Dyson, a manufacturer of high-tech vacuum cleaners, fans, restroom hand dryers and other nifty gadgets, has invested $15 million in Sakti3, a Michigan-based developer of solid-state battery technology.

As CEO Ann Marie Sastry explained in a panel discussion last November, solid-state batteries theoretically offer higher energy density than current Li-ion designs, and could also be safer, as well as cheap to manufacture – Sakti3 hopes to produce cells at a cost of $100 per kilowatt-hour within a couple of years.

Dyson’s interest serves to point out that battery technology has applications far beyond EVs, in consumer electronics, stationary storage, military equipment…and Dyson’s handheld cordless vacuums. Founder and CEO James Dyson has dismissed talk of plans for a Dyson car, but TechCrunch noted that the company often compares its vacuum motors to high-performance auto engines.

Source: TechCrunch
Image: Eva Rinaldi (CC BY-SA 2.0)