Ion Storage Systems gets $20m from US DOE to scale up next-gen EV batteries

Ion Storage Systems (ION), a Maryland-based manufacturer of high-energy density, fast-charging solid-state batteries (SSBs), announced this week it will receive $20 million from the US Department of Energy (DOE).

The funding is provided by the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), under a three-year, $40 million partnership with several commercialization partners.

ION will collaborate with Saint-Gobain, one of the world’s largest ceramics, glass and material suppliers, and technology company KLA to accelerate the commercialization of its high-performing, anodeless SSB.

The ARPA-E SCALEUP (seeding critical advances for leading energy technologies with untapped potential) program will contribute $20 million that will be matched by another $20 million in private funds, bringing the total program size to $40 million.

The SCALEUP program builds on the agency’s “primary research and development focus to support the scaling of disruptive new technologies across the full spectrum of energy applications,” said ARPA-E.

ION was one of four companies to secure funding from SCALEUP in 2024 as part of its $63.5 million program budget. According to the agency, the program’s goal is to help ARPA-E-funded technologies transition from proof-of-concept prototypes to commercially scalable and deployable versions of the technology.

ARPA-E’s SCALEUP funding and corporate partnerships enable ION to manufacture high performing, EV-scale SSB cells in the US with domestically sourced materials while expanding on what is already among the largest SSB manufacturing facilities in the United States.

“Accelerating the widespread adoption of electric vehicles requires increasing driving range, reducing costs, and improving safety,” Dr. Evelyn N. Wang, ARPA-E director, said in a news release.  

“Ion Storage Systems — through an earlier ARPA-E program — focused on working toward these goals, and now, through SCALEUP, the company will accelerate domestic manufacturing of next generation solid-state, high-power-density lithium-metal batteries, based on ION’s proprietary ceramic electrolyte manufacturing technology.”

The project will include sustainability-focused cell design and manufacturing milestones, with planned innovations offering the opportunity for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions on the order of tens of thousands of metric tons of CO₂ per GWh relative to Li-ion.