Accelerating the Manufacturing Capacity of High Capacity, Long Life Silicon-Based Lithium Batteries in California
Silicon anode batteries with long lifetime for the next generation of lithium ion batteries
Rincell Corporation
Recipient
San Francisco, CA
Recipient Location
11th
Senate District
17th
Assembly District
$207,898
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
Rincell Corporation was founded to accelerate the electrification of high-impact carbon emission products, fostering a sustainable future with a secure supply chain.
Rincell is committed to Domestic & Ally manufacturing of its high-capacity and performance Silicon-Graphite, Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate (LMFP), & Sodium-ion batteries for government and commercial applications.
Rincell is on track to begin volume production of 18650 and 21700 cell formats in Asia starting in late 2024. Rincell is also building a megawatt-hour cell manufacturing facility in California scheduled to begin operations in late 2025.
The Issue
With the push towards grid-storage batteries and electric vehicles to curb carbon emissions, a new generation of batteries with improved performance is required. Improvements to the capacity, energy density, and safety metrics of Li-ion batteries are restricted by the chemistry of their components. As an alternative anode active material, silicon offers a lighter and more compact cell design that can also support faster charging and better low temperature performance. However, silicon-based anode electrodes experience significant mechanical stress due to expansion and contraction of silicon particles during cell cycling which reduces cycle life. Silicon-carbon composites can address volume expansion, but their hard cell casing is unforgiving for even moderate stack-level expansion and gas generation and requires specialized electrodes. These advanced alternative lithium-ion battery chemistries also can be expensive to produce at scale.
Project Innovation
The purpose of this Agreement is to design and build a Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) pilot line to manufacture high capacity 18650 silicon anode lithium batteries with significantly higher cycle life compared to other silicon anode technologies. The batteries will be produced at an average rate of 500 cells per day and will have characteristics such as high energy density, fast charging, superior performance over a wide temperature range, and increased safety, and are based on raw materials less susceptible to supply chain disruption than mainstream graphite-based batteries.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This Agreement will result in the ratepayer benefits of greater electricity reliability, lower costs, and increased safety by making high-capacity lithium batteries more affordable and accessible to Californians. The Recipient’s batteries have a higher capacity and energy density compared to traditional graphite-based batteries, allows faster charging of 0 to 80 percent in less than 20 minutes and can perform at temperatures as low as -40C.
Safety: In addition to standard 18650 safety features (e.g., current interrupt device and top vent), the advances of engineered silicon materials (e.g., lower swelling) and judicial selection of cell components (e.g., separators with high thermal stability) provide additional cell-level safety features to mitigate thermal runaway occurrence. These safety characteristics—along with the battery’s high capacity and performance make the batteries more reliable for large-scale use.
Key Project Members
Jignesh Parikh
Dr. Jagjit Nanda
Dr. Lasantha Korala
Chris Kompella
Match Partners
Rincell Corporation
