Wildcat Discovery Technologies, a global leader in accelerating battery innovation, has announced an agreement with BMW Group to jointly develop the next-generation Wildcat high energy cathode.
The Wildcat cathode, a key component of Wildcat’s recently announced battery “supercell”, will help car makers deliver greater driving range by achieving energy densities ~25% higher than the best cathodes in vehicles today. The novel Wildcat cathode contains no nickel or cobalt, which are viewed to be challenging in terms of sustainability as well as price volatility.
Beyond the joint development agreement with BMW, Wildcat’s consortium of strategic partners also includes Koch Disruptive Technologies and Eastman Kodak, who along with BMW are contributing both financially and technically to the new cathode development effort. Wildcat, working with its development partners, plans to commercialize the new EV battery cathode material in the coming several years.
Mark Gresser, CEO of Wildcat stated “We’re very excited to have BMW join our team of industry partners. Having BMW’s financial and technical support on the project will help us commercialize more quickly and provide real-time customer feedback to the development process. We have a strong group of contributors in place and are well positioned to introduce a step change in battery performance and sustainability.”
This agreement builds on BMW and Wildcat’s shared commitment to sustainable mobility. The two companies have a long relationship in battery research, based on nearly a decade of research collaboration projects, and will expand upon that work to co-develop the high-energy cathode. According to the agreement, BMW will lead the build of large battery cells to be used for performance and safety testing.
“After announcing our Gen6 cylindrical cell in September of 2022, we continue to work on future innovations in our battery technology. In this context, Wildcat’s high-energy cathode is an important element of our roadmap for improved battery performance in the coming years. We are excited about the potential of this technology and the start of our joint development,” said Peter Lamp, Head of Battery Cell Technology at BMW Group.