Electric batteries appear to be the future of power – and this Triad startup is getting in on the action.
Soelect, now 4 years old, develops solid-state battery components for a wide range of energy storage uses, like electric vehicles and portable electronics, and helps to make batteries more efficient, more powerful and less expensive.
In February, Soelect raised $11 million in Series A funding from three major investors – Lotte Ventures, a fund sponsored by Lotte Chemical; General Motors Ventures, a venture capital fund from General Motors; and KTB Network, a Korean venture capital firm.
Then, in April, Soelect entered a joint venture with Lotte Chemical, a leading Korean chemical maker, to create a lithium metal anode manufacturing facility in the U.S. With an investment of $204 million, the location of that facility is still to be determined.
“We have not decided anything yet on the joint venture with Lotte Chemical,” Cho said. “Our plan is to build a manufacturing facility in North Carolina if we can get the federal support to do so. We recently applied for a federal grant through the Department of Energy designed to increase domestic U.S. manufacturing throughout the battery supply chain. That funding would provide a significant boost to our plans.”
Soelect uses an advanced lithium anode technology – called LiX or Lithium/XCu – through its proprietary lithium-based metal foil. This technology exceeds the power of the typical lithium-ion batteries. Soelect also uses a polymer-based solid-state electrolyte instead of the typical liquid electrolytes found in common lithium-ion batteries.
The company’s battery technology can reach 100% charge in 15 minutes and shows 80% capacity retention over 400 use cycles.
CEO and founder Sung-Jin Cho said Soelect will use the $11 million in funding for all aspects of operations, such as expanding research and development, purchasing equipment and hiring employees. Cho said Soelect employs 20 people and is hiring.
Soelect’s joint venture with Lotte Chemical will also establish a joint company. The goal is to increase production of Soelect’s lithium metal anode from its current pilot production capacity of mega-scale to giga-scale by 2025. In terms of production, giga-scale is when annual production can produce 1GWh (giga watt-hour). Cho expects the full pilot line to be completed and operational by the end of the first quarter of 2023.
Cho’s vision for the next year: “Next year will be an important year for Soelect as we will have the pilot line up and running in early 2023, which will be followed by the startup of our Gigafactory.”
