Exclusive: Coreshell has a plan to slash the price of American-made batteries
Summary
Those incentives, plus decades of industrial policy focused on controlled critical mineral supply chains, has left American and European automakers flat-footed.Take graphite, for example. You need a technical edge or material differentiation to be competitive in the U.S. or in Europe, Jonathan Tan, co-founder and CEO of Coreshell, told TechCrunch.Tan thinks his company offers that. Rather than trying to beat Chinese companies, Coreshell is attempting an end run by swapping graphite for its specially coated silicon.To get samples of material in the hands of more automakers, Coreshell has raised $24 million in a Series A2 round, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. By coating small beads of silicon with its proprietary material, Coreshell has found a way to stabilize it so it doesnt degrade over the thousand-plus charge-discharge cycles a typical EV is expected to endure.The startup made its first 60 amp-hour sample batteries for automakers in December, and it has a four megawatt-hour production line up and running to supply demand for testing. Thats great for the luxury end, but the mass market needs a 300-mile car thats just way cheaper than what it is right now, and it needs to be profitable for the industry.