Mercedes-Benz Will Use New, Lighter Energy-Dense Battery In The G-Class Series

Mercedes-Benz G - Class electric version, will use energy-dense batteries. (photo; do. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Mercedes-Benz will incorporate a new, highly energy-dense battery in the G-Class electric car which will be launched from 2025. This was announced by the German car manufacturer on Tuesday, May 17.

This battery is a solution to the problem of how to power large electric cars without burdening them with heavy batteries.

"The battery, made by startup Sila Nanotechnologies, uses a silicon-based anode and is 20-40% more energy-dense than similar cells currently available," Mercedes-Benz said, as quoted by Reuters.

Silicon - which Tesla says will increase its battery usage in 2020, provides an alternative to the more commonly used graphite, 70% of which comes from China.

Mercedes-Benz is the first automotive industry customer to be publicly announced by California-based battery startup Sila Nanotechnologies. They said in early May that they had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in a new plant in Washington state due to open in 2024.

The premium carmaker has a minority stake in unlisted Sila, which also works closely with BMW.

Sila, founded by a former Tesla engineer, raised an additional $590 million in investment last year. This additional investment increased its valuation to around USD 3.3 billion (IDR 48 trillion).