Atlis Motor Vehicles announced the production of its own battery cells to power 300-, 400-, and 500-mile range batteries for the company's Atlis XP platform and XT pickup truck. Those batteries will be able to charge in less than 15 minutes, an industry first, the company said in a statement. Atlis plans to commercially launch its next-generation AMV battery cell in Q4 2021. The batteries will be made available to other manufacturers, Atlis said.
The AMV battery cells are the first to be designed specifically for the automotive industry, according to Atlis. The company plans to produce all cells needed to power its electric work trucks that are scheduled to debut in late 2022.
“We know battery development will be critical in the coming years as interest in electric vehicles increases,” said Annie Pratt, president, Atlis Motor Vehicles. “By building battery cells in-house, Atlis is securing its own battery supply chain while also providing ultra-fast charging batteries to companies in niche markets who are currently struggling to secure their own supply from top battery suppliers.”
Atlis is creating Z-fold, tabless prismatic cells, and is taking a unique approach to the battery management system. Charging in less than 15 minutes requires getting electrons into a battery quickly and managing thermal loads. Atlis cells are heated to a high temperature at the beginning of the charge to prevent dendrites, lithium formations that can grow inside the battery and cause cell failure, then cooled rapidly at the end to increase life of the cell.
The company partnered with Clemson University in a three-year master research agreement, and has been conducting research at the Clemson Nanomaterials Institute with founder and director Apparao Rao and his team. Atlis' cells utilize custom coatings to strike a balance between energy and power and will be scaled to fit a variety of vehicle classes. These coatings, coupled with a special mechanical construction, will lead to optimized energy capacity and reduced charging time, the company said.
