An early Tesla employee says his startup is releasing the biggest battery breakthrough in 30 years

The quest to create the battery of the future has been a slog. Numerous purported breakthroughs have amounted to little, and many of today’s top battery startups are still years away, in the best-case scenarios, from getting to market.

Sila Nanotechnologies is the exception. In September, the 10-year-old company announced its battery materials, which Sila says can increase a cell’s capacity by about 20%, were ready for use in Whoop fitness bands. The company called the milestone “the most significant breakthrough in battery chemistry in 30 years.”

“It has the potential to be a very historic first product,” Sila CEO and cofounder Gene Berdichevsky told Insider.