Transitioning to emission-free electric vehicles is seen by the UK government as a key contributor to achieving Net Zero and reducing the release of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The automotive industry has raised to this challenge and the adoption of battery-powered electric vehicles has increased greatly in order to meet the target of no sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2030\. Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are the current technology of choice to power electric vehicles: this technology is mature and manufactured at GWh-level across the world. Whilst lithium-ion batteries are still evolving, it is expected that the technology will eventually plateau and may not meet the longer-term ever-increasing demand for long range, high acceleration and fast charging of new electric vehicle models. Solid-state batteries are seen as likely successors of lithium-ion batteries: these fully-solid batteries do not contain the liquid electrolyte present in lithium-ion batteries, leading to potential improvements in terms of power and energy both at cell and pack level, through simplified packaging, battery management and cooling systems.

Ilika has developed a unique solid-state pouch technology, based on oxide solid electrolyte and silicon anode. Whilst carrying on its new product development program, the company is already planning ahead to the way its technology will be industrialised in the next few years. The next step towards commercialisation will see Ilika scale up to a 100 MWh-level facility, exercising its IP and know-how at a production volume level relevant to its automotive target markets and exemplifying manufacturing at an intermediate milestone before further scale up to GWh-level.

Ilika is working with a number of UK based equipment vendors to validate its scale up activities by conducting a series of trials using representative volume manufacturing equipment to de risk the next phase of its industrialisation plan.