Karma Automotive and solid-state battery developer Factorial have announced what they describe as the first solid-state battery production program in the US for passenger vehicles. Factorial’s FEST (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology) cells will be integrated into Karma’s next-generation vehicle platform, starting with the all-electric Kaveya super-coupe—a 1,000+ hp vehicle with a top speed exceeding 200 mph, scheduled for late 2027.
Karma had originally planned an earlier launch for the Kaveya but delayed it in 2025. “We did not yet see a clear path to fully delivering the uncompromising driving experience that should be expected from an American ultra-luxury vehicle company,” said CEO Marques McCammon. “Now through the partnership with Factorial and the integration of FEST, we can not only deliver that experience, but also open a pathway to stronger, more stable electrified drive systems.”
A notable aspect of Factorial’s technology is its manufacturing compatibility. According to the company, FEST cells can be produced using up to 80 percent of existing lithium-ion manufacturing equipment, rather than requiring entirely new production lines. Factorial says this enables rapid scale-up of the production program with Karma.
“FEST was built to scale,” said Factorial CEO Siyu Huang. “This milestone not only highlights the energy and performance solid-state technology can deliver but also underscores the global leadership of US technology innovators.”
Factorial’s other automotive partners include Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Hyundai and Kia.
US-based lithium-ion battery fire extinguishing products manufacturer Full Circle Lithium has launched six new lithium-ion fire extinguisher sizes, initially in North American markets.
The extinguishers include four retail-focused models—20 ounces, 1 litre, 2 litres and 3 litres—and two industrial-size units—30 litres and 50 litres—designed to address the risks associated with lithium-ion battery use across residential, recreational and industrial environments.
The new products will use FCL-X, the company’s non-hazardous, non-toxic, water-based fire-extinguishing agent.
The retail-focused models are designed for homeowners and consumer applications, providing targeted protection for electronics, laptops, e-bikes, e-scooters, power tools and other battery-powered devices commonly found in the home. The compact units are designed for easy placement in garages, living spaces, workshops and charging areas.
The new extinguishers also address the expanding use of lithium-ion batteries in recreational applications, including golf, boating and powersports.
The two industrial-size extinguishers deliver greater agent capacity and performance, making them well-suited to higher-risk and commercial environments such as warehouses, service facilities, charging stations and industrial operations that manage large quantities of lithium-ion batteries. A 100-litre format will also be available over the next few months.
All six extinguisher sizes are engineered to meet applicable safety and performance standards and are available immediately through FCL’s authorized distribution network. They will also soon be listed on FCL’s website.
“Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere, and the fire risks they present are fundamentally different from traditional fires,” said Chad Carver, VP of Sales and Operations at FCL. “These new extinguishers were developed to help protect people, property, and investments, whether that’s a family home, a golf cart fleet, a boat at the marina, or an industrial facility.”
US-based Ionic Mineral Technologies has expanded the lease rights for its Silicon Ridge rare earth project in Utah and completed a strategic step-out drilling program for its Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA).
The 4,100 additional acres of land consolidate the company’s strategic land package to roughly 13,000 contiguous acres. The expansion is strategically significant, as it facilitates direct, optimized logistical access from the project area to Ionic’s processing facility in Provo.
The drilling program was designed to test the lateral extent of the mineralized clay system and provide the data necessary to expand the geological model for the PEA. Each step-out hole intersected the targeted mineralization and ended within the mineralized formation, confirming the system’s strong lateral continuity and indicating it remains open at depth, the company said.
Silicon Ridge’s polymetallic clay will be the primary feedstock for Ionic vertically integrated production, designed to bypass complex, high-cost hard-rock processing.
The company intends to provide a domestic source of minor metals and rare earths from its IAC-Plus system, which contains gallium, germanium, rubidium, cesium, scandium, lithium, vanadium, tungsten and niobium. The company also plans to produce its IonAl alumina for industrial applications and Ionisil Nano-Silicon anode material for lithium-ion batteries.
“Consolidating 13,000 acres and confirming continuous mineralization across a 1,400-acre footprint reinforces that Silicon Ridge has the potential to be one of North America’s most significant and scalable critical mineral assets,” said Andre Zeitoun, CEO and founder of Ionic Mineral Technologies.
Continued optimization of battery design means addressing thermal runaway and other issues. Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes may be an important part of the solution.
