Nyobolt talks with OEMs in overdrive

01 Jul, 2024
Tony Quested
Cambridge based fast-charging battery innovator Nyobolt is in talks with eight vehicle heavyweights about adopting its technology in high performance electric vehicles – but the global industry potential of the innovation reaches way beyond pure automotive.
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Nyobolt co-founder and CEO, Dr Sai Shivareddy. Credit – Nyobolt.

The technology is also set to be deployed this year in robotics with other applications already advancing – such as heavy-duty commercial vehicles seeking low downtime and high-productivity.

Business Weekly has previously reported on the speed with which the company’s ultra-fast charging batteries – which eliminate slow and inconvenient recharge stops – is moving from the lab to the track.

All this has happened in a head-spinning 12 months after concept reveal. Nyobolt has since proved through in-vehicle testing using a 350kW DC charger that its batteries can charge from 10 to 80 per cent in just under five minutes – twice the speed of the fastest-charging vehicles on the road – and without the degradation typically associated with lithium-ion batteries.

Independent testing by a top global OEM confirms that Nyobolt’s longer lasting and more sustainable batteries can achieve over 4,000 fast charge cycles, or 600,000 miles, maintaining over 80 per cent battery capacity retention.

Founded in 2019, Nyobolt has leveraged its nextgen patented carbon and metal oxide anode materials, innovative low impedance cell design, integrated power electronics and software controls to create power dense battery and charging systems.

These support the electrification of high-uptime industrial and automotive applications such as heavy-duty off-highway trucks, EVs, robotics and consumer devices that demand high power and quick recharge cycles.

Nyobolt’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Sai Shivareddy, says: “Despite some OEMs showing fast charge times in the region of 15 minutes, a closer inspection reveals the charge is usually across a limited SOC region specifically chosen to limit the amount of life taken out of the cell; for instance, between 20-80 per cent.

“Typically, the charge profile will only hold these peak charge levels for a short amount of the charge time. Nyobolt’s low impedance cells ensure we can offer sustainability, stretching out the battery’s usable life for up to 600,000 miles in the case of our technology demonstrator.”

Scalable battery production is already planned and Dr Shivareddy adds: “Our extensive research here in the UK and US has unlocked a novel battery technology that is ready and scalable right now.

“We are enabling the electrification of new products and services currently considered inviable or impossible. Creating real-world demonstrators, such as the Nyobolt EV, underlines both our readiness and commitment to making the industries see change is possible.”

Nyobolt’s technology builds on a decade of battery research led by University of Cambridge battery scientists Professor Clare Grey and Dr Shivareddy, who had invented cutting-edge supercapacitors.

Key to Nyobolt’s unique ability to offer ultra-fast charging without impacting battery life is its low impedance cells that generate less heat, making it easier to manage such high-power levels during charging. Its anode materials in lithium-ion battery cells allow for a faster transfer of electrons between the anode and cathode.