- Addionics has developed a new leaf current collector
- General Motors’ GM Ventures has backed Addionics with funding
- Addionics Plans to Build a Factory in the United States
A startup aims to make EV batteries cheaper by focusing on an often overlooked battery component.
Addionics, backed by General Motors’ venture capital arm GM Ventures, has developed a new leaf current collectorupdating a component that “hasn’t changed much in 30 years,” CEO Moshiel Biton said in a recent interview published with According to TechCrunch.
BMW Cylindrical Battery
Current collectors help collect ions in battery cells, a process that Addionics believes can be improved by creating aluminum and copper foils with tiny holes and wavy peaks and valleys. The idea of adding texture to improve current collectors isn’t new, but it not yet commercialized on a large scaleBiton declared.
The metal foil material is made corrugated and porous using techniques from the semiconductor industry. Addionics uses an electro-etching method to etch aluminum metal foil for the battery’s negative electrode. For copper metal foil for the positive electrode, the startup uses electricity to deposit copper ions in a specific configuration.
Audi battery assembly plant in Brussels, Belgium
The result is a three-way current collector that’s easy to manufacture, while also improving battery efficiency (already very high for EV batteries) and—most notably here—potentially doubling its lifespan, Addionics claims. While Goldman Sachs said earlier this year that EV battery prices were in the mid-$200 range, 40% offSome car manufacturers such as Toyota say battery prices need to come down further. make electric cars truly affordable.
The startup announced earlier this year that it was planning to build a $400 million factory in the United States, and also said it had letters of intent from unnamed automakers. As TechCrunch notes, supplying battery materials from Addionics’ U.S. factory could help automakers meet Claim the Federal EV Tax Credit for domestically sourced content.
