Latest news with #Factorial
Boston Globe
12-05-2025
- Automotive
- Boston Globe
A decade-long search for a battery that can end the gasoline era
Huang, her husband, Alex Yu, and their employees at Factorial had been working on a new kind of electric vehicle battery, known as solid state, that could turn the auto industry on its head — if a daunting number of technical challenges could be overcome. For Huang and her company, the battery had the potential to change the way consumers think about electric vehicles, give the United States and Europe a leg up on China, and help save the planet. Factorial is one of dozens of companies trying to invent batteries that can charge faster, go farther, and make electric cars cheaper and more convenient than gasoline vehicles. Electric vehicles could be a potent weapon against climate change and urban air pollution. Advertisement The video that landed in Huang's phone was from Uwe Keller, the head of battery development at Mercedes-Benz, which had been supporting Factorial's research with money and expertise. The short clip, of a Mercedes sedan at a research lab near Stuttgart, Germany, signaled that the company had installed Factorial's battery in a car — and that it could actually make the wheels move. The test was an important step forward in a journey that had begun while Huang and Yu were still graduate students at Cornell University. Until then, all their work had been in laboratories. Huang was excited that their invention was venturing into the world. Advertisement But there was still a long way to go. The Mercedes with a Factorial battery hadn't yet been taken out on the road. Many startups have produced solid-state battery prototypes. But no American or European carmaker has put one into a production vehicle and proved that the technology could survive the bumps, vibrations and moisture of the streets. In late 2023, Keller, a veteran Mercedes engineer, proposed to Huang that they try. 'We're car guys,' Keller said later. 'We believe in things really moving.' Huang stands out in a niche dominated by men from Silicon Valley. Some brag about their 100-hour workweeks; she believes in a good night's sleep. 'Having a clear mind to make the right decision is more important than how many hours you work,' she said. Huang grew up in Nanjing, China, where she was in an elementary school program that had her gather environmental data. The program instilled an interest in chemistry and an awareness of the vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution choking Nanjing's air. She realized, she recalled, that 'we need to grow a planet that's healthier for human beings.' In a dormitory at Xiamen University on China's southern coast, where she studied chemistry, she saw an advertisement for a Swedish exchange program. After spending two years there, she and Alex were both accepted to doctoral programs in Cornell's chemistry department. She arrived in Ithaca, N.Y., in 2009. They have both since become US citizens. Advertisement Yu is now Factorial's chief technology officer. The company is, in that sense, a family operation. Initially the company focused on improving the materials that allow batteries to store energy. That changed after Mercedes invested in Factorial in 2021. Mercedes was looking for a bigger technological leap and encouraged Factorial to pursue solid state. The technology has that name because it eliminates the liquid chemical mixture, known as an electrolyte, that helps transport energy-laden ions inside a battery. Liquid electrolytes are highly flammable. Replacing them with a solid or gelatinlike electrolyte makes batteries safer. A battery that doesn't overheat can be charged faster, perhaps in as little time as it takes to fill a car with gasoline. And solid-state batteries pack more energy into a smaller space. But solid-state batteries have one big drawback: Such battery cells are more prone to grow spiky irregularities that cause short circuits. Vast riches await any company that can overcome this problem and develop a battery that is durable, safe and reasonably easy to manufacture at a reasonable price. Factorial confronted that problem in 2022, setting up a small pilot factory in Cheonan, South Korea, a city near Seoul known for its tech industry. The project became, in Huang's words, 'production hell.' To make money, a battery factory can't produce too many defective cells. Ideally the yield, the percentage of usable cells, should be at least 95 percent. Hitting that target is devilishly difficult, involving volatile chemicals and fragile separators layered and packaged into cells with zero margin for error. In the beginning, Factorial's prototype assembly line in South Korea had a yield of just 10 percent, meaning 90 percent of its batteries were faulty. Advertisement 'There were always issues,' Huang said. 'There was a point, I was like, I don't even know if we can make it.' By 2023, Factorial had produced enough cells suitable for an automobile that Keller began thinking about installing them in a car. Keller went to Ola Källenius, the Mercedes CEO, who signed off on the project. Huang was a bit surprised when, in late 2023, Keller told her that Mercedes wanted to put the cells in a working vehicle. 