Daimler has acquired a minority equity stake in US battery material specialist Sila Nanotechnologies (Sila Nano) as part of its research and development activities.
A developer of new battery materials, Sila Nano aims to produce technologies that outperform existing lithium-ion, utilizing silicon to enable safe, scalable, high-energy density batteries suitable for use in electrified products, from consumer devices to EVs.
“We are on our way to a carbon-free future mobility,” said Sajjad Khan, executive vice president for connected, autonomous, shared and electric mobility at Daimler.
“While our all-new EQC model enters the markets this year we are already preparing the way for the next generation of powerful battery electric vehicles. Lithium-ion technology is currently the most efficient battery technology available, and still shows plenty of potential for the future.
“The advancements Sila Nano have made in battery performance are very promising. We are looking forward to a fruitful cooperation, pooling our know-how on further development and fast commercialization.”
“This breakthrough chemistry demonstrates up to 20% improvement today, with the potential to reach further improvements over state of the art traditional Li-ion,” added Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of Sila Nano.
“We’re excited to be working with Daimler to bring better, more energy-dense batteries to their fleet and bring our shared vision for the future of electric vehicles to life for more people.”
Sila Nano, headquartered in Alameda, California, replaces conventional graphite electrodes with its proprietary silicon-dominant composite materials that enable high energy density and high cycle life.
This translates, state the company’s experts, to more powerful, longer-range and enduring sources of power for electric vehicles. These materials can be incorporated into existing Li-ion factories, making it possible to deploy efficiently and at scale.
