A new type of electric vehicle battery is entering the game.
Tech startup Lyten announced in a press release on May 8 that it is shipping a new type of sample battery cell to equipment managers. Its lithium-sulfur A sample cells have the capacity to "hold more than two times the energy density of lithium-ion," the current leading type of battery cell in EVs.
"This milestone is the result of years of dedicated work and innovation from the Lyten team, and we are just at the start of further expanding the capabilities of our lithium-sulfur battery cells," said Lyten CEO and co-Founder, Dan Cook.
The San Jose-based company has shipped its samples to leading U.S. and European automotive manufacturers, including Stellantis, and plans to ship to the U.S. Department of Defense and other aerospace and defense customers this year.
As electric vehicle sales continue to rise globally, with over 40 million EVs in use, per Our World in Data, the need for reliable and cost-efficient batteries also rises. Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in cell phones, laptops, e-bikes, solar power backup storage, and vaping devices, along with EVs, are the main technology in use.
"Until now, lithium-ion batteries have been the gold standard for EV batteries, but they are still fairly heavy and costly affairs, and their limitations are the key reason why EVs are still beyond the reach of many auto buyers," wrote Tina Casey in an article for CleanTechnica.
Lithium-ion batteries also present other problems, including overheating, which can cause the battery and electric vehicles to fail, and habitat disruption in mining the resource. According to Sustainability by Numbers, the world is not producing enough of them to meet demands as well.
With the lithium-sulfur sample, Lyten hopes to introduce a new type of battery that can increase supply and lower costs for consumers and manufacturers. Sulfur is an abundant resource that is lightweight and can potentially lower costs and reduce environmental impact. However, lithium-sulfur batteries are less tested than lithium ions.
In January 2024, Lyten secured funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to accelerate its production of lithium-sulfur to get more testing. Fortunately, other companies are invested in this technology, including Li-S Energy and the University of Adelaide in Australia, whose research found that lithium-sulfur batteries can achieve full charge in less than five minutes.
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"The world needs a practical, mass market battery, and that is what we are building with our lithium-sulfur technology," stated Celina Mikolajczak, chief battery technology officer at Lyten.
"Mass market electrification and net zero goals demand higher energy density, lighter weight, and lower cost batteries that can be fully sourced and manufactured at massive scale using abundantly available local materials. That is Lyten's lithium-sulfur battery."
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