Stellantis has used its enterprise capital fund to put money into a California firm known as Lyten to develop and commercialize a product known as “3D Graphene” with potential functions for Lithium-Sulfur EV battery manufacturing and light-weight composites.
Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur batteries don’t use nickel, cobalt or manganese within the battery substrate, leading to an estimated 60% decrease carbon footprint than at present’s best-in-class batteries. Lyten believes the know-how creates a pathway to attain the lowest-emissions EV battery on the worldwide market.
According to Lyten’s announcement, uncooked supplies for Lithium-Sulfur batteries have the potential to be sourced and produced in North America or Europe, assembly key tax credit score necessities. Lyten believes its know-how will meet the wants of industries in search of light-weight and energy-dense batteries which are free from provide chain disruptions.
“We are delighted that Stellantis Ventures, as the venture investment arm of a global automotive innovator, has demonstrated a strong belief in our company and our Lyten 3D Graphene decarbonizing supermaterials,” stated Dan Cook, president and CEO of Lyten.
“Among the automotive product innovations being transformed by Lyten 3D Graphene are Lithium-Sulfur batteries with the potential to deliver more than twice the energy density of lithium-ion, payload-improving lightweight vehicle composites, and new modes of sensing that do not require chips, batteries or wires. We are committed to advancing each of these applications to Stellantis and the automotive market.”
What is 3D Graphene?
A giant a part of Lyten’s worth proposition relies on what officers name “3D Graphene.” Graphene is a type of carbon wherein a single layer of atoms arranges itself in a hexagonal lattice nanostructure, thus being basically two-dimensional. Lyten’s 3D Graphene is much like two-dimensional graphene in lots of its invaluable properties, nonetheless 3D Graphene will be orders of magnitude extra chemically and electrically reactive whereas additionally being extremely tunable resulting from its three-dimensional form.
“Unlike two-dimensional forms of graphene, the production of our tunable Lyten 3D Graphene has been independently verified to be carbon neutral at scale,” Cook stated. “We are converting greenhouse gases into a new class of high-performance, high-value carbon materials and are incorporating these tuned materials into applications that will decarbonize the hardest-to-abate sectors on the planet.”
The processes and tools to engineer three-dimensional graphene supplies are proprietary technological innovations patented by Lyten. Lyten will scale its preliminary output from its San Jose, California facility and can quickly discover places for a second section of output capability.
“Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery has the potential to be a key ingredient in enabling mass-market EV adoption globally,” stated Carlos Tavares, Stellantis CEO, “and their material technology is equally well positioned to help reduce vehicle weight, which is all necessary for our industry to achieve carbon net zero goals.”
Potential impression on EV manufacturing
With conventional lithium-ion battery supplies in critically brief provide for EV manufacturing, Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery, known as a “LytCell,” could supply another, non-nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode answer that helps the worldwide transition to electrical automobiles at mass market scale.
Lyten’s acknowledged objective is “to provide a secure supply of performance-based and environmentally sustainable products to its customers, while also enabling auto manufacturers to take advantage of growing U.S. and European policy incentives, such as those referenced in the Inflation Reduction Act.”
The LytCell makes use of Lyten 3D Graphene to deal with the polysulfide shuttle challenges related to sulfur. Essentially, the sulfur tends to dissolve and results in quickly diminishing battery capability. Lyten believes that utilizing 3D Graphene because the cathode materials will result in a higher-performance battery that may have greater than twice the vitality density of typical EV batteries.
In the world of light-weight composites, “LytR” is Lyten’s distinctive thermoplastic formulation. iWhen Lyten 3D Graphene is dispersed into polyethylene it considerably strengthens the thermoplastics’ chemical and bodily properties, thereby decreasing as much as half the load required whereas sustaining or bettering energy and efficiency.
Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur battery, composites, and sensor applied sciences are initially being produced on its 145,000 square-foot campus in Silicon Valley. Apart from producing EV batteries, Lyten is working with earlier clients to begin delivering Lithium-Sulfur batteries and 3D Graphene-infused composites for specialty markets in 2023.
Source: www.thedetroitbureau.com