'We didn't realize it was coming so soon, honestly speaking,' she said. But by June 2024, Factorial had managed to produce enough high-quality cells to announce that it had begun delivering them to Mercedes. In November, the factory in South Korea hit 85 percent yield, the best result yet. Mercedes still had to figure out how to package the cells in a way that would protect them from highway dirt and moisture. And it had to integrate the battery pack into a vehicle, connecting it to the car's control systems. By Christmas 2024, a team working at Mercedes' main research center outside Stuttgart texted Keller those two words: 'spinning wheels.' Keller confessed that he got emotional when his team sent him the video of the car. He waited until after Christmas to forward it to Huang with the same two words. Several weeks later, the Mercedes engineers took the car with Factorial's battery, an otherwise standard EQS electric sedan, to a company track for its first road test. The engineers drove the car slowly at first. They carefully monitored technical data displayed on the dashboard screen. They drove faster and faster until, by the fourth day, they reached 100 mph. The battery didn't blow up. In theory, it can power the car for 600 miles. Advertisement The next step is to equip a fleet of Mercedes vehicles with batteries, perfect the manufacturing process and do the testing required to begin selling them. That will probably take until 2028, at least. Many experts don't expect cars with solid-state batteries to be widely available until 2030, at the earliest. In April, Huang finally found time to travel to Stuttgart and ride in the car herself. Huang had seen many photos of the car, but she still felt a thrill when the garage doors opened. It felt 'like a long-lost friend,' she said. 'Like, 'Finally I see you!'' A Mercedes driver took her for a spin on the test track. This article originally appeared in
Indian Express
11-05-2025
- Automotive
- Indian Express
A decade-long search for a battery that can end the gasoline era
Written by Jack Ewing On a frigid day in early January, as she worked in her office in the Boston suburb of Billerica, Massachusetts, Siyu Huang received a two-word text message. 'Spinning wheels,' it said. Attached was a short video clip showing a car on rollers in an indoor testing center. There was nothing remarkable in the video. But to Huang, the CEO of Factorial Energy, the video was a milestone in a quest that had occupied a decade of her life. Huang, her husband, Alex Yu, and their employees at Factorial had been working on a new kind of electric vehicle battery, known as solid state, that could turn the auto industry on its head — if a daunting number of technical challenges could be overcome. For Huang and her company, the battery had the potential to change the way consumers think about electric vehicles, give the United States and Europe a leg up on China, and help save the planet. Factorial is one of dozens of companies trying to invent batteries that can charge faster, go farther, and make electric cars cheaper and more convenient than gasoline vehicles. Electric vehicles could be a potent weapon against climate change and urban air pollution. The video that landed in Huang's phone was from Uwe Keller, the head of battery development at Mercedes-Benz, which had been supporting Factorial's research with money and expertise. The short clip, of a Mercedes sedan at a research lab near Stuttgart, Germany, signaled that the company had installed Factorial's battery in a car — and that it could actually make the wheels move. The test was an important step forward in a journey that had begun while Huang and Yu were still graduate students at Cornell University. Until then, all their work had been in laboratories. Huang was excited that their invention was venturing into the world. But there was still a long way to go. The Mercedes with a Factorial battery hadn't yet been taken out on the road. Many startups have produced solid-state battery prototypes. But no American or European carmaker has put one into a production vehicle and proved that the technology could survive the bumps, vibrations and moisture of the streets. In late 2023, Keller, a veteran Mercedes engineer, proposed to Huang that they try. 'We're car guys,' Keller said later. 'We believe in things really moving.' Huang stands out in a niche dominated by men from Silicon Valley. Some brag about their 100-hour workweeks; she believes in a good night's sleep. 'Having a clear mind to make the right decision is more important than how many hours you work,' she said. Huang grew up in Nanjing, China, where she was in an elementary school program that had her gather environmental data. The program instilled an interest in chemistry and an awareness of the vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution choking Nanjing's air. She realized, she recalled, that 'we need to grow a planet that's healthier for human beings.' In a dormitory at Xiamen University on China's southern coast, where she studied chemistry, she saw an advertisement for a Swedish exchange program. After spending two years there, she and Alex were both accepted to doctoral programs in Cornell's chemistry department. She arrived in Ithaca, New York, in 2009. They have both since become U.S. citizens. Yu is now Factorial's chief technology officer. The company is, in that sense, a family operation. Initially the company focused on improving the materials that allow batteries to store energy. That changed after Mercedes invested in Factorial in 2021. Mercedes was looking for a bigger technological leap and encouraged Factorial to pursue solid state. The technology has that name because it eliminates the liquid chemical mixture, known as an electrolyte, that helps transport energy-laden ions inside a battery. Liquid electrolytes are highly flammable. Replacing them with a solid or gelatinlike electrolyte makes batteries safer. A battery that doesn't overheat can be charged faster, perhaps in as little time as it takes to fill a car with gasoline. And solid-state batteries pack