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We’ve been masking Amprius for … 12 years. From its early roots at Stanford (in 2008), to former US Secretary of Power Steven Chu becoming a member of the board of administrators (in 2014), to important growth of high-energy-density battery manufacturing at its facility in California earlier this yr (an occasion we attended), the corporate has been trudging alongside whereas making an attempt to develop world-changing expertise. Right here’s a dialogue I had with CTO, Constantin Ionel Stefan, final yr if you wish to actually dive into the corporate’s imaginative and prescient and progress:
The information now could be that Amprius “has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (‘LOI’) with a Fortune Global 500 technology OEM to develop a high-energy SiCore™ cylindrical cell for Light Electric Vehicle (‘LEV’) applications.” In different phrases, Amprius could also be going massive time. “The LOI demonstrates both parties’ intention to enter into a commercial supply agreement that will cover the next 5 years.”
Sadly, we clearly don’t have the identify of the corporate, however we do get a peak into the potential scale of this provide settlement. “The Fortune Global 500 technology company has a strong presence in the LEV industry and is looking to enhance its product offerings through this strategic partnership with Amprius. The potential future business associated with the non-binding LOI could provide Amprius with battery production orders exceeding 2 GWh over the proposed contract’s duration.” It’s true — 2 GWh, particularly over 5 years, just isn’t an infinite quantity when you consider the size of battery leaders CATL and BYD. Nonetheless, that is nicely past a pilot stage. That is severe scaling up of battery manufacturing and would imply that Amprius has confirmed itself. Is the sky the restrict after that? Who is aware of, however the progress is important and should really feel completely huge after greater than a decade of engaged on this.
Whereas we don’t actually have perception on the cost-competitiveness of those batteries at this time or the corporate’s value roadmap, they need to not be too costly at this stage for the efficiency enhancements supplied. Most notably, the batteries present considerably extra power density than regular batteries. “Under this LOI, Amprius will design and deliver high energy density cylindrical cells based on Amprius’ SiCore anode chemistry with a 25% capacity improvement over the current industry standard. While the performance specifications are still being finalized, this development aims to substantially increase energy capacity, marking a significant milestone for both companies. Amprius has secured over 125 million SiCore cylindrical cell annual production capacity through contract manufacturing partnerships. Additional capacity will be available in 2025.”
Shipments of those Amprius SiCore cylindrical cells will start this yr.
You may’t go from zero to hero in a day. It takes time to scale up manufacturing and particularly extremely dependable and environment friendly manufacturing for business purposes. It appears Amprius is coming into its first severe scaling up of manufacturing. If that goes nicely, one has to assume Amprius may develop to a a lot bigger degree. We are going to make sure you hold you posted on any progress.
“This partnership further demonstrates Amprius’ industry-leading battery performance and its ability to significantly improve product range and performance across a variety of industries,” says Dr. Kang Solar, CEO of Amprius Applied sciences. “As we continue to transform the electric mobility sector, we are beginning to make strong inroads in the light electric vehicle space. We are excited to add another Fortune Global 500 company to our robust list of customers who trust Amprius to power their devices and products. The batteries for this application will take advantage of Amprius’ new breakthrough SiCore cell chemistry and cylindrical cell design.”
The massive query I’ve at this time nonetheless is: which Fortune International 500 firm is the cope with at this time? Additionally, which Fortune International 500 firm wouldn’t it goal subsequent?
