Safe, Silicon-First.
Building the Silicon Battery of the Future.
At Blue Current we believe that safe, high-performance battery technology gives engineers the power to create new products and experiences not possible before. Thinner, lighter and longer lasting batteries that are more reliable and affordable — and therefore more scalable in the market. Imagine wearables that are powered for days, not hours, flying taxis with longer range, and EV battery packs that are smaller and thousands of dollars less expensive. That’s the power to change the human experience. It’s Blue Current’s vision to make this possible.
We see a future where batteries are inherently
safe by default, and powered by silicon,
one of the most abundant materials on Earth.
Industry Map
For next-generation EVs and mobile devices to succeed, a leap forward is needed with battery technology. To achieve this, most of the industry has been working toward adding highly-engineered (and costly) silicon to traditional LIB cells or to develop lithium metal cells, many of which contain flammable liquid or gel electrolytes. We see the potential for a new battery chemistry that’s safe, energy-dense and has a long cycle life, allowing manufacturing using high-volume production equipment. We call this chemistry silicon elastic composite.
Through extensive diligence we see that Blue Current has an advantaged IP position that can be disruptive in the solid-state battery space.
– Koch Strategic Platforms
Frequently Asked Questions
Silicon-first means that we start with the ideal future design for a battery based on silicon versus trying to fit silicon into a traditional battery design. This is what leads us to using a fully dry chemistry. Silicon elastic composite electrolytes combine the adhesion and elasticity of polymers with the ionic conductivity of glass ceramics. This forms a fully dry material that enables a high content of silicon to cycle well in a fully dry chemistry system.
The benefits include high thermal stability for safety, low operating pressure for reduced packaging, and long cycle life with high silicon content for energy density. Our cells have the potential to use raw silicon that provides the best combination of specific energy capacity and low cost.
Safety should be addressed first at the cell chemistry level versus the system level where it adds much more cost and complexity. Cells should also not explode or violently eject materials when they fail.
We believe that chemistry is the hardest part of battery development. Scaling is also really hard. But if we get the chemistry right first, we’ll have a much better chance of scaling successfully, particularly since we’re using existing high volume manufacturing systems.
Blue Current sources anode and cathode active materials from the world’s top material providers. It then builds its own anolyte, catholyte, separator, and solid electrolyte.
Not at this time. The company believes its approach with silicon is lower risk and will deliver more quickly. Early in the company’s development, we ran a series of calculations and looked at the practical constraints of lithium metal and realized that we could build a silicon rich battery with polymers and ceramics and a thin separator that provides close to the theoretical maximum energy density of lithium metal but without any of the downsides with safety, life cycle, quality, manufacturing scalability and cost.
Yes, the company’s internal and 3rd-party-validated performance data is available under an NDA.
The company is now confident in the performance of its technology and sees additional gains that will come through scale. In addition, partners and customers are requesting samples to test.
Our initial business model is to partner with battery and automotive manufacturers to enable them to build with our technology and knowhow. Eventually we may also create our own factories to focus on other markets.
Blue Current has a state of the art and production-ready facility built specifically for solid-state battery R&D and pilot manufacturing. This includes large utility power interconnect, wet lab, two dry rooms covering 4000 square feet, 5000 square feet of battery cycling lab space and a high bay logistics area.
The company has developed a broad foundational base of intellectual property with over twenty-five patent families and related trade secrets. This focuses on new materials and material integration for fully dry composite solid state batteries and advanced manufacturing techniques required to scale.