Sulfur-crystal battery could triple EV range without cobalt or nickel

A German startup believes it has the recipe for electric vehicle battery cells which can be cheaper, more energy dense, and fewer problematic for the environment than current lithium-ion cells. But commercialization seems a good distance off.

Theion announced Thursday in a press release that it’s near completing a 15 million euro (roughly $16.2 million at current exchange rates) Series A round to development of its sulfur-crystal battery chemistry. It’s based on proprietary anode technology that Theion hopes will extend battery life—certainly one of the principal obstacles to sulfur-based chemistries.

With this chemistry, Theion is aiming for energy density of 1,000 Wh/kg, which is about triple that of leading-edge nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) cells today, including the 4680 cells utilized in the Tesla Cybertruck. Such energy density would allow for much lighter cells without sacrificing range, or increased range from the identical volume.

Theion claims it will possibly achieve this without using nickel or cobalt, addressing environmental and human-rights concerns related to the mining of those metals. Overall, Theion claims its cells could have a one-third lower carbon footprint—and value—compared to traditional cells. That is because, because the firm notes in its release, sulfur is the sixteenth most abundant element on Earth, and costs much lower than the raw materials of NMC cells.

Stellantis STLA Medium platform

But as Theion emphasizes, longevity in cycle life shall be the challenge for sulfur-crystal batteries. The startup believes its batteries need to keep up performance over 1,000 charge/discharge cycles to be commercially viable, a goal it goals to accumulate to, after initial testing of 500 Wh/kg cells at 500 cycles, before starting production.

Research into lithium-sulfur batteries for EVs goes back at the least a decade, and we have seen impressive claims about their ability to spice up EV range before. Stellantis has even partnered with not one, but two startups—Lyten and Zeta Energy—that aim to commercialize the tech, perhaps by the tip of the last decade. But it surely stays to be seen if any of those efforts—Theion’s included—will overcome the hurdles and get sulfur batteries into production EVs.