Soteria Battery Innovation Group Acquires Elegus Technologies' Solution for Increased Cycle Life of Lithium-ion Batteries

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Jul 20, 2021, 17:00 ET

GREENVILLE, S.C., July 20, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Soteria Battery Innovation Group has acquired intellectual property from Elegus Technologies to improve battery cycle life and safety. With the growing adoption of electric powertrains in both vehicles and aircraft comes a desire for longer cycle life from the expensive battery pack. Elegus Technologies' nano-aramid separator technology is poised to meet that desire without compromising safety. Soteria is bringing Elegus' technology to its global industry consortium, promoting broad access to battery safety technologies. This technology complements Soteria's Dreamweaver non-woven separator, which enhances thermal stability in batteries through the use of aramid fibers.

Capacity retention over cycle life of NMC523 pouch control cell (gray bar) versus cell with Elegus’ technology (blue line).

Lithium-ion cells generate both moisture and hydrofluoric acid as they age, which degrade the cells over time. Elegus Technologies, formed as a spinout of the University of Michigan, has developed technology utilizing nano-aramid fibers that enables the separator to immobilize these harmful elements in the cell, reducing the rate of degradation and extending the life of the cell. This is extremely important for applications such as automotive, aviation, and stationary energy storage.

"Commercializing innovative technologies is one of the hardest things a startup in the lithium-ion battery industry can do," said John Hennessy, Elegus Technologies' CEO and Co-Founder. "Soteria's approach of enabling broad access through a global licensing and consortium platform makes them an ideal partner to take our technology to the market. We saw a clear synergy between our materials and their aramid-based separator."

"Capturing the chemicals that are a root cause of battery degradation will allow battery builders to bring higher energy density cells, that would otherwise degrade quickly, to the lithium-ion market," said Brian Morin, Soteria CEO. "Elegus' technology will couple with Soteria's separator to make an smart, active separator, rather than the passive separator materials used today.

Soteria's Dreamweaver non-woven battery separators use aramid fibers for increased thermal and chemical stability, preventing the separator from melting or shrinking in the presence of a defect or damage. Elegus's technology pairs with the Dreamweaver separator without disrupting the standard cell manufacturing process. This means that the technology will be able to be implemented on today's Gigafactory lines, allowing it to be broadly adopted without an investment in additional equipment or manufacturing lines.

Soteria's open-innovation consortium and licensing structure creates a hub for new technologies to become broadly available to the battery industry. With the natural synergy of the Elegus technology with the Dreamweaver separator, the push towards higher energy density batteries can be realized without compromising longevity or safety.

About Soteria Battery Innovation Group Inc
Soteria Battery Innovation Group Inc is an advanced technology development and licensing company that has formed a consortium to promote a light, safe and cost-effective architecture for lithium ion batteries everywhere. Soteria BIG was founded in 2017 by Brian Morin and Carl Hu, and is headquartered in Greenville, SC. For more information contact Amy Brinson at (864) 609-4165 or [email protected] or visit our website at www.soteriabig.com.