Inside Valley – What the batteries of the future will look like
Smartphones and laptops are getting more powerful, but batteries aren't keeping pace. A visit to the leading battery start-ups.
In this episode of Inside Valley I visit the laboratory of Sila Nanotechnologies on Alameda Island, just outside San Francisco. Here a former Tesla veteran is working on a material that could finally push electric cars into the mainstream: silicon in the battery cell.
What is at stake
“The battery of the future is being built here,” says Sila founder Gene Berdichevsky, as test stations hiss, hum and whir in the background. Berdichevsky, employee number seven at Tesla, founded Sila eleven years ago. His goal: to bring battery technology from the laboratory into mass production, above all silicon-based anodes. The aim is for today’s lithium-ion batteries to store significantly more energy and charge faster – at the same cost.
Why silicon changes the game
Since lithium-ion batteries were patented in 1982, the major technological leaps have not come. Prices have fallen, cells have improved – but the underlying approach has remained the same. Silicon can change that, and carmakers know it. “We need to shift the cell chemistry from graphite to silicon,” Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said at the Volkswagen Group’s Power Day in 2021. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has also praised the material: “Silicon is impressive and not expensive.”
Why the breakthrough is so difficult
Silicon sounds simpler than it is. The material expands many times over during charging and then contracts again – a severe mechanical stress on the cell. Manufacturers like Mercedes, Tesla and Porsche are therefore not working on the material themselves but cooperating with specialised start-ups like Sila. Berdichevsky believes he has achieved the breakthrough: the new cell generation is set to be installed in the electric Mercedes G-Class, delivering significantly higher energy density than today’s batteries.
What this means for the industry
The real future lies with solid-state batteries – but those are not expected to arrive until 2027. Until then, silicon anodes will be the most important lever for extending range and reducing charging times. Whoever makes the leap wins. For the German automotive industry, Sila is therefore more than a supplier: these cooperations will help determine whether Mercedes, Porsche and Volkswagen close the gap in cell chemistry, or whether the next generation of electric cars comes from Asia or the United States.
I wrote the full reportage for Handelsblatt.