Battery materials startup Sila began operations at its facility in Lake Moses, Washington on Tuesday. This is a milestone that can open the way for a longer range of speed-charging EVs. The factory, which can initially produce enough battery materials for 20,000-50,000 EVs, is the first large-scale silicon anode factory in the west, with future expansions capable of meeting the demand for as many as 2.5 million vehicles.
The silicon anode promises to improve the energy density of lithium-ion batteries by up to 50%. This technology Sila has been working on for the past 14 years could be the best chance for the US to gain an edge in the global race for battery hegemony.
“When you invent something new, it’s much easier to create it where you invent it,” he told TechCrunch.
SILA currently has an agreement with Panasonic to supply anode materials to Mercedes. While automakers and their suppliers will be the main focus of the factory, Berdichevsky said his company is also selling to drone manufacturers, satellite companies and home appliance companies.
Startups aren’t the only companies working on silicon anode materials. Group14, also operated by Moses Lake, is currently producing its own mix in a factory developed alongside SK Innovation in Korea. Based in Fremont, California, Amprius currently produces megawatt-hour materials in the US and produces gigawatt-hour value with its Chinese partners.
But Sila’s Moses Lake plant, which has been built for nearly two years, is “actually the first automotive scale silicon anode plant in the United States,” Berdichevsky said. The company raised $375 million last year to help fund the project.
In Washington, Sila has discovered almost the perfect confluence of factors that allow the facility to be built, including cheap hydropower, abundant land and nearby suppliers of important raw materials.
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“The cost structure of this technology is based on one of the big inputs, low-cost energy, and then some important precursors, and there’s that in Washington,” he said.
The first material at Moses Lake Factory was made on the R&D line in Alameda, California, and is used to show customers that match what they have been sampling over the past few years.
“We have a lot of confidence in that, but there’s obvious evidence of pudding,” Berdichevsky said.
A few years later, he said that batteries made using Sila materials should be cheaper than batteries made from graphite anode materials supplied by Western suppliers. (Chinese companies will have fewer graphite anodes, but they also receive generous state subsidies and have fewer environmental regulations, said Berdichevsky.
The silicon anode allows carmakers to reduce the amount of other expensive materials used in batteries containing nickel, while maintaining the same level of performance. “Now you have the same performance, and even you get a fast charge, and even you get a domestic supply, and you get it at a lower cost,” he said.
If demand proves strong, Sila has plans to expand beyond Lake Moses.
“There are no CEOs of Western car manufacturers who don’t believe it within 10 years, or even 15 years. They’ll sell almost every electric vehicle,” Berdichevsky said. If you play in 10 years now, you’ll probably need multiple sites as there are 10 million EVs in the US. ”
Ultimately, the company aims to expand into Europe and Asia, but born in Ukraine, Berdicevsky pays homage to its commitment to the US.
“As a nation, where does your pride come from, if you don’t make things?” he said. “I think it’s very important that we learn to do this and continue to create an ecosystem so that we can never fall behind again.”
