Enovix Corporation, a California-based lithium-ion battery developer, announced recently that it has secured $45 million in new funds to produce and commercialize its "3D Silicon Lithium-ion Battery".

The company was already backed by strategic investors like Intel, Qualcomm and Cypress, and now has over $200 million in venture, strategic and private funding. Enough to start the production at its facility in Fremont, California by the end of 2020.

Harrold Rust, Enovix co-founder and CEO, said:

"The composition of this round is a testament to the performance we've achieved and progress we've demonstrated towards production and commercialization of our silicon-based lithium-ion battery. Anchoring the round is a $25 million strategic investment from a leading California technology company. Present investors have added $10 million, and customers have contracted $10 million to develop batteries for specific products and to reserve production capacity."

Enovix has developed a 3D lithium-ion battery cell architecture, which incorporates a 100% active silicon anode (unlike conventional anodes, which eventually get only a small content of silicon).

The early prototypes from 2019 noted volumetric energy density of over 900 Wh/L and full-depth of discharge cycle life of over 500.

"We initially attracted customers when we sampled cells about a year ago with energy density over 900 Wh/l and full-depth of discharge cycle life over 500," said Rust. "As customers and investors visited our production site and saw our proprietary electrode laser patterning and high-speed stacking tools in action, their confidence in our production capability was sufficient to generate revenue and secure additional funding."

The company also says that its production process with proprietary laser patterning and high-speed stacking tools improves production line capacity by 30%.

"Enovix will use the bulk of the funds to complete its Fremont, California high-volume battery production facility, where about 75% of the equipment and processes are identical to standard pouch lithium-ion battery manufacturing. Enovix has developed proprietary electrode laser patterning and high-speed stacking tools that replace the standard electrode winding process to increase production line Mega-Watt hour (MWh) capacity by 30%."

Production will be launched this year, but it will be for various application and rather in MWh scale we guess. The production for the EV market to be launched within 5 years.

Enovix 3D Silicon Lithium-ion Battery

The gravimetric energy density - according to initial R&D - might exceed 340 Wh/kg, at some point in the future (the company did not reveal the current number).

The other goals are over 1,250 Wh/l energy density with over 1,000 cycle life by 2022.