Insider Q&A: Company’s chemistry could cut EV battery costs

By TOM KRISHER
AP Auto Writer

DETROIT (AP) — A small company called Sila has contracts with most major automakers to research or provide a promising new battery chemistry for electric vehicles of the future. The Alameda, California, company began more than a decade ago as a startup out of Georgia Tech University, and co-founder and CEO Gene Berdichevsky says its chemistry can store more energy than current lithium-ion batteries. Sila’s chemistry uses silicon instead of graphite, eliminating the need for the mineral. The company has a contracts with Mercedes and other automakers to provide silicon anodes. Berdichevsky says the chemistry can give EVs longer ranges in a smaller package than current batteries.