Donut Laboratory Solid-State Battery: Real Tech or Supercapacitor?

Donut Laboratory addresses claims that its all-solid-state battery is a supercapacitor. New tests show 98% energy retention over 240 hours, though experts remain cautious about real-world performance.

Finnish startup Donut Laboratory released its third independent examination result Monday, the current in a series of once a week rollouts related to what it asserts is the world’s very first production-ready all-solid-state battery. This moment, the examination takes goal at a certain concern: Is the Donut battery really a supercapacitor in camouflage?

The Self-Discharge Performance Test

To prove simply that, the scientists billed the cell to 50% capability, left it to idle for 240 hours, and after that measured how much energy was continuing to be in the cell. The cell showed extremely little voltage decrease over that period and kept almost 98% of the energy saved prior to the still duration started. In simple terms, it acts like a battery, not a capacitor.

Bold Claims and Industry Reaction

The startup asserted 400 watt-hours per kg of energy density, a 100,000-cycle lifespan and a cost time of approximately five minutes. Some internet sleuthing at the time exposed that a Donut Lab-linked renewables business called Nordic Nano had created a supercapacitor, with the specific very same energy density figure, for solar and storage applications. (Nordic Nano has since taken that record below its site.).

Donald R. Sadoway, Professor Emeritus of Products Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Modern technology, verified as much to InsideEVs. “Super capacitors can offer world power ruptureds yet only for a short time duration,” he said, including that the Donut battery does not seem one.

When the Finnish start-up unveiled its battery at the Consumer Electronics Program in January, the specifications stunned the battery market. There’s a really clear distinction between a battery and a supercapacitor. A battery relies on chemical responses inside the cell. Batteries, by contrast, can hold a cost for far longer.

Expert Insights and Research Skepticism

Battery researchers InsideEVs spoke with remained unconvinced, arguing that lab-scale outcomes only tell component of the tale. For real-world significance, the cells require to do similarly at the pack degree for hundreds of cycles.

The startup has actually been releasing minimal information every week, yet so far, none of the examinations have really demonstrated that the cell is solid-state. The battery passed both examinations, at least in the lab, and for a handful of cycles.

To address that, the company released what it calls a “self-discharge performance test.” To comprehend why Donut really felt the requirement to place the supercapacitor inquiry to remainder, it aids to rewind a little bit. When the Finnish start-up revealed its battery at the Customer Electronic Devices Show in January, the specs shocked the battery sector. Exactly how could an unidentified company leapfrog Toyota, Factorial, and CATL in the solid-state race?

There’s a very clear difference in between a supercapacitor and a battery. A battery counts on chemical responses inside the cell. Batteries, by contrast, can hold a fee for far longer.