This Battery Startup Could Help Carmakers Avoid a Supply Chain Snarl

• Irvine, California-based Enevate says its tech gives EV batteries faster charge capabilities.
• It could also help automakers avoid major supply chain snarls.
• Here’s how it hopes to snatch up EV battery market share.

Startup Enevate says it has cracked the code on the most important part of electric cars: batteries. The 17-year-old company says its technology brings fast charging and high energy density to EV batteries, a combo that could mean cheaper cars with longer range.

Eventually, it could also help automakers avoid one of the biggest supply chain problems that stand in the way of their billion-dollar electric futures. 

Last year, the Irvine, California-based company pulled in $81 million from investors. The figure is notable given how far some electric car battery breakthroughs still are from commercialization, though a bit shy of some competitors. In comparison, rival Sila Nanotechnologies brought in $590 million in 2021, and Solid Power brought in $130 million. Our Next Energy and Factorial Energy saw $65 million and $200 million, respectively, in funding earlier this year. 

Enevate recently expanded its pre-production line for manufacturing and demonstrations for carmakers and battery companies — separating it from some battery startups that are still in development phases — all in the hopes of dominating what could be a $360 billion EV battery market by 2030, McKinsey estimates. Lots of battery companies today tout faster charging and higher energy density, including makers of solid-state technologies (which Enevate hopes to have a hand in moving forward). But Enevate could also help auto companies avoid a major supply chain crisis in the coming years.

Strategy

EV battery metal shortages are on course to hobble the industry. Right now nickel is a concern due to the conflict in Ukraine, but cobalt and lithium also present problems for car makers. Mining these metals is expensive, unsustainable, often affiliated with human rights violations, and a national security issue as the US relies on sources abroad. And at some point, experts warn, metals demand will far exceed supply (even with the advent of battery recycling). 

That means auto companies need alternatives. 

“The development of batteries and electric vehicle technology is progressing at such a rate that nothing is locked in yet as being permanently part of the development of an EV,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. 

“With all the money being funneled into development of batteries,” he added, “we can go down a number of paths and the industry can remove the most delicate parts of the supply chain.” 

Enevate’s high-energy density silicon-dominant tech means automakers might not need to pursue the energy density found in lithium metal, and won’t need to fear the pending lithium shortage. And its tech works with batteries that use low or no cobalt and nickel.

Starting point

Enevate licenses its technology to partners like the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, and hopes to commercialize it for EVs as soon as 2024. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have other applications in the meantime. 

One thing setting Enevate apart is that it wants to prove its technology in electric two-wheelers first, and is planning to go into production with two manufacturers this year. 

“Automotive is high-cost, very sensitive to quality and the regimen,” said Yednesh Parnaik, VP for sales and marketing. “How do we quickly commercialize and demonstrate that the technology works in real life? Two wheeler was a more near-term goal for us, more achievable.”

Sila has taken a similar approach, and started scaling its battery tech with popular fitness device Whoop. 

“Our objective for the organization is EV,” Parnaik added. “This was just to get near-term validation, start getting a recurring revenue stream, and then move into that EV space. That’s the goal right now for us.”