AquaLith has its eye on a billion-dollar market alternative: new kinds of battery cell parts that don’t depend on the scarce metals usually utilized in lithium-ion battery packs, that are more and more in demand with the rise of electrical autos.

In keeping with McKinsey & Firm, revenues alongside the lithium-ion battery worth chain will develop from $85 billion in 2022 to over $400 billion in 2030, with energetic supplies and cell manufacturing presumably having the most important income swimming pools.

With an unique license from the College of Maryland primarily based on the work of lithium-ion battery researchers Chunsheng Wang and Kang Xu, AquaLith is working to create, within the firm’s phrases, “denser, cheaper and safer” batteries by reworking their main parts: the unfavourable anode, the optimistic cathode, and the electrolyte that transfers ions between the 2 electrodes.

Cathodes at the moment account for about 40% of the price of battery supplies. AquaLith, which is a part of TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield 200 this 12 months, replaces the necessity for nickel and cobalt in cathodes with uncooked supplies which might be a lot simpler to entry and course of whereas nonetheless offering excessive power density. This cobalt-free cathode expertise, which might scale back the price of the cathode by greater than 50%, might enchantment to EV makers which might be susceptible to China’s management over battery element provide as geopolitical tensions intensify.

“We now have a excessive power density cathode that has a lot less complicated supplies that go into it, supplies which might be accessible wherever on this planet,” defined Greg Cooper, founder and CEO at AquaLith.

“Cobalt is just not extensively accessible around the globe. The most effective cobalt mines are in Congo, so there’s a provide chain constraint there. Quite a lot of Chinese language firms management the cobalt mines, so there’s fear in some components of the world about entry to these supplies. We now have a cathode that removes the necessity for these supplies, however nonetheless has very excessive power density,” he added.

Then there are anodes. As an alternative of the everyday materials of graphite, AquaLith makes anodes with silicon microparticles, which, in line with Cooper, can scale back the price of the anode by greater than 75% whereas enhancing the power density by greater than 40%. Its rivals use some type of nanosilicon, which is considerably dearer.

Lastly, the corporate makes an attempt to make batteries safer by changing the natural solvent-based electrolyte with a water-based electrolyte, which is nonflammable.

“While you begin to have a parking storage full of EVs or a bus depot or cargo ship full of electrical autos, then you must fear loads,” the founder stated.

Traditionally, a battery cell element maker like AquaLith could be promoting to battery makers, however the startup has plans to supply its merchandise to automakers throughout the subsequent 12 months as automakers have gotten battery makers themselves. The thought is to get into their growth cycle early so the automobile producers can begin testing AquaLith’s supplies for integration into future merchandise.

“We are going to start with the automakers within the subsequent 12 months as a result of they decide the important thing necessities for acceptance into automotive. We can even be approaching different battery makers after initially participating with the automakers,” Cooper stated.

Trying forward, AquaLith plans to boost $5 million in 2023 and enhance its complete funding to $10 million subsequent 12 months and $20 million the 12 months after.