Automotive

Solid-state battery from US cell maker hits new milestone

Solid-state battery from US cell maker hits new milestone
Factorial's 100-Ah-plus battery cell
Factorial's 100-Ah-plus battery cell
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Factorial's 100-Ah-plus battery cell
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Factorial's 100-Ah-plus battery cell
Large and small Factorial quasi-solid-state battery cells
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Large and small Factorial quasi-solid-state battery cells
Factorial battery structure
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Factorial battery structure
Factorial gets its B-samples out to Mercedes-Benz, June 2024
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Factorial gets its B-samples out to Mercedes-Benz, June 2024
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While Chinese manufacturers have burst out in front of the pack with semi-solid-state battery achievements, other manufacturers around the world are working hard to get their own cells developed and validated. Based in Massachusetts, Factorial Energy has been working on its lithium-metal quasi-solid-state technology for over a decade, attracting backing and collaboration from major automakers like Stellantis, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai. It's aiming for a long-range, energy-dense battery that costs the equivalent of lithium-ion units and rolls off the same production lines. This month, it sent out its first round of B-samples to Mercedes-Benz for further testing and development.

Factorial first revealed its 100-Ah solid-state cell at CES 2023 in collaboration with Stellantis, advancing on from the smaller cells it had shown previously. It began shipping the first 100-Ah A-samples to global automotive partners in October of last year and has now delivered over 1,000 A-sample cells to Mercedes-Benz alone.

Now Factorial has announced shipment of the first 106-Ah B-sample cells to Mercedes, calling it the world's first announced shipment of B-sample solid-state battery cells to a global automotive OEM. The "announced" qualifier in that particular "world first" leaves open that other B-sample cells have been shipped but not announced, but either way, the company is making steady progress and moving into the next stage of testing.

Factorial gets its B-samples out to Mercedes-Benz, June 2024
Factorial gets its B-samples out to Mercedes-Benz, June 2024

Battery cells and other automotive components go through a multi-stage testing and development process from A to D samples ahead of production. Following the A-sample, a rough initial working prototype of a full-size commercial cell, B-samples are a more mature prototype subject to more rigorous testing.

"The B-samples will be integrated into modules and battery packs for extensive testing and optimization," Factorial said of this month's shipment. "This crucial phase involves validating the module and pack designs against Mercedes-Benz's strict performance specifications. Additionally, this step will confirm the robustness of Factorial's supply chain and its manufacturing processes, ensuring scalability for future vehicle testing."

Factorial battery structure
Factorial battery structure

Factorial's cells rely on "Factorial Electrolyte System Technology", with a lithium-metal anode, quasi-solid electrolyte and high-capacity cathode. The company says reliance on lightweight lithium metal currently enables an energy density up to 391 Wh/kg, well above the 300-Wh/kg ceiling of current-gen lithium-ion technology and more than double the 160-Wh/kg high-end capacity of typical lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. The quasi-solid electrolyte improves safety in comparison to the liquid electrolytes in lithium-ion.

Factorial is ultimately aiming for vehicle ranges over 600 miles (966 km) per charge from a 90-kWh battery that drops around 30% in weight and size compared to a conventional lithium-ion pack. The FEST batteries are also designed to be produced using the same equipment used to produce lithium-ion batteries, with minimal changes.

In October 2023, Factorial opened a battery manufacturing facility in the Boston suburb of Methuen, Massachusetts. It expects the facility to be the largest solid-state manufacturing plant in the US when up and running at full 200-MW capacity.

In April of this year, Factorial signed a memorandum of understanding with LG Chem toward the acceleration of solid-state battery development.

Source: Factorial

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11 comments
11 comments
usugo
600 miles (966 km) per charge from a 90-kWh battery
doesn't make any sense.
If an EV with a 90kWh Li ion battery has a range of 300mi, a 90kWh solid state battery will have roughly the same range. As the battery chemistry (or largely even its weight) are not the factor determining vehicle efficiency
Troublesh00ter
My question for Factoral is simple: How prone to overheating and fire are they?
guzmanchinky
In 10 years we will have at least double the density and half the cost. Maybe more.
DaveWesely
re: Troubleshtr The reason solid state batteries are pursued is due to their resistance to fire resulting from accident damage. So obviously the number of battery fires would go down with solid state batteries. Even then, internal combustion cars burn up far more often than battery electric cars. For every 100,000 ICE cars produced, 1,500+ burn up. For every 100,000 BEVs produced, only 25-30 burn up with today's technology. Not. Even. Close. If you really are concerned about your car burning up, you should buy a battery electric vehicle.
YourAmazonOrder
How much of the cost of this product will be due to the income tax rate in Massachusetts?

If they left for another state, with little to no income tax, wouldn’t the batteries be less expensive?
alex
perhaps arranging the plates in a spiral would help with the cooling and would corospond to the way nature builds, also incorportate various room temp superconuctors
christopher
Seems like a business doomed to go bankrupt. Trying to land a major player as your "lighthouse customer" is one of the dumbest business decisions possible.

They need to make the best cells they can, and then SELL SOME to ANYONE so they can get EXPERIENCE and REVENUE before their funding runway dries up.

Mercedes is NEVER going to buy these cells - no big company ever takes that risk, and no new/small company can ever satisfy the hurdles and volume required either.
Dinklesmith
Re: YourAmazonOrder

Income tax rates in Massachusetts have virtually no impact on price of these batteries. Income taxes are paid by the employees on income they earn. That has no bearing on the employer side, as the income tax is just part of what they are paying in wages

Perhaps you mean corporate tax rate but MA isn't really any higher than anywhere else, and corporate taxes are only paid on profits so, by definition, they shouldn't be affecting price.
RFM
I have rarely seen as many naysayer posts on NewAtlas. @usugo: "90kWh Li ion battery" has a nominal 3.3 volts/cell. What do suppose would happen if the potential of each cell were to double with the new design? What would happen if the new batteries were a form factor that would allow 2 of them in the same cubic area as 1 LiFeP04?@ troublesh00ter: looking at the photos, one notices that there are no provisions for liquid cooling of the pack (absence of protruding tubing)--not like Tesla batteries or Li-NMC cells. LiFeP04 batteries normally do not need liquid cooling. Not definitive, but the photos suggest strongly that the batteries might be less prone to overheating.
guzmanchinky
PLEASE build me a Jetson One with double the range... :)
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