The battery maker's niobium tungsten oxide anode will revolutionise electric vehicles.
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The motoring journalist Jeremy Clarkson is not a fan of electric cars. He wrote recently that he's “told people until I'm blue in the face that electric cars don’t have enough range, that they take far too long to charge up, that they will always be too expensive.”
Unfortunately for Jezza, two of these objections are about to disappear. Nyobolt, a British company, has built a battery able to charge from 10 to 80 per cent in under five minutes, twice the speed of the fastest-charging vehicles on the road. It's an innovation that ends the range debate for good, and is set to change the way the world thinks about electric cars.
For comparison, the top-of-the-range Porsche Taycan is ranked as one of the fastest chargers on the road today. Its traditional lithium-ion battery takes 22.5 minutes to charge from empty to full if supplied with the maximum power it can handle.
Steve Hutchins, Vice President of Engineering at Nyobolt
To demonstrate the technology and its readiness for production, Nyobolt developed its own fully functioning concept car, the Nyobolt EV with a proprietary 35kWh battery. And yes, the public demo proved the EV demonstrator charges, using a 350Kw charger from zero to 80 per cent in four minutes thirty seven seconds, and to full in six minutes.
Top Gear magazine's response: “Woah”.
Naturally, Nyobolt's breakthrough raises many questions. How is this possible? When are Nyobolt batteries available for road cars or commercial vehicles? And are there any downsides?
And also...if the equation stacks up, why hasn't Tesla or Apple bought Nyobolt for a few billion dollars? “Good question,” says Steve Hutchins, Vice President of Engineering at Nyobolt, who agreed to an exclusive interview with Mewburn Ellis. “Why not indeed!”
Cambridge University origins
First, a bit of background. Nyobolt was founded by Clare Grey, chemistry professor at Cambridge University and fellow of Pembroke College. Professor Grey specialises in battery chemistry, and is recipient of eight prestigious awards for her work on energy storage, including the Royal Society Hughes Medal and the Prix Franco-Britannique from the Société Chimique de France.
In 2018, Professor Grey and her team solved a long standing bottleneck in lithium-ion batteries. Ions flow from the cathode to the anode when charging, and the structure of the traditional graphite anode is what limits the charging rate. What if something other than graphite were used for the anode? Professor Grey identified a family of niobium tungsten oxides as the ideal replacement for graphite. The structure of the niobium tungsten oxide allows a greater volume of lithium ions to enter and leave the anode, in a controlled manner, multiplying the charging speed of the battery.
In 2019 she co-founded Nyobolt in Cambridge with Sai Shivareddy to commercialise her breakthrough. Dr Shivareddy is another high flier. He obtained his PhD from St John’s College, Cambridge, and worked with Dyson in developing new concepts for high power energy storage technologies. He is Nyobolt's CEO.
Nyobolt is now on the brink of full commercial launch of its super-fast battery. The moment of truth is here.
How it works
The Nyobolt battery is a leap forward because of the creative redesign of the anode, says Hutchins.
“A battery has an anode and a cathode,” he says, also mentioning he slipped into the pre-interview chat that he'd got to bed at 6am the night before due to work – such are the demands of working for the one of the world's most in-demand companies. “In the battery field historically, a lot of development focus has been on the cathode because it features strongly in the performance characteristics of the battery in discharge. When the battery community talks about a battery’s ‘chemistry’, they are nearly always referring to the cathode, because the anode doesn’t change: around 95 per cent of the world's anodes are graphite and that's what tends to limit the charging rate. Our breakthrough has been in the materials used for the anode”
He offers a lay explanation: “During charging, lithium ions go from the cathode and embed themselves in the anode in a process called lithiation. The quicker they can lithiate the anode material, the faster you can charge. Graphite is a layered structure. There is a fixed distance between the layers and that limits the maximum lithiation rate. In niobium tungsten oxide the mobility of the lithium ions is roughly a hundred times higher, so it can be charged much faster.”
This is a hard won insight.
Professor Grey's research involved using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, normally associated with MRI health scans, to see where the lithium ions are located in the battery. NMR can identify the chemical structure of the battery, and also the dynamics – how fast the ions are moving in the structure.
With her team she built test batteries, a similar size to those found in a hearing aid. These are small enough to be put inside the NMR spectrometer. The team then cycles the battery to see how the lithium ions behave.
This approach illuminated the bottleneck. Ions need to move smoothly from cathode to anode and back again. The graphite in the anode expands and contracts as ions enter and leave. If there is congestion, the result is heat, which triggers a series of degradations. The cathode releases oxygen, which can lead to combustion. At the anode, the graphite is protected by a passivation layer. Above 60 °C the anode interacts with the electrolyte, and it forms more passivating layers – like a build up of rust, degrading the battery performance.
