Hungarian startup promises cheaper, longer-range EV batteries

A Hungarian company says its battery innovation could eliminate range anxiety among electric vehicle (EV) drivers – and even significantly reduce costs.

Edortech, a Budapest-based startup, has developed ONLi, a new anode technology that replaces the graphite in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a thin alloyed layer.

Lak Gyorgy Balint, the company's chief technology officer and the inventor behind ONLi, said the change could deliver a dramatic performance boost. "So if we were to replace the conventional 21,700 cells with ONLi's 21,700 cells, you would get about a 60% to 80% capacity increase," he told CGTN.

For consumers, that means longer range and faster charging with smaller battery packs.

But cost may be the bigger story. Industry analysts say electric vehicles remain pricier than comparable gasoline cars, even as technology improves.

"I think the biggest problem with electric cars … it's not the range, it's not the charging speed or this kind of thing. It's the price," said Andras Horvat, an EV journalist and vlogger.

Lak said ONLi could tackle that too. "The graphite technology to actually coat it; it's insane. We are less than one-tenth of that cost," he said.

Edortech is not planning to make complete battery cells. Instead, it aims to supply anodes for existing producers. The company says the technology works on current production lines, a key advantage for manufacturers. Lak said several major automakers – which he declined to name – are already in talks.

The technology remains in development. But if it delivers, one of the next big advances in EVs could come from a component most drivers will never see.

(Gong Zhe contributed to the story.)