Swappable Solid-State Battery Demonstration | I Donut Believe

Hi, it's Marco from Donut Lab. You are

watching our battery proof series called

I Donut Believe. In this series, we

demonstrate the capabilities of Donut

Battery, which is the world's first

solid state battery used in production

vehicles. In the last episode, we did a

deep dive into the battery pack inside

the new Vert TS Pro. That pack is a

great example of what donut battery

makes possible. A very simple pack

architecture, very few components, air

cooling, and still performance levels

and charge speeds that have never been

possible before. Today, we are looking

at something smaller. Not the full

motorcycle pack this time, but a

demonstrator battery pack built to

answer a question we keep hearing from

our customers, which is how far can you

really push this? Because once people

see the Verge pack, it makes you wonder,

could this technology also be used in

existing vehicles? Could you actually

design a compact, swappable battery that

replaces the batteries already on the

road and bring the benefits of donut

technology into products that were never

originally designed for it? Imagine

upgrading, for example, existing

scooters with double the range or more

while having faster charging, better

safety, and longer lifetime. And from

the battery pack design perspective,

simpler cooling, fewer parts, and so

forth, which directly affects the cost

of the battery. So, we took up the

challenge. We built this demonstrator to

show what donut battery technology could

do in a smaller swappable pack design

with just air cooling. And the important

point is this, it's not just theory.

These kinds of solutions can be built

already today with our technology and

many of our partners are actually

working on very interesting products as

we speak. Now, of course, every vehicle

and every customer case is different,

but the core point is that donut battery

gives OEMs a completely new design

space. You can really start thinking

about batteries in a much simpler way.

Less complexity, less thermal management

and less wasted structure while

providing at the same time more usable

energy, faster charging, longer range

and more performance from the same

physical space.

That is why we are now working with OEMs

in multiple industries, helping them to

bring to market new products that were

very difficult or in some cases even

impossible with traditional battery

technology. And this demonstrator is a

small example of that. So let's go and

have a look at it.

To demonstrate benefits of donut

batteries in small swappable battery

pack use cases, we selected a market

leading scooter battery to be our

benchmark to compare against. This pack

has a nominal voltage of 50 volts and

energy capacity of around 1 kilowatt

hour, which is very typical for scooters

and other small swappable batteries.

Currently, these kind of batteries can

be charged slowly at an apartment or

garage, but they would greatly benefit

from faster charging speeds when used in

a battery swapping service. And of

course, increased safety of the donut

battery is the biggest benefit in both

of these use cases.

Our demonstrator pack is around 35%

smaller in volume than the benchmark

while also having about 35% more energy

capacity. This means it has more than

twice the volumetric energy density of

the benchmark pack and it's also a

couple of kilos lighter than the

benchmark. All of this makes it easier

to carry around but also greatly improve

the driving range of the vehicle. As

usual with donut batteries, the back

design is as simple as it gets. So, we

have cells arranged side by side with

thin aluminum plates in between them

transferring heat into two slightly

thicker aluminum plates on the outside

enclosure. These blades would be

connected to a cooling system in the

swapping station when the battery is

being charged. Charging speed and the

amount of cooling would of course be

determined by the use case of the

station. Basically, how many batteries

are needed per hour. But to simulate use

inside a station with relatively small

cooling capacity, we attached two heat

sinks on both sides of the pack and

added two small fans to force air into

them.

Heat.

Heat.

When we look at the charging test, it

starts with the battery completely

drained and it gets to 50% state of

charge in 3 and 1/2 minutes and 80%

state of charge in 6 and 1/2 minutes

while hitting a peak charge rate of over

10 C. Cell temperature inside the pack

reaches 82 degrees Celsius at its

highest, which is near our recommended

maximum for the pack, but is still very

much in the comfort zone.

Thanks, Mil. Even with this simple

demonstrator pack, you can already start

to see how much doughut battery can

really change everyday life. Take Last

Mile Delivery for example. Today, these

vehicles often depend on small swappable

battery packs and riders use the same

bike every day. Swap batteries, charge

them indoors, and try to get as much

range and uptime as possible from very

limited space for the battery. Now, in

last mile delivery, range and charge

speed directly affect how much business

you can get done in a single day. Now

imagine replacing the existing pack with

a donut battery made in the same format.

You could charge the same bike up to 10

times faster. Or if an OEM decided not

just to match the existing battery

capacity, but to use the full space

available for the pack, it could be

possible to double or even triple the

daily delivery range in the same size.

And because this is solid state and

extremely safe, you could bring the pack

inside your home for the first time

without having the small thought in the

back of your mind, is this thing

actually safe to keep here? And that is

what makes this so exciting. We are

redefining what's possible by changing

batteries in the products people use

every day. delivery bikes, scooters,

tools, robots, small vehicles, and

products where battery size, charging

time, and safety matters a lot. And this

demonstrator is just one small example

of what donut technology can do. Thank

you so much for watching and see you

next time.