Hyperdrive

Mercedes-Backed Farasis Says Silicon Boosts Battery Energy 25%

  • China’s Farasis, Group14 say their technology has longer range
  • Executive predicts cells will be in electric vehicles in 2023
Group14 Technologies technology chief Rick Costantino, left, and CEO Rick Luebbe inside of the company’s commercial-scale Battery Active Materials manufacturing factory in Woodinville, WashingtonSource: Group14 Technologies
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Farasis Energy, the Chinese battery manufacturer backed by Mercedes-Benz, said a lithium-silicon battery it’s developing with Group14 Technologies Inc. passed a key performance test, paving the way for its commercialization in electric vehicles.

Group14, which makes battery materials, is part of a crowded field of companies trying to land on new battery chemistries that could speed EV adoption by providing automakers with safer, cheaper alternatives or improvements to lithium-ion batteries.