Another result of her work was to show how the lithium ions enter the anode. Ideally they form an orderly graphitic structure. If they enter too fast they form a mossy structure, known as lithium dendrites. These structures, which Professor Grey concedes are “beautiful”, lead to fires and the explosions seen from time to time with lithium-ion batteries.
For six years Professor Grey led a team searching for a material which would solve these problems, experimenting with tungsten, titanium, and niobium. Kent Griffith, a PhD student, identified a specific niobium tungsten oxide, Nb16W5O55 (NWO). The architecture of this NWO anode is larger – the ions can flow uninhibited to and from the cathode. In one test, the ions moved 33 times faster than with a graphite anode. In 2018, Grey, Griffith and three other academics published their findings in the science journal Nature.
The anode is not the only upgrade. “There are a dozen other parts to a battery cell,” says Hutchins. “We are looking at the complete package.” Nyobolt has set up a high calibre cell engineering team in USA to develop its full range of battery improvements. This includes key staff from the former A123 company who developed the KERS battery cells for Formula 1. “These guys are specialists in high-power cell design and do things with cells that make your eyes pop out.”
The overall result is a battery that charges faster. And is robust. “Our batteries have a very, very long cycle life,” says Hutchins. “On a phone we could charge in two minutes and the battery might last up tor 60 years. Our battery technology is also suitable for EVs. A leading global OEM confirmed that Nyobolt’s batteries can achieve over 4,000 fast charge cycles, or 600,000 miles, maintaining over 80 per cent battery capacity retention. That's pretty amazing.”
Can the grid cope with super-fast charging?
Charging a car battery in six minutes requires a 350kW power supply.
“What are your chances of getting a 350kW charger at home? Zero,” says Melanie Shufflebotham, co-founder of Zapmap, an app which shows the location of chargers in the UK. “Trickle chargers of 7kW are okay because you charge overnight. 350kW chargers are for charging en route, at places such as motorway service stations.”
Her research shows the rapid growth of 350kW chargers in public locations in the UK. “There are just over 5,000 rapid chargers in the UK, classed 50kW. Then there are ultra-rapid, defined as more than 100kW, but typically more than 150kW, and we have 3585 ultra-rapid chargers at the moment, of which 420 are 350kW, or 12 per cent, which isn't bad.”
It's still rare to find an EV able to handle 350kW. “The Porsche Taycan can charge at 350kW,” says Shufflebotham. “And the Kia EV 6 and Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6 can take that level of charge. Over time battery management systems will improve, so it will be more common.” In Norway, the top 20 EV models sold can only use half that power.
The next level? “Trucks are going to need a megawatt or more,” says Shufflebotham. A new connector will be required for this, as the standard CCS connector is limited to 350kW. The EV international standards body CharIn is developing EV charging at 1.2MW, with a protocol expected in 2024. Prototypes of 1MW charging have been demonstrated in Oslo, Norway, and Portland, Oregon, by CharIn.
The impact
Investors in Nyobolt must be salivating at the performance of NWO anode batteries. The company has just raised $30 million in funding, led by IQ Capital and Latitude, the sister fund of LocalGlobe, with strategic partners including Scania Invest and Takasago Industry. The funding, which brings the total raised to $100m, will accelerate the advancement of Nyobolt’s proprietary technology, fuel market expansion, grow its team and cement its position as the industry leader in ultra-fast power systems.
“We are looking at a number of sectors,” says Hutchins. “There's automotive, which is a huge global market and we have a lot of interest outside automotive also.. Power-intensive sectors such as automation and AI data centres are under increasing pressure to cut emissions while also keeping systems running 24/7. We have a customer who increased their uptime from 15 per cent to 90 per cent by using our batteries. And there's no need for them to swap out batteries to maintain productivity. That reduces the number of batteries needed from two or three per device down to one, so we save on resources as well as boosting uptime.”
Grid applications are on the horizon. “Solar and wind do not need fast charging,” admits Hutchins. “The role is what's called peak shaving. Now and again there is a surge of surplus energy and it needs to be absorbed very quickly. Nyobolt batteries could work in combination with large, slow reservoir batteries.”
There's also the possibility of electric cars offering grid storage. Plug an EV into the mains, and it can absorb surplus energy, or return energy during peaks of demand, to act as a load balancer. “If everyone participated it would add a substantial amount of storage for the grid.”