more energy into a smaller space. But solid-state batteries have one big drawback: Such battery cells are more prone to grow spiky irregularities that cause short circuits. Vast riches await any company that can overcome this problem and develop a battery that is durable, safe and reasonably easy to manufacture at a reasonable price. Factorial confronted that problem in 2022, setting up a small pilot factory in Cheonan, South Korea, a city near Seoul known for its tech industry. The project became, in Huang's words, 'production hell.' To make money, a battery factory can't produce too many defective cells. Ideally the yield, the percentage of usable cells, should be at least 95%. Hitting that target is devilishly difficult, involving volatile chemicals and fragile separators layered and packaged into cells with zero margin for error. In the beginning, Factorial's prototype assembly line in South Korea had a yield of just 10%, meaning 90% of its batteries were faulty. 'There were always issues,' Huang said. 'There was a point, I was like, I don't even know if we can make it.' By 2023, Factorial had produced enough cells suitable for an automobile that Keller began thinking about installing them in a car. Keller went to Ola Källenius, the Mercedes CEO, who signed off on the project. Huang was a bit surprised when, in late 2023, Keller told her that Mercedes wanted to put the cells in a working vehicle. 'We didn't realize it was coming so soon, honestly speaking,' she said. But by June 2024, Factorial had managed to produce enough high-quality cells to announce that it had begun delivering them to Mercedes. In November, the factory in South Korea hit 85% yield, the best result yet. Mercedes still had to figure out how to package the cells in a way that would protect them from highway dirt and moisture. And it had to integrate the battery pack into a vehicle, connecting it to the car's control systems. By Christmas 2024, a team working at Mercedes' main research center outside Stuttgart texted Keller those two words: 'spinning wheels.' Keller confessed that he got emotional when his team sent him the video of the car. He waited until after Christmas to forward it to Huang with the same two words. Several weeks later, the Mercedes engineers took the car with Factorial's battery, an otherwise standard EQS electric sedan, to a company track for its first road test. The engineers drove the car slowly at first. They carefully monitored technical data displayed on the dashboard screen. They drove faster and faster until, by the fourth day, they reached 100 mph. The battery didn't blow up. In theory, it can power the car for 600 miles. The next step is to equip a fleet of Mercedes vehicles with batteries, perfect the manufacturing process and do the testing required to begin selling them. That will probably take until 2028, at least. Many experts don't expect cars with solid-state batteries to be widely available until 2030, at the earliest. In April, Huang finally found time to travel to Stuttgart and ride in the car herself. Huang had seen many photos of the car, but she still felt a thrill when the garage doors opened. It felt 'like a long-lost friend,' she said. 'Like, 'Finally I see you!'' A Mercedes driver took her for a spin on the test track. This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Miami Herald
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
A decade-long search for a battery that can end the gasoline era
STUTTGART, Germany -- On a frigid day in early January, as she worked in her office in the Boston suburb of Billerica, Massachusetts, Siyu Huang received a two-word text message. 'Spinning wheels,' it said. Attached was a short video clip showing a car on rollers in an indoor testing center. There was nothing remarkable in the video. But to Huang, the CEO of Factorial Energy, the video was a milestone in a quest that had occupied a decade of her life. Huang, her husband, Alex Yu, and their employees at Factorial had been working on a new kind of electric vehicle battery, known as solid state, that could turn the auto industry on its head -- if a daunting number of technical challenges could be overcome. For Huang and her company, the battery had the potential to change the way consumers think about electric vehicles, give the United States and Europe a leg up on China, and help save the planet. Factorial is one of dozens of companies trying to invent batteries that can charge faster, go farther, and make electric cars cheaper and more convenient than gasoline vehicles. Electric vehicles could be a potent weapon against climate change and urban air pollution. The video that landed in Huang's phone was from Uwe Keller, the head of battery development at Mercedes-Benz, which had been supporting Factorial's research with money and expertise. The short clip, of a Mercedes sedan at a research lab near Stuttgart, Germany, signaled that the company had installed Factorial's battery in a car -- and that it could actually make the wheels move. The test was an important step forward in a journey that had begun while Huang and Yu were still graduate students at Cornell University. Until then, all their work had been in laboratories. Huang was excited that their invention was venturing into the world. But there was still a long way to go. The Mercedes with a Factorial battery hadn't yet been taken out on the road. Many startups have produced solid-state battery prototypes. But no American or European carmaker has put one into a production vehicle and proved that the technology could survive the bumps, vibrations and moisture of the streets. In late 2023, Keller, a veteran Mercedes engineer, proposed to Huang that they try. 