Low cost, more sustainable EV battery production and grid storage from Sylvatex’s cathode manufacturing process

To jump-start the energy transition and support the growing electric vehicle (EV) and grid storage market, global lithium-ion battery capacity is expected to rise to ten-fold in the next decade. The cathode active material (CAM) market will grow to $189 billion by 2032 and is the most expensive component and the bottleneck in the production of lithium-ion batteries. Improvements to the manufacturing of CAM are critical to meeting the long-term demand for batteries and exceeding EV automakers’ cost reduction targets. Advanced materials technology company Sylvatex (SVX) is announcing a new production method delivering premium EV-grade CAM at dramatically lower costs and allowing for a broader material input supply base to enable demand growth. SVX’s simpler and more sustainable approach to CAM production is expected to enable a 25% reduction in CAM cost, a 40% reduction in plant capital requirements, and up to an 80% reduction in energy usage.

SVX recently closed its Series A funding of $8.4 million, with Catalus Capital serving as the lead investor, along with Amplify Capital and How Women Invest, and others to support commercializing and scaling its technology. SVX also received additional grant financing from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and others. SVX continues to collaborate with battery industry experts and collaborators at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory.

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To meet increasing EV demands, about 100 additional CAM plants (or 5 million additional tons) will need to be in production by 2032. Today’s cathode production methods would require $200 billion in manufacturing capital deployed and twenty billion gallons of water consumed annually - the equivalent water use of 182,000 American homes. SVX’s new method brings sustainability to cathode manufacturing by eliminating water use while delivering substantial cost reductions and using 80% less energy.

“Today’s method for producing cathodes is extremely costly and requires an incredible number of resources. If we're to realize the clean energy transition, battery production must scale dramatically, and evolve into a more cost-effective and sustainable process,” says Danny Kennedy, CEO of New Energy Nexus, an international clean energy accelerator that awarded SVX a grant to further develop its technology. “Clean energy innovators like SVX are the next generation of pioneers that will ultimately drive the growth of the EV market.”

“The existing EV supply chain requires innovation to deliver materials faster, more sustainably, and at a lower cost. SVX’s production technology is core to that vision,” says SVX founder and CEO Virginia Irwin Klausmeier. “As EV production scales exponentially over time, conventional methods are not economically feasible or environmentally viable; battery manufacturing plants are too capital-intensive, production is too expensive, and the immense amount of water required cannot be sustained in a time of extended droughts. We are working to show our industry a more sustainable path forward while reducing costs for battery production that future-proofs manufacturing for decades to come.”

In less than twelve months, SVX has scaled its technology a hundred-fold from bench-scale to pilot-scale. SVX is collaborating with several top-tier EV automotive manufacturers and supply chain partners on qualifying materials and further scaling processes. SVX expects its technology to be deployed in cathode production worldwide and sees new promise in the domestic market after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. SVX’s technology also enables flexibility on raw material inputs, such as transition or recycled metal oxides, reducing geo-political and other supply chain risks while lowering the cost of the EV battery.

“We see a lot of growth potential in the EV battery space, especially in advanced manufacturing,” says Saif Qazi, Vice President of Catalus Capital, SVX’s lead investor in its Series A. “Most process improvements reduce operating costs but increase capital costs; however, this innovation from SVX is unique because it reduces both capital costs and operating costs simultaneously, resulting in a substantial reduction in battery costs on a $/kWh basis. The Company’s leadership in sustainable manufacturing has resulted in an industry-leading process ready for commercial applications. We look forward to their continued success as the use of lithium-ion batteries proliferates throughout society.”