ABOUT TEXPOWER

FOREWORD

Lithium-ion batteries have aided the portable electronics revolution for nearly three decades. They are now enabling vehicle electrification and beginning to enter the utility industry.

Our patented Cobalt-Free Nickel Manganese Aluminum (NMA) cathode is compatible to industry leading NMC811 and NCA cathodes with up to 20% higher Energy Density due to higher Nickel content (over 90%).

The emergence and dominance of lithium-ion batteries are due to their higher energy density compared to other rechargeable battery systems, enabled by the design and development of high-energy density electrode materials.

Basic science research, involving solid-state chemistry and physics, has been at the center of this endeavor, particularly during the 1970s and 1980s. The award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the development of lithium-ion batteries motivated young scientists and engineers to continue innovation and development of new chemistries and materials.

TexPower was created with science in first place, complemented with enthusiasm and energy of its team. I clearly see the day when TexPower materials are used in all electric vehicles created in North America and beyond.

Arumugam Manthiram

Co-founder and Chairman of Board, TexPower EV Technologies Inc.

ABOUT our co-founder

Arumugam Manthiram​

Professor A. Manthiram is an American materials scientist and engineer, best known for his identification of the polyanion class of lithium-ion battery cathodes, understanding of how chemical instability limits the capacity of layered oxide cathodes, and technological advances in lithium sulfur batteries. He is the George T. and Gladys H. Abell Endowed Chair of engineering. He served as the Director of the Texas Materials Institute and the Director of the Materials Science and Engineering Program at the University of Texas at Austin for 11 years during 2011 – 2022. Prof. Manthiram delivered the 2019 Nobel Lecture in Chemistry on behalf of Chemistry Laureate John B. Goodenough.

LEADERSHIP

Dr. Evan Erickson

Co-Founder and CEO

Dr. Wangda Li

Co-Founder and CTO

Alexey Domakhin

COO

OUR MISSION

WHO WE ARE

TexPower is a fast-growing company spun out of the University of Texas at Austin in early 2019, continuing the disruptive innovations led by Profs. John B. Goodenough and Arumugam Manthiram on lithium-ion batteries.

We aim to deploy our novel cobalt-free, high-energy, drop-in cathode materials in lithium-based batteries used across the U.S. and beyond. Our cathodes can replace commercial battery cathodes “Powder for Powder”, and thus are extremely flexible for any battery form factor and are applicable wherever portable power is required.

Unnecessary COBALT : LIMITED SUPPLY, INCREASING DEMAND

State-of-the-art high-energy battery cathodes use significant amounts of cobalt, a vital component only found a few places on Earth.

Cobalt concentration in the DR Congo results in a centralized supply chain that facilitates monopolization. Additionally, significant social and environmental costs have supported this vulnerable supply chain that may not sustain the soaring demand from the massive electric vehicle market in the coming decade.

CORPORATE CULTURE

Texpower Team Pic

Houston, TX is the most diverse largest city in the United States. In Texpower we are committed to diversity. Our team of young professionals, scientists, technicians comprise of people of all races and nationalities. We welcome energetic, passionate teammates who share our vision and culture to create sustainable electric future. Cobalt-Free.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

By the laboratory of those credited with inventing the Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB).

The Reinvention of the modern Lithium-Ion Battery.

TexPower introduces a patented new high-performance Lithium-Ion Battery technology created by the University of Texas at Austin (UTA) battery lab, founded by two pioneers credited with inventing the Li-ion battery. Over a two-decade period, the lab at the UTA , founded by Prof. John B. Goodenough and Prof. Arumugam Manthiram have produced, or been part of the invention of almost every major advance in modern batteries.

In 2019, after Prof. Manthiram gave the acceptance speech for Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded to Prof. John B Goodenough for the work that led to the invention of the LIB, Prof. Manthiram and his two most brilliant scientists reinvented the fundamental chemistry of the positively charged Cathode.

Almost everything in battery design comes down to the materials of which the cathode, anode and electrolyte are made. They determine how many ions the LIB can store and how fast it can pump them out, by Cathode alone playing the major role.

Originally J. Goodenough, working alongside his doctorate student A. Manthiram used cobalt in the formation of the cathode. Cobalt stabilized the battery chemistry, but over time has proven to be the limitation in the worldwide expansion and proliferation of a battery based world.

Texpower Lab Image
Tex Power Inventors

A decade long goal: The Elimination of Cobalt

The main target for the next decade of high energy density LIB evolution is the elimination of Cobalt, a limited, expensive resource produced by environmentally damaging and controversial mining.