'We're car guys,' Keller said later. 'We believe in things really moving.' Huang stands out in a niche dominated by men from Silicon Valley. Some brag about their 100-hour workweeks; she believes in a good night's sleep. 'Having a clear mind to make the right decision is more important than how many hours you work,' she said. Huang grew up in Nanjing, China, where she was in an elementary school program that had her gather environmental data. The program instilled an interest in chemistry and an awareness of the vehicle exhaust and industrial pollution choking Nanjing's air. She realized, she recalled, that 'we need to grow a planet that's healthier for human beings.' In a dormitory at Xiamen University on China's southern coast, where she studied chemistry, she saw an advertisement for a Swedish exchange program. After spending two years there, she and Alex were both accepted to doctoral programs in Cornell's chemistry department. She arrived in Ithaca, New York, in 2009. They have both since become U.S. citizens. Yu is now Factorial's chief technology officer. The company is, in that sense, a family operation. Initially the company focused on improving the materials that allow batteries to store energy. That changed after Mercedes invested in Factorial in 2021. Mercedes was looking for a bigger technological leap and encouraged Factorial to pursue solid state. The technology has that name because it eliminates the liquid chemical mixture, known as an electrolyte, that helps transport energy-laden ions inside a battery. Liquid electrolytes are highly flammable. Replacing them with a solid or gelatinlike electrolyte makes batteries safer. A battery that doesn't overheat can be charged faster, perhaps in as little time as it takes to fill a car with gasoline. And solid-state batteries pack more energy into a smaller space. But solid-state batteries have one big drawback: Such battery cells are more prone to grow spiky irregularities that cause short circuits. Vast riches await any company that can overcome this problem and develop a battery that is durable, safe and reasonably easy to manufacture at a reasonable price. Factorial confronted that problem in 2022, setting up a small pilot factory in Cheonan, South Korea, a city near Seoul known for its tech industry. The project became, in Huang's words, 'production hell.' To make money, a battery factory can't produce too many defective cells. Ideally the yield, the percentage of usable cells, should be at least 95%. Hitting that target is devilishly difficult, involving volatile chemicals and fragile separators layered and packaged into cells with zero margin for error. In the beginning, Factorial's prototype assembly line in South Korea had a yield of just 10%, meaning 90% of its batteries were faulty. 'There were always issues,' Huang said. 'There was a point, I was like, I don't even know if we can make it.' By 2023, Factorial had produced enough cells suitable for an automobile that Keller began thinking about installing them in a car. Keller went to Ola Källenius, the Mercedes CEO, who signed off on the project. Huang was a bit surprised when, in late 2023, Keller told her that Mercedes wanted to put the cells in a working vehicle. 'We didn't realize it was coming so soon, honestly speaking,' she said. But by June 2024, Factorial had managed to produce enough high-quality cells to announce that it had begun delivering them to Mercedes. In November, the factory in South Korea hit 85% yield, the best result yet. Mercedes still had to figure out how to package the cells in a way that would protect them from highway dirt and moisture. And it had to integrate the battery pack into a vehicle, connecting it to the car's control systems. By Christmas 2024, a team working at Mercedes' main research center outside Stuttgart texted Keller those two words: 'spinning wheels.' Keller confessed that he got emotional when his team sent him the video of the car. He waited until after Christmas to forward it to Huang with the same two words. Several weeks later, the Mercedes engineers took the car with Factorial's battery, an otherwise standard EQS electric sedan, to a company track for its first road test. The engineers drove the car slowly at first. They carefully monitored technical data displayed on the dashboard screen. They drove faster and faster until, by the fourth day, they reached 100 mph. The battery didn't blow up. In theory, it can power the car for 600 miles. The next step is to equip a fleet of Mercedes vehicles with batteries, perfect the manufacturing process and do the testing required to begin selling them. That will probably take until 2028, at least. Many experts don't expect cars with solid-state batteries to be widely available until 2030, at the earliest. In April, Huang finally found time to travel to Stuttgart and ride in the car herself. Huang had seen many photos of the car, but she still felt a thrill when the garage doors opened. It felt 'like a long-lost friend,' she said. 'Like, 'Finally I see you!'' A Mercedes driver took her for a spin on the test track. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Miami Herald
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Stellantis Validates Game-Changing Solid-State Battery After ‘Production Hell'
