Swiss build factory for solid-state batteries

Swiss build factory for solid-state batteries

Swiss Clean Battery AG, based in Frauenfeld, is building a giga-factory for solid-state batteries that, according to the company, are extremely durable, non-flammable and have at least 50% better environmental impact than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Solid-state batteries are considered the successor technology to conventional lithium-ion batteries. Intensive research is being carried out on this worldwide - Switzerland is now the first country to go into series production with this technology. From 2024, SCB AG wants to serve both the Swiss domestic market and the international market with sustainable battery storage with production scaling from 1.2 GWh to 7.6 GWH.

The reason why the solid-state battery is still not ready for the market despite numerous announcements and worldwide research activities is, among other things, due to a central technical problem. The aim is to bring the solid ion conductor in the battery cells into a stable connection with the electrodes. Many research projects are based on a “modular design” in which individual parts are combined outside the cell and then inserted into the housing. This leads to problems with the transition of ions at the material boundaries between electrodes and solid ion conductors. Researchers at SCB AG want to have solved the problem by creating the solid ion conductor in the battery cell itself, similar to a multi-component adhesive. This overcomes the transition problems compared to modular construction.

Swiss Clean Battery AG was founded in February 2022 in Frauenfeld in the canton of Thurgau. CEO is Roland Jung, CFO Peter Koch and COO Thomas Lützenrath, who is also COO of the licensing technology company High Performance Battery AG. In the first production phase of 1.2 GWH, SCB AG plans sales of CHF 318 million. For this purpose, an investment volume of CHF 246 million is planned in the machinery. In this first stage, SCB AG employs 181 people. 20,000 m2 of production space will be built in order to produce 7.2 million battery cells per year. SCB AG has learned from the Corona crisis, the chip crisis and the Ukraine crisis and sources all machines and chemicals regionally from Switzerland and Germany. In addition to debt financing for the production facility, an initial public offering (IPO) is planned for October 2022 on the Zurich Stock Exchange. In the final phase, SCB AG is expected to produce 7.6 GWH, with an investment of CHF 775 million and sales of over CHF 2 billion. Approximately 100,000 m2 of production space will be built for this purpose. In this expansion stage, SCB AG produces almost 48 million battery cells per year with 1,061 employees.  The company value is then CHF 8.6 billion.