April 7, 2022: Silicon Joule battery tech innovator Gridtential Energy, Camel Energy and a leading US automaker supplied by Camel, announced a product development agreement on April 4 that will focus on bipolar technology.
Under the deal, engineering teams from US-based Gridtential and the Michigan subsidiary of China’s Camel Group will work to “optimize the thin-plate cell design and manufacturing of advanced bipolar batteries”, the firms said.
Gridtential and Camel will also verify metrics of cycle life, energy density, battery efficiency and charge acceptance.
The companies did not name the automaker involved, but said it was one of the top three of such companies in the US that is supplied by Camel.
Camel said it has been approached by several large automotive companies to deliver Silicon Joule bipolar batteries for their vehicles — and deal with Gridtential aims to deliver start/stop batteries for internal combustion engine vehicles.
Power density
The same technology architecture can also be used for low-voltage batteries in electric vehicles and extended to support 48V batteries most often used in mild-hybrid vehicles, the companies said.
By replacing traditional lead plates with specially-formulated silicon hybrid bipoles, Gridtential said silicon hybrid batteries increase standard power density by three-fold, reduce weight by 30% or more, and have improved charge acceptance — “at least a 3x increase in dynamic charge acceptance”.
Silicon hybrid batteries, it said, can also operate at higher temperatures and tolerate vibration better than traditional lead-based batteries — which the companies said were key metrics for the automotive industry.
Camel said its silicon hybrid batteries will have at least twice the lifespan of a traditional 12V lead battery.
Zubo Zhang, president of Camel Energy, said: “Gridtential’s technology readily scales, allowing us to offer a suite of bipolar batteries for the transportation and other markets where Camel is dominant. This all works well with Camel’s interest to expand our localization in North America with major automotive customers.”
