Semi-solid lithium-ion cells company 24M is to pump more than $20 million into speeding up deployment of the technology for the electric vehicle market.
US-based 24M said it had raised a total of $21.8m in series D financing to boost development of its “simple, capital-efficient, low-cost manufacturing process and the development of differentiated, high energy density lithium-ion cells”.
The financing was led by Japan-based ceramics manufacturer Kyocera and Japanese trading house Itochu. Previous investors also taking part in the round included North Bridge Venture Partners.
President and CEO Rick Feldt said: “We recognise the importance of a high-performance, low-cost solution to a market moving towards regional production, and are ready to scale our cells and manufacturing process.”
24M said its semi-solid process uses electrolyte as the processing solvent, which “eliminates capital and energy intensive steps like drying, solvent recovery, calendaring and electrolyte filling”.
The company uses “differentiated cell designs, eliminating the need for significant inactive material (copper, aluminium and separator), resulting in both a structural bill of materials advantage and a lower cost to manufacture”.
In 2015, 24M agreed to supply its cells for use in NEC Energy Solutions’ integrated storage systems— one of the first deals 24M announced said it unveiled its technology.