Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

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Carl White
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Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Carl White »

I'm curious to hear what people have to say about this. Promising? Just another company that makes bold claims then is never heard from again?

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 83071.html
Lyten, an advanced materials company, is disrupting the electric vehicle battery industry with the introduction of its LytCell EV™ lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery platform. This latest Silicon Valley battery innovation is optimized specifically for the electric vehicle (EV) market and is designed to deliver three times (3X) the gravimetric energy density of conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.
Other claimed advantages:

* Below internal combustion engine (ICE) cost parity
* Safe and effective operation in environments as cold as -30 degrees Celsius to as high as 60 degrees Celsius enabling reduced system-level costs
* Flexible and scalable pack sizing, enabling Lyten to accommodate the unique needs of a wide range of automotive platforms
* Can be produced in cylindrical, pouch, and prismatic formats
* On-shore cell manufacturing facilities proximate to OEM's
* Extended range and/or increased payloads
* Faster charge times of less than 20 minutes
* Better for the environment with the lowest carbon footprint of any EV battery
* No conflict minerals

https://www.motortrend.com/features/lyt ... ur-battery
Lyten says it's working with five automakers and plans to select a gigafactory site in Q1 of 2022 to support the incorporation of LytCells in vehicles starting with the 2025 or 2026 model years.
Lyten hasn't shared details about its proprietary electrolyte yet, except to say that—like the anode and cathode—it includes no oxides. With no oxygen atoms in the battery, fire risk is practically nil. Lyten has severely overcharged cells and even driven nails through them and seen no more than 20 degrees of temperature rise. They function from -20 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit and tolerate fast charging, and they require far less heating and cooling. The materials involved are abundant and cheap enough to reduce EV costs to below that of combustion. They're nontoxic, recyclable, and abundant in North America—thereby dodging potential tariffs when "regional content" requirements of the USMCA trade agreement phase in for 2023.

Skipjack
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Skipjack »

Another day, another "battery break through". I have seen hundreds over the last 10 years. Strangely none of them have made it to market. Anyone remember Graphenano's (Grabat) "revolutionary graphene battery"? IIRC, we talked about that here, even. It has been super quiet about this after the got millions in government funding in Spain (IIRC). Now crickets.

Carl White
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Carl White »

Yep, another day, another "battery breakthrough".

One thing that caught my eye about this though is that Lyten:
has worked closely with the U.S. Government for several years to test and improve LytCell™ capabilities in select defense-related applications and is now ready to introduce its battery technology platform to the electric vehicle market.
Also:
Lyten holds more than 260 issued or pending patents on covering technologies.
So at least they actually have something. Whether that can translate to manufacturing, who knows.

Skipjack
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Skipjack »

Problem is always manufacturing at scale and at a competitive cost. If it works, it would be great. We need better storage and 900 Wh/kg would be revolutionary. It would also open the electric plane market.

Munchausen
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Location: Nikaloukta

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

If they really have a battery breakthrough: Why don´t they terminate further doubt by sending a few cells to an independent third party test company and publish their report?

Voltamperometry, weighing the cells and estimating cycle life is not rocket science if done on a basic level just to provide evidence that there is an existing product.

Skipjack
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Skipjack »

Munchausen wrote:
Tue Nov 09, 2021 8:37 pm
If they really have a battery breakthrough: Why don´t they terminate further doubt by sending a few cells to an independent third party test company and publish their report?

Voltamperometry, weighing the cells and estimating cycle life is not rocket science if done on a basic level just to provide evidence that there is an existing product.
My guess because they do not have actual cells yet, but probably some small strips that they are testing in the lab ;)
Whether that the converts to actual cell, or pack level performance and at a reasonable cost is the big question.

Carl White
Posts: 476
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Carl White »

They have a power cell as shown in this video, although it's not clear to me whether it's a mockup or functional:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZyG7bL ... al4%7CWDIV

Another claim:
Under Department of Defense (DoD) test protocols, a LytCell™ prototype design has demonstrated greater than 1,400 cycles.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-release ... 83071.html

Munchausen
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:36 pm
Location: Nikaloukta

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

"Under Department of Defense (DoD) test protocols, a LytCell™ prototype design has demonstrated greater than 1,400 cycles."

Then there should be a test report. Why not just publish it? Or give at least a few key technical facts: Weight of the cell, achieved energy output on the first and the last cycle at specified C ratio and temperature, 100 % DoD (or whatever they have used), number of cells tried.

From what I have been able to read there are a few granted patents. Apart from that nothing but a fancy homepage. And a video of a guy holding something that may as well be a piece of painted wood.

Carl White
Posts: 476
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2009 10:44 pm

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Carl White »

Here's one that has provided third party test results.

"QuantumScape Releases Third-Party Test Results"

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... 006112/en/

The actual test report:

https://www.quantumscape.com/wp-content ... e-Life.pdf

They still have the biggest obstacle ahead though, namely manufacturing at scale.

Munchausen
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Location: Nikaloukta

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

The automotive has certainly learnt a few things from debacles like Envia and Sakti3. Quantumscape has always been a serious business willing to accept external testing and review.

But somehow I feel a solid electrolyte is like crossing the creek for water. The gain in gravimetric specific energy is mainly from replacing the graphite anode with a Li metal foil.

At the price of introducing a range of new complexities in an already overly complex system. For example, at the most superficial level ,the adding of another swelling and shrinking component on top of the others. There will also be an ion transport problem within the electrodes (mainly the cathode) that has to be dealt with. Then there are a multitude surface -to surface issues and shelf-questions.

A liquid electrolyte seems like a good solution to much of this. Which is of course they are the ones that have been in use to this date.

There are solutions that enable a liquid electrolyt together with a metal anode. For example the Cuberg technology.

Munchausen
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

Cuberg made this little video of a drone equipped with their battery.

https://cuberg.net/news/cuberg-battery- ... light-time

Nice but really not much of a proof.

Munchausen
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:36 pm
Location: Nikaloukta

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

Here are news from Australia. 18 pages.

https://www.finexia.com.au/wp-content/u ... 2021-2.pdf

Munchausen
Posts: 226
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2007 5:36 pm
Location: Nikaloukta

Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Munchausen »

No spec sheet or any hard data but at least an update.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/lyten-re ... XLOi007IO8

Carl White
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Carl White »

https://lyten.com/lyten-receives-nation ... urity-use/
Lyten, an advanced materials company, announced today it has received a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) program to aid in expanding the capacity of its domestic battery prototype manufacturing and production capabilities.

The multi-million dollar award from NSIC will help reduce the time to market for Lyten’s LytCell™ lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries by increasing the number of cells that can be produced per year at its battery cell pilot production line, currently being built at its headquarters in San Jose, California.
Lyten’s pilot line is slated to open in 2022, with expectations of producing well over 200,000 pouch, cylindrical or prismatic cells per year with the additional formation and test equipment support from NSIC.
They seem pretty determined. So we'll see.

Skipjack
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Re: Lyten - Lithium Sulfur Battery

Post by Skipjack »

Carl White wrote:
Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:53 pm
They seem pretty determined. So we'll see.
Graphenano also built a factory line with millions from the Spanish government and some Chinese investors. Then Crickets...
We will see how that one goes. I mean I would love for this to be real. At 900 Wh/kg, this is enabling for aerospace applications.

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