A United Department of Energy national laboratory has successfully tested silicon-anode pouch cells manufactured by Zenlabs Energy over 1,000 charge-discharge cycles.
The California, US, firm delivered its 12Ah, 315Wh/kg pouch cells to a number of national laboratories for evaluation, with the latest results coming from Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
Zenlabs’ founder and CTO Dr. Herman Lopez believes the test proves the high-capacity silicon anodes are ready for commercialisation.
The cells tested by INL completed 1,000 dynamic stress test (DST) cycles— following the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) three-hour charge protocol— and more than 900 DST fast charge cycles, using a 4C rate or 15-minute charging protocol under 100% depth of discharge (DOD).
The high-rate capable cells can be charged to 80% of their capacity in 10 minutes and to 90% of their capacity in a quarter of an hour.
Zenlabs received $4.8 million from USABC to develop low-cost, fast-charge electric vehicle (EV) batteries in 2019. The deal included a 50% cost share development contract.
The company says its proprietary silicon-based anode can be paired with nickel-rich cathode to achieve up to 400Wh/Kg fast-charging lithium-ion cells.
