Semi-solid lithium battery company 24M received 150 million yuan in financial support
At present, the energy density of laboratory-scale 24M semi-solid batteries is between 280-300Wh/kg, which exceeds most of the 250Wh/kg power batteries currently on the market.
The company born out of the A123 battery team-24M has made new progress in technology and capital.
A few days ago, foreign media reported that 24M received US$21.8 million (equivalent to RMB 150 million) in Series D financing. The capital came from the advanced ceramic manufacturer Kyocera Group. (KyoceraGroup) and global trading company Itochu Corporation (ITOCHUCorporation).
24M was established in 2010, mainly dedicated to the research and development and production of semi-solid lithium batteries, by the chief scientist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Jiang Yeming (transliteration, English name Yet- MingChiang) and ThroopWilder were founded. So far, plus the latest round of investment, the company's total fundraising has reached 71.8 million US dollars (equivalent to 490 million yuan).
'The use of electric vehicles and renewable energy is a major global development trend, which has driven the rapid growth of demand for lithium-ion batteries. 24M adopts differentiated manufacturing processes and disruptive The battery design method provides a solution that can cost-effectively meet market needs through high-quality products.' Koji Hasegawa, general manager of the Industrial Chemicals Department of ITOCHU Corporation, said that through this investment, ITOCHU Corporation is very pleased to work closely with 24M. The global progress of a generation of semi-solid lithium-ion batteries.
In terms of technology, 24M launched a semi-solid lithium-ion battery prototype in 2015, but it belongs to the stage of semi-automated test equipment. 24M has always hoped to fundamentally advance battery design and assembly equipment to achieve fully automated production.
'We have been working hard to promote our own innovative technologies and manufacturing processes to meet the high energy density requirements of the low-cost grid market and the electric vehicle market for lithium batteries. We recognize , High-performance, low-cost solutions have important market significance for promoting the large-scale production of semi-solid batteries, and the company is also preparing to expand the scale of our batteries and manufacturing processes.” 24M President and CEO Rick Feldt said.
Through self-developed manufacturing methods, 24M has reduced material costs by 20% and increased economic efficiency by 50%. RickFeldt said that 24M’s investor Kyocera Group plans to build the first pilot plant in the next 12 to 15 months. The Japanese company is interested in applying semi-solid lithium batteries to energy storage devices for solar panels.
Currently, the laboratory-scale 24M semi-solid battery has an energy density between 280-300Wh/kg, which exceeds most of the 250Wh/kg power batteries currently on the market. .
In addition, 24M is also developing another different solution, which can reach a lithium-ion battery with an energy density close to 500Wh/kg. The company said that they have proven that using this method in the laboratory can achieve densities above 350Wh/kg. But this relies on a very thick separator between the electrodes, which needs to be scaled down for commercial applications.