By Max VanRaaphorst, Market Manager, Energy Storage, Avery Dennison
This is a dynamic time for the electric vehicle marketplace. According to an April 2025 report by Cox Automotive, EV sales rose 11.4% in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the first quarter of 2024. Many long-term forecasts predict continued double-digit growth.
The near-term outlook for the industry, however, is volatility. As of this writing, the Trump administration’s tariff plan remains in flux. Whatever their final form, tariffs seem likely to stir the global supply chains that manufacturers depend on.
Regardless, engineers tasked with making EV batteries safer, more durable, and more energy-dense must remain focused on the task at hand. Truly transformative technologies, such as solid-state batteries, are still years off. So, continued progress means further optimization of current technology platforms. Pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes, integrated with functional materials, are a versatile, easy-to-use, and cost-effective material solution for many of today’s EV battery engineering challenges.
The thermal management ecosystem
A key challenge in this story of optimization is that of thermal management.
A battery is a complex ecosystem requiring temperature regulation for optimal cell performance during normal use as well as during extreme events. At the most basic level, that means cells should be warmed when they’re too cold and cooled when they’re too warm.
Batteries thus have three types of thermal requirements:
Thermal insulation Low thermally conductive (insulating) materials are used to protect normally operating cells from overheating, thus preventing thermal runaway events.
Thermal conductivity High thermally conductive materials, such as thermal interface materials (TIMs), are used to connect cells to cooling components and facilitate heat transfer.
Venting
Venting strategies allow hot gases to escape a malfunctioning cell while protecting adjacent cells. These strategies can incorporate various thermal materials.
To understand thermal conductivity … go for a hike in the woods
Compare the idea of thermal conductivity to a hike in the woods. Imagine trying to bushwhack through a dense forest of trees, low-lying scrub, roots and rocks, and perhaps some mud. It’s difficult, you’re breathing hard, sweating and maybe cursing a bit! Now compare that to a walk on a flat, well-maintained, tree-lined trail. It’s easier and probably more enjoyable. From heat’s perspective, a low conductivity material is like that dense forest — difficult to traverse. A high conductivity material is the gentle trail.
Another important consideration is the length of the hike itself. A short hike through a dense forest may not be much of an obstacle. It’s the long slog that ultimately slows you down.
That brings us to PSA tape solutions for thermal management. Tapes, by design, are very thin. So while they don’t tend to offer high thermal conductivity, they do offer just a short path for heat to travel. But due to their tremendous versatility, tapes can also be integrated with low thermal conductivity materials, thus making them suitable for a wide range of thermal management applications within a battery pack.
Thermal runaway barrier solutions
Thermal runaway starts when an overheating cell combusts. That fire grows to the point at which hot gases and materials burst from the cell. The escaping matter causes other cells to overheat, catch fire and burst in turn. A module-level thermal runaway event can then spread to other modules in a pack, causing complete destruction of the battery pack and likely the vehicle.
Tapes can be used to encapsulate insulating (low heat conductivity) barrier materials, such as mica, ceramic paper or aerogels. These can then be placed between cells, modules, and/or on the inside of the pack lid. Because of tapes’ thin profiles, they’re an ideal choice for these narrow spaces — providing the necessary bond while allowing for the maximum possible thickness of the insulating material given the space constraints.
In some circumstances, these PSA-based solutions can prevent cell- or module-level thermal runaway propagation. But in most cases, they can at least slow the spread of thermal runaway, providing valuable time for passengers to exit the vehicle.
Thermal runaway venting solutions
As noted above, thermal runaway is underway when hot gases and materials erupt from a single cell. Cell manufacturers thus integrate venting strategies into their designs.
A vent is simply a port that allows hot, expanding gases and burning material to escape the cell’s confines, creating a more controlled pressure release. The problem lies in the fact that as those escaped rush through the module, they can infiltrate other cells through their vent ports, and thus initiate a thermal runaway event.
What’s needed is a venting strategy that allows that pressure release while protecting healthy cells from those hot gases and materials. Again, PSA tapes offer an elegant solution: In this case, it’s tapes with an anisotropic carrier—just one side of the tape offers flame resistance.
These PSA tapes are applied to battery cells during assembly, covering the vent ports. The anisotropic carrier then allows flames to escape through the port of a burning cell. But as the flames then circulate through the module, the flame-retardant side of the tape protects the vent ports of healthy cells.