Solid-state batteries have long been hailed as the future of electric vehicles, offering huge advantages over traditional lithium-ion technology. Now, Stellantis and Massachusetts-based Factorial Energy have validated a new semi-solid-state battery cell, moving the dream closer to reality. The battery boasts an impressive energy density of 375 watt-hours per kilogram, well above today's industry average of 200-300 Wh/kg. Charging from 15-90% takes just 18 minutes at room temperature, and the cells maintain performance in temperatures as low as -22°F. These features could significantly improve EV range, charging convenience, and cold-weather reliability. To prove the technology in the real world, Stellantis will install these cells in a demonstration fleet of Dodge Charger Daytona EVs starting in 2026. Beyond faster charging and longer range, the semi-solid-state battery could revolutionize vehicle weight. Factorial estimates that the new batteries could shave 200 pounds just from the battery pack alone. Thanks to fewer structural and thermal management components needed, total vehicle weight savings could range from 500 to 2,000 pounds. For an electric muscle car like the Charger Daytona, which currently tips the scales at around 5,800 pounds, this could be a game-changer for performance. Lighter vehicles aren't just faster, they're also more efficient and cheaper to produce over time. Every pound shed could save about $5, meaning potential cost savings of up to $10,000 per vehicle. Despite the technical success, production remains a significant challenge. Factorial CEO Siyu Huang candidly described the journey as "production hell" in an interview with InsideEVs, marked by high scrap rates and material difficulties. Cost is another major obstacle. Huang noted that small-scale versions of these solid-state cells can be 10 to 30 times more expensive than conventional lithium-ion cells. While she is optimistic that mass manufacturing will drive costs down, that reality is still a few years away. In the meantime, Factorial's cells represent an important interim step. These polymer-based semi-solid-state batteries are not fully solid-state yet, but they help stabilize the anode - a key area of degradation in traditional batteries - setting the stage for true all-solid-state batteries in the future. Factorial's partnership with Stellantis and its earlier work with Mercedes-Benz show the growing interest among major automakers in solid-state solutions. If scalability and costs can be tackled, this new generation of batteries could address many of the lingering concerns around EV range, charging times, safety, and durability, all with a single technology. The real-world testing with the Dodge Charger Daytona will be an important test. If successful, it could mark a turning point not just for Stellantis but for the entire EV industry. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Stellantis, Factorial Energy validate FEST solid-state battery cells for EVs
Stellantis and Factorial Energy have successfully validated the latter's 77Ah Factorial Electrolyte System Technology (FEST) solid-state battery cells. The development marks progress towards bringing next-generation electric vehicle (EV) batteries to the market. In 2024, Stellantis and Factorial announced the next phase of their partnership, aimed at advancing the development and deployment of next-generation EVs using Factorial's solid-state battery technology. The initiative builds on Stellantis' $75m investment in Factorial made in 2021. Stellantis is planning to launch a demonstration fleet of all-new Dodge Charger Daytona vehicles featuring Factorial's solid-state batteries in 2026. This will mark a key next step in the commercialisation of this 'promising technology". This demonstration fleet aims to validate Factorial's technology and assess its performance in real-world driving conditions. During the latest assessment, the automotive-sized 77Ah FEST cells have demonstrated an energy density of 375Wh/kg and are progressing towards automotive qualification. The validated solid-state batteries offer higher energy density and faster charging compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, Stellantis said. Factorial's 77Ah FEST cells are capable of charging from 15% to over 90% in just 18 minutes at room temperature. They also boast high power output with discharge rates up to 4C, which caters to the increasing performance demands of EVs. Factorial has utilised scientific engineering and AI-driven tools to develop an electrolyte formulation that enables the battery to operate effectively in a wide temperature range, from -30°C to 45°C. This overcomes previous limitations of solid-state batteries and suggests improved performance in various climates, the company said. Stellantis chief engineering and technology officer Ned Curic said: 'Reaching this level of performance reflects the strengths of our collaboration with Factorial. 'This breakthrough puts us at the forefront of the solid-state revolution, but we are not stopping there. We continue working together to push the boundaries and deliver even more advanced solutions, bringing us closer to lighter, more efficient batteries that reduce costs for our customers.' Stellantis and Factorial are also collaborating on pack design and technology integration to reduce battery pack weight and improve system efficiency. These efforts aim to enhance vehicle range and support sustainable EV solutions. Factorial Energy CEO Siyu Huang said: 'Battery development is about compromise. While optimising one feature is simple, balancing high energy density, cycle life, fast charging, and safety in an automotive-sized battery with OEM validation is a breakthrough. 'This achievement with Stellantis is bringing next-generation battery technology from research to reality.' "Stellantis, Factorial Energy validate FEST solid-state battery cells for EVs" was originally created and published by Just Auto, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