TexPower holds the exclusive patent to the technology that removes Cobalt from Nickel based High Energy Density LIB. This patented technology of Nickel Manganese Aluminum (NMA) cathode replaces Cobalt with additional Nickel in a way that dramatically improves battery performance, with higher energy density and lower cost of materials. TexPower cathode technology can substitute commercial NMC/NCA cathodes in existing and future batteries “Powder-for-Powder.”

This new and patented NMA cathode with Ni content ranging from 90% to 99%, provides up to 20% higher energy density vs. other Ni based cathodes.

Removing Cobalt makes it also up to 10% cheaper than commercially available NMC/NCA cathodes.

TexPower was formed by the inventors at UTA to bring this revolutionary technology to the market.

The Cobalt Issue

State-of-the-art high-energy battery cathodes use significant amounts of cobalt, a vital component only found a few places on Earth. Cobalt concentration in the DR Congo results in a centralized supply chain that facilitates monopolization. Additionally, significant social and environmental costs have supported this vulnerable supply chain that may not sustain the soaring demand from the massive electric vehicle market in the coming decade.

According to data from the US Geological Survey, around 150,000 metric tonnes of cobalt were produced worldwide during 2020 – more than 70% of which came from a single country.

Due to limited production and increasing demand, cobalt prices are volatile and sensitive to EV demand. Despite the efforts to reduce the % of cobalt in batteries, the metal remains critical for chemical and physical stability of traditional NMC and NCA cathodes.

Cobalt-free batteries are the gateway to an EV world

It is obvious that Cobalt will be the limiting factor for future expansion of LIB.

At the time of the launch of the Tesla Roadster in 2008, the total global LIB manufacturing capacity was approximately 20 GWh per year. Today it is over 100 GWh per year. By 2030, we expect over 2,000 GWh of annual production capacity based on already announced plans by cell manufacturers.

In order to electrify the world’s transportation and transform energy storage to displace fossil fuels, the world will need 30,000 GWh annual capacity by 2050.

It will require production of 20 million tons per annum (mtpa) of graphite anode or 5 mtpa of silicone anode. These resources are abundant.

Assuming latest generation NCA/NMC cathodes with 80% Ni and 10% Co, the world will need to produce 2.5 mtpa of Co.

Current Global production of Co is 0.15 mtpa / Total high-grade reserves are 1.5 million tons.

WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT US

"TexPower's cathodes in a DOD funded project have been shown to reach greater than 500Wh/kg in lithium metal cells made by 24M Technologies. That's about double the energy density of standard, commercial lithium-ion battery cells"

"US-Made, Ultrahigh-Energy Cathodes Will Enable Low-Cost Electric Vehicle Batteries for North American Market.

Forge Nano and TexPower are collaborating under a recently-awarded SBIR Phase I grant to further enhance TexPower’s cobalt-free, nickel-based ultrahigh energy cathode powders with Forge Nano’s low-cost materials modification nanotechnology.

Results from initial trials show >230 mAh/g, which equates to a 25% increase in energy density and a 10% reduction in battery costs for electric vehicles over existing battery materials.

We’re extremely impressed with TexPower’s cathode materials. We have tested over 50 cathode materials from global Fortune 500 companies and startups over the past few years and TexPower’s energy density is second to none. We’re even more excited that our proprietary atomic layer deposition coatings will enable the required cycle life for these US-made materials to enter commercial adoption in the near future.

This collaboration is yet another example of our relentless drive to enhance the best battery materials domestically and globally to enable lower cost electric vehicles, consumer products, and energy storage systems.”

Dr. Paul Lichty, CEO

Dr. Evan Erickson

CO-Founder, ceo

Evan M. Erickson is the CEO and Co-Founder of TexPower. Evan is an established energy storage scientist having worked on oxygen reduction electrocatalysis during his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Evan went on to study lithium-ion battery cathodes at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. WANGDA LI

CO-FOUNDER, CTO

Wangda Li is the CTO and Co-Founder of TexPower. Wangda earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin for his original work on TexPower’s cobalt-free lithium battery technology.

Under the guidance of lithium-ion battery pioneers Profs. Arumugam Manthiram and John B. Goodenough, Wangda developed a deep insight of the composition-structure-morphology-property relationship of energy storage materials. He has co-authored 2 patents, 28 academic publications, and several federal and industry grants and contracts.

Alexey Domakhin

coo

Alexey Domakhin joined TexPower in 2021 to accelerate business development and improve day-to-day operations, as well as to manage construction of Cathode Pilot Facility in Houston, TX, capable of producing 100+ tons per year.

Alexey holds an MBA from Ross School of Business at University of Michigan. He previously worked in Operations and Investment positions in energy, metals and mining companies, as well as technology and alternative energy startups in the US and overseas.