The world’s urgent quest for sustainable energy solutions has catapulted battery technology into the spotlight. This technology is pivotal in powering electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics, and enabling renewable energy storage. The demand for smaller, lighter, safer, and more efficient batteries is driving relentless innovation. The need for reliable, longer-lasting, and faster-charging batteries for EVs is more critical than ever. This need is driving the development of new battery technologies, and the University of Cambridge’s entrepreneurship programme, impulse, is at the forefront of this revolution.
Impulse has been instrumental in helping pioneering battery innovators commercialise their advancements. Among the most recent graduates are Sanzhar Taizhan, founder and CEO of TaiSan, and Emma Antonio, who is set to spin out of Imperial College London this summer. These innovators are pushing the boundaries of battery technology, bringing the chemistry to the next level.
Sanzhar Taizhan, an impulse fellow sponsored by automobile parts manufacturer MAGNA International, is making strides with his quasi-solid state sodium technology for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs). TaiSan has developed a novel polymer electrolyte and anode material that boosts the energy density of sodium while keeping costs low. Taizhan explained, “Sodium batteries are traditionally very heavy and big in size. We have developed a brand-new electrolyte material, and a first-of-its-kind quasi-solid-state sodium battery, which makes batteries considerably smaller and lighter, with best-in-class energy density, and offers significant cost, sustainability and safety benefits for the BEV industry.” TaiSan’s technology has already received a “Best Growth Potential” award from the Department for Transport (DfT) and a £1.3 million pre-seed fundraise. With memorandums in place and prototypes being tested this year, TaiSan’s technology is poised to be a game changer for both the automotive and micro-mobility industries, addressing ‘range anxiety’ amongst EV users, reducing charging times, and driving down overall costs.
Emma Antonio, another impulse graduate, is focused on using waste materials to make biomass-based ‘hard carbon’ battery materials for sodium-ion batteries. She stated, “Sodium-ion batteries are positioned to play a leading role in a sustainable, equitable and resilient energy future. As they can be manufactured using existing capabilities, they are rapidly gaining traction, especially in the stationary storage sector, to support wind and solar.” Antonio’s research replaces critical mineral graphite with hard carbon, derived from biomass and plastic waste, creating a material that stores more charge, charges quickly, and lasts longer.
The success stories of impulse graduates are not limited to Taizhan and Antonio. Jean de La Verpilliere, co-founder and CEO of Echion Technologies, and Kieran O’Regan, co-founder and CGO of About:Energy, have also made significant strides. Echion’s revolutionary XNO® niobium-based anode material enables lithium-ion batteries to fast-charge safely in less than 10 minutes. Last June, Echion raised £29m in a Series B investment round and, five months later, landed a further £10m to power commercial growth. They recently opened a niobium-based anode production facility, capable of producing 2000 t/year of XNO®, equivalent to 1 GWh of Li-ion cells. About:Energy has raised over £4m to scale its hardware-integrated software solutions, enabling advanced digital twins for the automotive and industrial sectors.
The rapid advancements in battery technology, driven by innovators like those supported by impulse, are set to reshape the energy sector. As the world transitions to a cleaner, more energy-efficient future, the demand for efficient, longer-lasting, and faster-charging batteries will only increase. The innovations coming out of impulse are not just pushing the boundaries of what batteries can do; they are also addressing critical challenges such as range anxiety, charging times, and overall costs. These advancements will accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and drive the development of a more sustainable energy grid. The future of battery technology is bright, and the innovations emerging from impulse are at the heart of this revolution.
