California battery developer Sepion has received $16 million from investors, including international chemical firm Solvay. Sepion plans to use the funds to speed up the commercialization of lithium metal batteries for EVs.

Solvay offers additives for the electrolytes in Li-ion cells. Sepion’s niche is lithium metal battery cells, which Solvay says feature high energy density and a polymeric membrane which averts the dendrites that can shorten battery life or even cause catastrophic failure.

Solvay says Sepion’s lithium metal cells can piggyback off the existing foundation for production of Li-ion cells. “Sepion’s technology can be readily adopted, as it leverages the current Li-ion manufacturing infrastructure and liquid electrolytes,” said Solvay CTO Nicolas Cudré-Mauroux.

Source: Solvay