24M Selected to Receive $3.2M in Federal Funding to Develop More Efficient Electric Vehicle Batteries

Funding Part of Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) Program to Support Domestic Development of Advanced Batteries for Electric Vehicles

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--24M announced today that it has been selected to receive $3.2 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The funding is part of the ARPA-E Electric Vehicles for American Low-Carbon Living (EVs4ALL) program, which seeks to develop more affordable, convenient, efficient and resilient electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

“We are pleased to be chosen for this initiative and help strengthen the domestic supply chain for advanced batteries that power electric vehicles,” said Naoki Ota, president and CEO of 24M. “The demand for lower-cost, higher-capacity batteries is greater than ever before. The current processes to manufacture lithium-ion batteries are approaching performance and cost limits and require an innovative manufacturing platform that improves performance while reducing costs.”

24M will partner with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) to use its versatile SemiSolid manufacturing platform to develop low-cost, fast-charging sodium metal batteries with good low-temperature performance for EVs. The 24M cell design will incorporate three key features:

• An ultra-thick SemiSolid cathode made up of advanced cobalt-free, nickel-free sodium cathode active material.
• An advanced wide-temperature, fast-charging electrolyte developed using machine learning and automated high-throughput screening technology.
• A sodium super ionic conductor.

“As the U.S. Department of Energy looks to expand domestic adoption of electric vehicles, sodium metal batteries can play an important role in ensuring low costs for all consumers,” said Dr. JunZheng Chen, director of advanced R&D at 24M. “This funding will help us develop, manufacture and deliver these batteries at scale.”

The ultra-thick SemiSolid electrode architecture has been commercially demonstrated with exceptionally high energy density using lithium-ion chemistry. Leveraging the 24M chemistry-agnostic SemiSolid manufacturing platform and modular approach to battery cell design, the team will apply this to sodium chemistry, paving the way for fast-charging, high energy density and low-cost batteries ideal for the EVs4ALL program.

For additional information about 24M and this project, please visit https://24-m.com/.

ABOUT 24M

24M answers the world’s need for affordable energy storage by enabling a new, more cost-effective solution–SemiSolid™ manufacturing platform. By re-inventing the design of the battery cell as well as the manufacturing method, 24M solves the critical, decades-old challenge associated with the world’s preferred energy storage chemistry: reducing its high cost while improving its performance. Founded and led by some of the battery industry’s foremost inventors, scientists and entrepreneurs, 24M is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit www.24-m.com.