Entrepreneurs are welcome to think of other applications. Hutchins is happy to speculate: “Localised energy storage is a growing market. Tesla has an operation for festivals. They turn up with articulated trucks full of batteries and charge cars. You can plug six cars into a single truck. It's another way of getting energy to locations where the grid can't reach. That could be a good use.”
Unlike pure R&D companies, Nyobolt is aiming to be a producer of its IP. “Something that sets us apart is that we've gone downstream, both in development and manufacturing. With our partners, we are making the batteries in Asia, and helping our customers to integrate the technology. We aren't just showing up with anode powder, we aim to make it as easy as possible for our customers adopt the technology.”
The company closed 2024 with $9 million in revenue (*non-GAAP). It is now positioned to triple its revenue figures, with over $150 million in contract value already secured with volume production starting in 2025.
There are around 20 companies in negotiations with Nyobolt. Non-disclosure agreements preclude naming them. The automakers ought to be desperate to sign deals with Nyobolt. The ability to charge in barely more time than a petrol car ends the range anxiety issue.
“This is my third startup and I've never seen anything like it in terms of traction this early. Things are looking quite promising,” adds Hutchins.
Nyobolt EV: 6-minute charge, 155-mile range
The ultra-rapid charging Nyobolt EV is a 1246kg, 470bhp EV fitted niobium tungsten oxide anode 35kWh battery. The range, with a full 100 per cent charge, enables the prototype to achieve a range of 155 WLTP miles
Sai Shivareddy, CEO at Nyobolt, said: “Unlocking the challenges faced by electric vehicle designers has been key to the development of our breakthrough fast-charging batteries. Previously, enabling a light weight fast-charging vehicle was not possible without compromising its lifetime and so people have been relying on costly and large battery packs in the vehicle. With our unique technology we have achieved a six-minute charge car, and developed smaller battery packs that can deliver more power and charge in less time.”
The Nyobolt EV even comes with an open top roof, ideal for driving with pollution-free air rushing through your hair.
Making it happen
The sceptical reader may be wondering if this is all plausible? The tech may work, but we've been bitten before by battery hype. Britishvolt went into administration before a battery had been made despite using traditional technology. Can Nyobolt deliver?
“Our manufacturing process for the anode materials uses standard equipment,” reveals Hutchins. “We have developed a lot of IP in the process control but have not had to invent or employ any exotic new processes. So there are no obstacles from the production side. It's just about scaling up quickly enough.”
Niobium is not in short supply. There's more of it than copper on the surface of the earth. The main mines are in Brazil and Canada, so no political risks either.
Nyobolt has invested in legal protections. Mewburn Ellis is the lead IP partner, ensuring this innovative company can enjoy the fruits of its research. “We are writing patents all the time,” says Hutchins. “And not just on battery chemistry, but everything to do with faster charging. Because as soon as you have a battery that can charge fast you need to upgrade everything to take advantage of that. With Mewburn Ellis we are developing a strategy that is a mix of patents, trade marks and trade secrets. The niobium tungsten oxide anode is patent protected in a number of countries with patent pending in others. We think the legal protections around it will be strong. Nobody's ever commercialised niobium tungsten oxide for batteries before.”
Securing a strong brand identity has also been key to Nyobolt’s success. Mewburn Ellis has developed a trade mark filing strategy that focuses on Nyobolt’s core range of battery products, as well as the services associated with helping to integrate their technology. This reflects Nyobolt’s aim of being a business to business battery brand, rather than the typical R&D companies in the sector. Nyobolt has now secured registered trade mark protection in several key territories, as well as having scope for future expansion of the brand as it develops.
So, what, if anything, is preventing world domination? “Time and money!” says Hutchins. He says the approach is cautious. “A lot of battery companies grow before they get any customers. We don't want to do that. Our aim is to win the customers first and then we can think about scaling up. We don't want to build a big factory and hope customers come.”
It's possible a new technology such as solid state batteries could offer higher performance. Hutchins is not worried. “There's been a lot of questions around solid state and it shows a lot of promise but we’re focussing on our own technology. Nyobolt batteries are available today.”
Leading with zero-carbon tech
Niles Beadman, Senior Associate and Patent Attorney at Mewburn Ellis, comments:
"Nyobolt have made astonishing progress over the last six years - making the leap from technological breakthrough to market readiness is no mean feat. The multimillion dollar contacts they have secured is testament to their exclusive offering and focus on the whole cell package. It’s been a privilege for us to support Nyobolt in protecting their technology and brand, as it has, and continues to, evolve. We’re looking forward to the next chapter."
Written by Charles Orton-Jones.
