Our Next Energy (ONE), a Michigan-based firm, is on a mission to deliver low-cost batteries that allow electric vehicles to travel further on a single charge, and it has made some big waves in the industry in recent months.
Last year, the business showed a 752-mile (1,210-km) range for its Gemini battery. It has now garnered millions in new investment as it seeks locations for its first battery facility in the United States, with manufacturing set to begin later this year.
The Tesla Model S, which uses a battery pack with a capacity of roughly 100 kWh, has a range of 405 miles according to the EPA (651 km), putting ONE’s objectives into context. Despite Tesla’s success and the growing popularity of electric vehicles, potential purchasers are concerned about charging infrastructure and range, and developments in battery technology will help alleviate these fears.
ONE expects that their Gemini battery technology, a test unit with a capacity of 203.7 kWh and a reported energy density of 416 Wh/L, would play a vital role in this future. In December, the firm installed the battery in a Tesla Model S nicknamed the Gemini 001 for real-world road testing to demonstrate its capabilities.
After a 752-mile road journey at an average speed of 55 mph (88.51 km/h), the business handed the Gemini 001 over to a third party for additional testing, where it operated for 882 miles (1,419 km/h). It’s unclear how this bigger battery pack would affect other parts of the Model S’ performance (or how much such a vehicle would cost), but it’s a fantastic feat.
BMW I Ventures led a fresh fundraising round for the firm, which raised US$65 million. It also said it had signed contracts with four clients totalling 25 GWh of energy storage capacity, delivered over the next five years.
According to the business, this equates to 300,000 electric car battery packs.It has already begun scouting potential places for its first battery facility in the United States, where production on its first product, the Aries, a smaller battery cell, will begin in 2022.
In 2023, it plans to show off a production prototype of the Gemini.
