundbreaking technology to the market.”
StoreDot’s pioneering battery development is centered around a unique silicon-dominant anode technology and related software integration. It aims to develop extreme-fast-charging battery technology, which closely aligns with Volvo Cars’ ambition to develop electric cars with a longer range, quicker charging and lower costs.
Volvo Cars commitment to all-out electrification aims to sell only pure electric cars by 2030. Already by 2025, it aims for half of its global volume to consist of pure electric cars.
Its joint venture with Northvolt, announced last year, will focus on both development and manufacturing of state-of-the-art battery cells, specifically developed and tailor-made for use in next-generation pure electric Volvo and Polestar cars.
As part of the approximately 30 billion SEK investment in the joint venture, both companies are establishing a joint R&D center and a battery manufacturing plant in the Gothenburg area in Sweden. Together, the facilities will create more than 3,000 new jobs.
In the coming years, Volvo Cars plans to roll out a whole new family of pure electric cars, one of the industry’s most ambitious electrification plans. Its transition to all-out electrification is part of its ambition to become a climate-neutral company by 2040.
