Ilika Plc (LON:IKA), a pioneer in solid state battery technology, announces it has achieved its D4 development point, which is a design-freeze milestone in the Goliath roadmap upon which Ilika’s first prototype for customer release, P1, is based. The P1 prototype is an intermediate milestone on Ilika’s roadmap to its minimum viable product (MVP) in 2025. The P1 Goliath prototype is a solid-state pouch cell with an NMC cathode and a silicon anode.
The D4 development point is an important milestone for the Company, effectively marking the start of Goliath’s productization journey, being the essential marker for the P1 prototype. The D4 development point means that a number of key data sets – including energy density and power density have been met while showing that the Company is firmly on track to achieve lithium-ion energy parity by the end of the current calendar. Given the data sets that are now achievable the Company will be able to create P1 samples, which comprise four layer stacks, for sale to OEMs for testing.
Over the next six months, Ilika will manufacture and test batches of pouch cells based on the D4 development point prior to delivering fully characterized P1 cells to up to 15 customers in 2024. Ilika is currently in discussions with its customer base for Goliath batteries, which is primarily automotive OEMs, but also includes Tier 1 automotive suppliers and consumer appliance companies.
Work is continuing on Ilika’s roadmap through to MVP, for which the corresponding D8 development point will be achieved at the end of 2024. The MVP, or P2 prototypes will be stackable to 30 layers, underpinning licensing opportunities. Further detail re the product curve and development points can be found on page 11 of the Company’s 2023 Annual Report, which is available below:
Graeme Purdy, Ilika CEO, stated: “Achieving our D4 development point is an important milestone on our technology roadmap, as it forms the basis of our first prototype product pilot run, with the objective of sharing prototypes with our customer base in 2024. This achievement is a clear demonstration that the Ilika team is working very efficiently with the available resources to achieve credible outcomes for our customers within the ambitious timeframes that we have set.”
