Envia’s recipe involves high-capacity, manganese-rich cathodes with a layered-layered composite structure (made with two different layered components) based on technology licensed from Argonne National Laboratory. (Image credit: Envia Systems)
A California company called Envia Systems is developing a battery that promises to store twice the energy of lithium-ion batteries—the kind typically used in electric cars.
Envia has received investment from General Motors, which could be one of the biggest buyers of lithium-ion batteries for cars in coming years thanks to a planned lineup of plug-in cars including the Chevy Volt. The automaker’s venture capital arm, GM Ventures, announced a $7 million investment in the startup last month.
Envia says its batteries could lower the cost of plug-in vehicles by reducing the need for costly metals, and by cutting the number of cells needed to store a given amount of energy in a vehicle’s battery pack.
Josie Garthwaite 