Investment in San Leandro Facility Goals to Strengthen Domestic Supply Chain and Deliver 200 MWh of High-Performance Drone Batteries
by DRONELIFE Staff Author Ian J. McNab
Lyten, a San Jose-based materials company focused on the battery space, announced today that it would acquire Cuberg’s San Leandro lithium-metal battery manufacturing facility and cell making equipment. Lyten intends to convert the ability to lithium-sulfur and expand capability to enable as much as 200 MWh of lithium-sulfur battery production within the Bay Area at full capability.
As a part of the agreement, Lyten will take over Cuberg’s 119,000 square foot facility in San Leandro that features manufacturing, office, and warehouse space. Lyten will acquire Cuberg’s battery cell development and manufacturing equipment and make additional equipment investments.
Lyten intends to speculate as much as $20M in 2025 as a part of an ongoing plan to expand the San Leandro and San Jose facilities to deliver as much as 200 MWh per yr, at full capability, of US manufactured Lithium-Sulfur batteries. San Leandro industrial production is meant to start within the second half of 2025. The facilities will manufacture sulfur cathodes, lithium metal anodes, and assemble lithium-sulfur cells for industrial customers.
“The acquisition of additional manufacturing capability for Lithium-Sulfur is in direct response to fulfilling customer demand more quickly,” said Dan Cook, Lyten’s CEO and co-founder. “Our customer pipeline has grown nine-fold for the reason that start of 2024 and now numbers within the tons of of potential customers. We at the moment are working to allocate capability from each San Leandro and our previously announced Reno gigafactory.”
Celina Mikolajczak, Lyten’s Chief Battery Technology Officer, stated, “We’re thrilled for the chance to proceed the buildout and expansion of the San Leandro facility to speed up delivery of Lithium-Sulfur batteries to customers. The power suits perfectly into our strategy of constructing US leadership within the manufacturing of next generation batteries and can enable Lyten to scale our domestic materials supply chain more quickly.”
Dan Cook added, “The speed of Lyten’s manufacturing expansion represents a timely move to help the U.S. Department of Defense and the military services in complying with the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which mandates the acquisition of domestic batteries.”
Lyten, which currently produces batteries on its semi-automated pilot line in San Jose, last month announced plans to construct a gigafactory in Nevada capable of producing as much as 10 GWh of lithium-sulfur batteries annually utilizing a US materials supply chain. The primary phase is anticipated to come back online in 2027.
“Lithium-Sulfur is a highly manufacturable battery that might be produced on standard lithium-ion equipment used throughout the world today. We intend to make use of this advantage to proceed to opportunistically expand Lithium-Sulfur production though the acquisition of lithium-ion assets,” added Mikolajczak.
Lyten’s Lithium-Sulfur batteries are as much as 40% lighter than equivalent lithium-ion cells and 60% lighter weight than lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. Lyten’s use of low price, local materials (versus expensive rare earth metals) make Lyten lithium-sulfur a lower cost alternative to traditional solutions, with performance that may significantly exceed traditional lithium-ion batteries.
In response to the press release, strategic investors in Lyten include Stellantis, FedEx, Honeywell, and the Walbridge Group. Earlier this yr, Lyten announced it has partnered with leading defense manufacturer AEVEX Aerospace to show lithium-sulfur battery powered unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) which might be fully compliant with the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act’s (NDAA). Lyten also recently announced that its battery cells were chosen for testing aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025, a project funded by the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
More information on Lyten is offered here.
Read more:
