Electric Vehicles

Former QuantumScape, Tesla Executive Joins Battery Startup Working on Nickel Rival

  • Tesla veteran Mikolajczak departed QuantumScape last month
  • Lyten making lithium-sulfur battery to offset metal shortage
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Celina Mikolajczak, who abruptly left solid-state battery maker QuantumScape Corp. last month, has joined a startup that’s working on battery technology it says could ease supply shortages and reduce US dependence on China to power electric vehicles.

Mikolajczak, a veteran of Tesla Inc. and Panasonic Corp., will become chief battery technology officer of Lyten, a closely held battery-materials company based in San Jose, California. Lyten has developed a proprietary form of three-dimensional graphene that can be used to enhance lithium-sulfur batteries. Most lithium-ion batteries in the US EV market today run on nickel-based chemistry.