Charging speed remains a hurdle to overcome in the mass market adoption of passenger and commercial electric vehicles (EVs), but rapid charging under traditional electrochemistry is unpredictable, often damaging cells. Next-generation technologies such as solid-state electrolytes are said to have repeatedly fallen short of deployment targets.
Gaussion’s solution is claimed to ‘radically enhance’ battery performance using an external magnetic field during charge and discharge cycles to enable rapid charging by steering ions within existing battery cells. The magnetic field also lowers cell degradation, extending battery life. This approach aims to complement existing battery technologies rather than replace them.
The Series A round was supported by existing investors BGF and UCL Technology Fund, managed by AlbionVC in collaboration with UCL Business. The funds will enable Gaussion’s market entry and potentially the licensing of its technology for other applications.
In a statement, Alexei Andreev, co-founder and managing director of Autotech Ventures, said: “[Gaussion] leverage the advancements of current battery cell giants and apply an external magnetic field to enhance the performance of established battery technologies without changing their core components. We see tremendous opportunities in a variety of markets.”
With a global portfolio of patents and patent applications, Gaussion can offer a viable and scalable solution to meet the growing demand for more efficient and powerful energy storage systems.
The company’s solution could be applied to transportation electrification, construction equipment, mining operations, residential energy storage, and utility-scale energy storage for load and phase balancing.
“In many applications, we are observing that efforts to rapidly electrify are delayed or blocked due to the cost of raising the ceiling of battery performance,” said Tom Heenan, Gaussion CEO and co-founder. “Whereas magnetic enhancement could provide step-change improvements across all chemistries, formats and applications, affordably unlocking electrification without compromising on cost or performance.”
The current raise follows a seed raise of £2.85m led by BGF and UCL Technology Fund (UCLTF) in 2022.
