Adden Energy launches with technology license from Harvard to scale solid-state battery technology for electric vehicles
WALTHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adden Energy, Inc., a start-up developing innovative solid-state battery systems for future electric vehicles (EVs) that would fully charge in minutes, announced the grant of an exclusive technology license by Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and seed funding of $5.15 million. Primavera Capital Group led the Adden Energy seed round, with participation from Rhapsody Venture Partners and MassVentures.
The license and venture capital funding will allow the startup to scale the Harvard lab prototype to the commercial deployment of a solid-state lithium-metal battery that can provide reliable, fast charging for future electric vehicles in order to bring them to the mass market.
Developed by researchers in the lab of Xin Li, PhD, an associate professor of materials science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the lab-scale button cell prototype has reached rates battery charging times as fast as three minutes with over 10,000 cycles in a lifetime, with results published in Nature and other journals. It also features a high energy density and a level of material stability that overcomes the safety challenges posed by some other lithium batteries.
Adden Energy was co-founded in 2021 by Li, along with William Fitzhugh, PhD, and Luhan Ye, PhD, who both helped develop the technology as graduate students in Li’s lab at Harvard. Fred Hu, PhD, Founder and Chairman of Primavera Capital, is also one of the founders of Adden Energy.
The startup aims to scale the battery to a palm-sized pocket cell and then to a full-scale vehicle battery within the next three to five years. “If you want to electrify vehicles, a solid-state battery is the way to go,” said Li, scientific adviser to Adden Energy. “We decided to commercialize this technology because we consider our technology to be unique compared to other solid-state batteries. We have achieved in the laboratory 5,000 to 10,000 charge cycles during the life of a battery, against 2,000-3,000 charge cycles for even the best in class, and we don’t see any fundamental limits to how our battery technology can evolve.
Fitzhugh, CEO of Adden Energy, noted that in 2019, 29% of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States were produced by transportation. “Full fleet electrification is one of the most significant steps we can take to address climate change,” he said. “However, the widespread adoption of electric vehicles requires batteries capable of meeting a diverse set of consumer needs. For example, 37% of Americans do not have a garage at home, so it is not possible to charging at home overnight. In order to electrify this segment, electric vehicles need to charge at times comparable to those of internal combustion vehicles, essentially during the time you currently spend at the gas pump.”
Technology developed at Harvard, which includes fundamental innovations in solid-state battery design and electrolyte production methods, may provide other crucial benefits.
“Typically, lithium-metal anodes in other solid-state designs develop dendrites, twig-like growths that can gradually penetrate through the electrolyte to the cathode. dendrites before they can cause damage, thanks to new structural and material designs,” said Ye, who is now CTO of Adden Energy. “As a result, the device can maintain its high performance over a long period of time. Our recent study shows that this great feature can also be sustained at scale.”
“Climate change is the defining challenge facing the world. It’s more important than ever to accelerate the transition to clean energy and zero-emission transportation,” said Hu, who also serves on the Nature Conservancy’s World Council. “Adden Energy’s mission is to develop advanced battery technologies, thereby enabling the mass adoption of electric vehicles and contributing to a greener and more sustainable global economy.”
“Electric vehicles cannot remain a luxury fad, literally the ‘one percenter’ of vehicles on the road, if we are to move towards a clean energy future, and the United States will not have an electric car market. opportunity if electric vehicle batteries only last 3 to 5 years,” Li added. “The technology needs to be accessible to everyone. important element.
About Li Lab
Advances in solid-state battery research in Professor Li’s lab at Harvard, which were licensed to Adden Energy, were made possible in part by funding from the university’s Climate Change Solutions Fund, which supports research and policy initiatives on climate change, the clean energy transition and related issues. health impacts; and Harvard’s Physical Sciences and Engineering Accelerator OTD, which advances researchers’ most commercially promising innovations to launch new startups and new industry engagements. Li’s lab has also received funding to support solid-state battery research from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Catalyst Program, Harvard Data Science Initiative, Harvard FAS Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship, and the Department American Energy.
About Adden Energy
Adden Energy, founded by a team of scientists from Harvard University, develops and develops an entirely new type of solid-state battery. With proven charge times as low as 3 minutes and capacity retention for over 10,000 cycles in a lab-scale cell, Adden Energy’s advanced battery technologies will enable mass adoption of electric vehicles. around the world and will contribute greatly to a cleaner future.
