1 big thing: Sila ramps up production

1 big thing: Sila ramps up production

The battery materials startup Sila has bought a 600,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Washington to vastly expand production for EVs, Alan reports.

Why it matters: Sila claims that its silicon-based anodes enable batteries to have 20% more energy density — meaning 20% longer range for an EV.

• The company, which counts BMW and Mercedes as partners, replaces graphite with silicon in anodes, which it says produces a better battery.

• "You can have a car with a longer range. Or, instead of building a car with 1,000 cells inside, you can build a battery pack with 800 cells or 700 cells, and that makes it cheaper," Sila CEO Gene Berdichevsky tells Alan.

What's happening: The new factory, about 177 miles east of Seattle, will be roughly 200 times larger than Sila's current manufacturing facility — and could expand even more.

• "We’re onto the third stage, scale. And that’s the hardest part," Berdichevsky says. The first two stages were proving the science and proving the market, he says.