Williams, Nyobolt to collaborate on fast-charging battery technology

Williams Advanced Engineering (WAE) and battery start-up Nyobolt have announced an engineering and systems integration partnership intended to support and advance an new solution for high-power battery systems.

The initial steps will be to further assess and develop the technology in a close collaboration, with the next steps being technology demonstration activities to grow market awareness of the technological development.

“We are delighted to be part of this engineering and systems integration partnership that we believe will address a wide range of opportunities across a number of diverse applications and we look forward to working with the team at Nyobolt” said Paul McNamara, technical director, Williams Advanced Engineering.

Nyobolt, a company that can trace its roots to England’s Cambridge University, was founded by Professor Clare Grey and Dr. Sai Shivareddy to introduce niobium-based fast charging batteries into the market. Their work is based on a decade of research on new battery anode materials.

The new class of battery technology has been designed to support ultra-fast charging capability, which WAE said is ideally suited to motorsport applications. That is a sector it currently supports with batteries for Extreme E, Formula E Gen 3 and ETCR, the latter a touring car series for electric automobiles.

In addition, WAE said technology will be appropriate for heavy-duty powertrains such as those used in mining, a sector currently targeting a zero emissions goal.

With a life cycle reportedly higher than standard lithium-ion batteries, the technology is suited for next-generation applications that require high power, long life or high cycling, said WAE. The market opportunity is expected to be over 30 gigawatt hours, said WAE. 

“Nyobolt is on a mission to supercharge the electric revolution with our ultra-fast charging, ultra-high power density battery systems,” said Nyobolt CEO Dr Sai Shivareddy. “Our technology is perfectly suited to the arenas within which Williams Advanced Engineering operates, including electric powertrains and other power hungry applications ranging from motorsports to heavy industrial applications and we are delighted to be part of this exciting collaboration with them.”