Envia Systems Announces “Major Breakthrough” Will Reduce EV Battery Costs by 50%

Image courtesy of Envia Systems

Envia Systems has announced a “major breakthrough” in battery technology that will increase energy density and drastically reduce the cost of lithium-ion battery packs making electric vehicles more affordable.  

On Monday, the California start-up battery company announced it has developed a next generation rechargeable battery that has “achieved the highest recorded energy density of 400 Watt-hours/kilogram(WH/kg) for a rechargeable lithium-ion cell.”   

Because two of the main obstacles for electric vehicles have been cost and range, the new technology will “revolutionize cost, range and safety in electric vehicles.”   According to the company, once the technology is commercialized, the cost of battery packs will be slashed by more than half, making the cost of electric vehicles much more affordable.

Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Director Arun Majumdar said, “We hope that this low cost and high density battery technology enables wide spread adoption of electric vehicles across the country and around the world.”

In 2009, Envia received $4 million from the Energy Department’s ARPA-E program to “develop lithium-ion batteries with the highest energy density in the world.”   The company also received additional funding by the California Energy Commission and other various investors including G.M. Ventures. The batteries have undergone independent testing and are expected to be available by 2015.

Enviva Systems, founded in 2007, was a 2009 R&D 100 Winner.