UK-based vacuum cleaner manufacturer Dyson has joined the race to develop energy storage sytems (ESS), buying a solid-state lithium-ion battery firm and announcing plans to build a battery factory.
The factory would need up to $1 billion in investment, but Dyson has not yet said where it will be.
Having worked in-house on developing its own battery technologies for the past five years, Dyson has now joined its research team up with Michigan start-up Sakti3, which it has bought for $90 million.
Dyson signalled its interest in Sakti3 back in March, when it invested $15 million in the company, which uses thin-film deposition to heat the electrode material and raise the pressure of the vapour.
The substrate, or separator, is maintained at a cooler temperature, drawing the electrode vapour towards it, forming a solid, ultra-thin layer across the substrate. It’s all done in a high vacuum to ward off impurities.
Sakti3 CEO Ann Marie Sastry, who has been secretive about the firm’s technology, says the process is easily repeatable, cheaper and less messy than the assembly of lithium-ion batteries.
Sakti3’s battery cells are also prismatic, perform well at higher temperatures and can be closely packed together without the need for heavy cooling systems.
The technology is being touted as having the potential to transform consumer electronics and eventually electric vehicles, although neither Sir James Dyson nor Sastry would admit to planning a move into batteries for EVs.
The deal comes a few weeks after German industrial conglomerate Bosch bought the California, US-based solid-state battery start-up Seeo, setting tongues wagging about whether Bosch was dipping its toe in the ESS pool.
