Ilika plc (LON:IKA), the UK pioneer in solid-state battery technology, has announced that its collaboration with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has successfully demonstrated its ability to scale key steps in the manufacturing of its Goliath battery, which is expected to reduce costs, increase the range of electric vehicles and reduce their charging time.
This successful demonstration of manufacturing in a giga-scale factory setting, using industry standard equipment, marks another step towards commercialisation and follows progress in 2024 including the start of commercial testing, shipping of the first batch of prototype Goliath batteries to customers, and the release of validated safety data.
Graeme Purdy, CEO of Ilika, said: “We are delighted with the teamwork at UKBIC, which has delivered an excellent outcome, demonstrating the large scale preparation of Goliath electrolyte and the coating of our composite electrode-electrolyte. We look forward to further collaboration on our commercialisation journey and welcome the UK government’s recent announcement of £2B of funding which will catalyse faster progress in this space.”
Sean Gilgunn, Managing Director of UKBIC, said:
“This success highlights the valuable contribution UKBIC can make to scaling up innovation in the UK’s growing battery sector. Ilika’s technology is a great example of the kind of cutting edge thinking which can drive the UK economy when properly supported.”
Ilika announced in October 2023 receipt of grant support from the Automotive Transformation Fund (‘ATF’) in an 18-month, £2.7 million collaboration programme to scale up Ilika’s Goliath solid-state battery production capability. Via the programme, Ilika partnered with Mpac Group plc (‘Mpac’) (AIM: MPAC) global supplier of packaging and assembly automation, UKBIC and Agratas, Tata Group’s global battery business.
In this collaboration, codenamed Project SiSTEM, UKBIC and Ilika have carried out physical trials to demonstrate preparation and roll-to-roll coating of its proprietary solid state materials. The ongoing trials are providing evidence that Ilika’s approach to large format solid-state battery manufacture can be carried out with the types of mixing and coating equipment widely used in existing gigafactories.
The programme activities with Mpac and Agratas are also making strong progress and remain on track. Ilika is working closely with Mpac on completing the fabrication and testing of a 1.5MWh solid-state battery assembly line capable of delivering Ilika’s Goliath prototype large-format pouch cells to automotive original equipment manufacturers and Tier 1 suppliers. As stated in October 2023, the solid-state battery assembly line is expected to be fully operational at Ilika’s facility by the end of H1 2025. In parallel, the activities with Agratas have produced a detailed gap analysis between Agratas’s leading edge lithium-ion battery process and Ilika’s process with the key result that the solid-state battery application would cause minimum disruption.
