World-industry leader Bosch is debuting a new battery technology for electric vehicles that might be available in five years as it acquired the U.S. start-up Seeo Inc. founded in Hayward, California. Bosch will combine Seeo’s electromobility technology with its experience in EVs to create batteries that are capable to sustain a travel of as far as 300km.

Bosch’s developing strategy toward new battery solution for EVs

Bosch forecasts that roughly 15% of all new cars built worldwide to have at least a hybrid powertrain by 2025. In Europe, more than a third of all new cars will be electrically powered – the majority as plug-in hybrids. To this end, in 2014 Bosch joined GS Yuasa and Mitsubishi Corporation in establishing the joint venture Lithium Energy and Power GmbH & Co. KG, whose objective is to develop a more powerful generation of lithium-ion batteries. Seeo Inc.’s technology complements the work done thus far with Bosch’s Japanese partners. The result will be a combination of groundbreaking start-up technology with Bosch’s systems and technology know-how, GS Yuasa’s cell competence, and Mitsubishi Corporation’s broad industrial base.

“Bosch is using its knowledge and considerable financial resources to achieve a breakthrough for electromobility,” said Dr. Volkmar Denner, the chairman of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.

Bosch has crucial know-how in solid-state cells for lithium batteries as well as exclusive patents, whiledisruptive start-up technology is meeting the broad systems knowledge and financial resources of a multinational company. Bosch therefore acquired Seeo Inc. to move toward the batteries’ future – a battery with doubled energy density and halved costs. By 2020, Bosch would unveiled batteries that enable electric cars to travel over 300km without recharging at t lower cost than today.

Pure lithium anode

Pure lithium anode is the key technology to Bosch. In current lithium-ion batteries, one of the reasons energy capacity is limited is because the anode consists to a large degree of graphite. Using solid-state technology, Bosch can manufacture the anode out of pure lithium, which considerably increases storage capacity. In addition, the new cells function without ionic liquid, which means they are not flammable.

“The pure lithium anode represents a huge innovative leap in battery cell construction,” Denner said. “Thanks to its acquisition of Seeo Inc., Bosch now possesses the first sample cells which have the potential to meet the high standards of the automotive industry where durability and safety are concerned.