I want to believe. One hundred and ten percent I do. I would love nothing else but to live in a world where my electric motorbike doesn’t take longer to charge than it takes to grow a half-decent stubble. The solid-state battery revolution has been promised for so long that I started to suspect it’s hanging out with the Loch Ness Monster and my lost car keys.
Donut Lab, a startup with a name that suggests they should be glazing crullers rather than reinventing chemistry, is telling us the future is right now. They are fighting to prove the skeptics wrong with their “I Donut Believe” campaign. It’s been a wild ride, and I’m already getting a bit dizzy.
The latest “episode” of this tech-drama just dropped, and it’s all about safety. They took their 26-Ah cell and put it through the wringer to prove it won’t turn your trousers into a localized supernova. Now, don’t get me wrong, having a battery that doesn’t explode is a lovely feature. It’s right up there with “brakes that work” and “wheels that stay on.” But Donut Lab is acting like a magician who keeps showing you the same rabbit while the audience is shouting, “Show us the elephant already!”
The claims they’ve made are bold. We’re talking an energy density of 181 watt-hours per pound (that’s 400 Wh/kg for my friends back in the Old Country) and a lifespan of 100,000 cycles. If that’s true, you could charge your bike every day for 273 years. Your great-great-great-grandchildren would be riding the same battery pack through the ruins of civilization. It sounds brilliant. Almost too good to be true. Like a TV personality promising to fix a country…
Instead of proving these world-changing numbers, the latest test showed us a cell that had already been toasted to over 212°F in a previous stunt. They cycled this poor thing 50 times at a high rate of 130 amps. The result? The capacity fell from about 25 Ah down to 11 Ah in just 50 rounds, and the cell swelled up like it had a serious allergy to electricity. This apparently was a safety success because it didn’t catch fire. I call it a battery that’s decided to retire early and take up knitting.
The skepticism isn’t just me being a grumpy old man with an odd love for sarcasm. Donut Lab originally promised that the Verge TS Pro electric motorcycle would be hitting the streets with these magical batteries by the end of March. Have a look at your calendar. We are staring down the barrel of April, and the only thing being delivered right now is more marketing videos. If they have a battery that weighs as little as they say and lasts as long as they claim, why won’t they just put it on a scale? It’s not rocket science – it’s a kitchen appliance.
Let’s look at the hardware this is supposed to power. The Verge TS Pro is a stunning bit of kit with that hubless rear wheel that looks like it traveled back in time from 2077. It’s supposed to charge from 10% to 80% in 12 minutes – not enough time to find a clean restroom these days. If it works – it changes everything. But that “if” is a very heavy word. Right now, it’s carrying more weight than a lead-acid battery in a golf cart.
The previous tests were interesting, I’ll give them that. An independent lab in Finland showed the cells could handle 11C charging. That’s the electrical equivalent of drinking through a firehose. They also proved it wasn’t a “supercapacitor” – thanks for the clarification, lads. It’s like a chef proving his steak isn’t a head of lettuce. Yeah, good to know, but where’s the seasoning?
Here is the absolute cherry on top of this suspicious pastry: the next big reveal is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1. Yes, April Fool’s Day. If this entire multi-month campaign ends with a guy in a donut suit shouting “Gotcha!” I might actually have to respect the commitment to the bit. But for the sake of the EV industry, I hope there’s some actual substance behind the smoke and mirrors.
We need solid-state tech to work. We need the safety, the density, and the speed. Most of all we need transparency, not marketing stunts. Until I see a production Verge TS Pro clocking 60 without that “magical” battery turning into a pufferfish, I’ll keep my chequebook safe under the mattress.
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