By Paul Lienert
(Reuters) – Israeli startup StoreDot has shipped production-ready samples of its fast-charge electric vehicle battery cells to strategic partners and potential customers as it moves closer to a planned 2024 production date, the company said on Wednesday.
Ten-year-old StoreDot aims to produce advanced batteries that can deliver 100 miles (161 km) of range on a five-minute charge in 2024. The company’s lithium-ion batteries use silicon-rich electrodes, enabling the cells to store more energy and charge more quickly.
Battery experts have said the development of fast-charge capability could enable EV manufacturers to install smaller battery packs and thus lower the cost of their vehicles. Reducing battery charge times to match the amount of time it takes to refuel a combustion-engine vehicle could also make EVs more attractive to potential customers.
Based in Herzliya, StoreDot is backed by such corporate investors as Mercedes-Benz, BP Plc, VinFast, Geely’s Volvo Cars, Polestar, Samsung, TDK and Ola Electric, as well as Chinese manufacturing partner EVE Energy.
Since its founding in 2012, StoreDot has raised $269 million, at a valuation of $1.3 billion, according to investor website PitchBook. It completed a Series D round of funding earlier this year.
StoreDot is shipping 30Ah pouch cells to more than a dozen companies for validation testing. Eventually, it aims to get the charging time down to 3 minutes for 100 miles of range by 2028 and 2 minutes by 2032.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