PSA-based anisotropic tapes can help protect healthy cells and inhibit thermal runaway.
Flame retardance isn’t permanent. Eventually, the tape is compromised, and flames can affect healthy cells. But again, this is about mitigating and delaying full thermal runaway, and giving passengers valuable time for a safe escape.
Dielectric protection solutions
Electrical arcing in a high-voltage environment can often lead to fire, and thus is another issue that can affect a battery ecosystem’s thermal management. Again, PSA tapes are stepping up to the challenge.
Polymer film tapes can be used within the pack and module for bonding or to encapsulate critical parts. These tapes offer high dielectric strength per unit thickness and tend to inhibit heat flow, making them a preferred alternative to many traditional dielectric coatings.
A new PSA tape technology is a dielectric tape that can be applied to flat metal blanks prior to stamping and forming. It’s an easy-to-use solution that optimizes both dielectric strength and assembly flows, as it eliminates curing and cleaning, and other processes needed for traditional coatings. Avery Dennison has recently published a whitepaper explaining how stampable dielectric PSA tape technology can benefit manufacturers.
PSA tape solutions are available now
All of the PSA tape solutions discussed in this article are currently available. In fact, the Avery Dennison EV Battery Portfolio contains a wide range of PSA tape-based solutions engineered to help manufacturers address issues such as thermal runaway and dielectric protection. And these tapes are easy to incorporate into either manual or automated assembly processes, helping EV battery manufacturers optimize both workflow and design.
Tape solutions can be cut and stamped to spec and provided at scale by local converters. These third-party providers work closely with Avery Dennison and the battery manufacturer to ensure the right solutions are provided at the volumes needed, even in a volatile time for the automotive industry.
A bright future for EVs
Whatever volatility the near term might hold, the future is bright for EVs. By using solutions such as PSA tapes, manufacturers can be confident their products will meet consumers’ needs for safety, reliability and durability.
Focus Graphite Advanced Materials, which is developing high-grade flake graphite deposits and graphite materials, has announced that the Canadian Intellectual Property Office has allowed its Canadian patent application for battery anode materials.
Patent No. 3,209,696, entitled Advanced Anode Materials Comprising Spheroidal Additive-Enhanced Graphite Particles and Process for Making Same, covers proprietary processes and compositions for silicon-enhanced, spheroidal graphite particles. These are designed to improve performance characteristics critical to lithium-ion battery anodes, including energy density, charge efficiency and cycling stability, Focus said, by incorporating silicon within the graphite particle architecture while leveraging graphite’s structural stability and conductivity.
By distributing silicon within the graphite structure, the technology is intended to address two challenges associated with silicon-enhanced anodes: charge-induced volume expansion and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) instability.
Embedding silicon within a graphite matrix is expected to help buffer volumetric expansion during cycling, supporting improved mechanical integrity, while the surrounding graphite structure can reduce direct silicon–electrolyte interactions, which Focus said contribute to enhanced cycling stability and battery longevity.
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office has completed its examination and determined that the Patent claims meet all Canadian requirements for patentability, including novelty and inventiveness.
Subject to the completion of final administrative steps, the Patent is expected to proceed to formal grant.
“The allowance of this Patent represents the culmination of years of focused research and development. The underlying technology was shaped under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Doninger, whose deep technical insight and commitment to innovation were instrumental to its success, and we are grateful for the work he contributed,” said Dean Hanisch, Chief Executive Officer of Focus Graphite. “With the Patent now allowed, we are well positioned to move forward with broader testing and advancement of this technology as part of our downstream strategy.”
Thermal imaging firm Raythink has released a white paper outlining a three-layer approach to monitoring thermal risks across the lithium-ion battery lifecycle, from production and testing through charging, energy storage and end-of-life recycling.
The system centers on infrared-based thermal monitoring. The first layer uses thermal cameras rated for harsh environments, deployed at production lines, storage facilities and other critical areas. The second layer, a cloud platform called VIS3000, centralizes thermal data for trend analysis, incident review and compliance documentation. The third integrates with existing safety systems—including BMS, fire alarms and distributed control systems—to create a unified monitoring network.
According to the company, most thermal monitoring solutions in practice remain fragmented, with different stages of the battery lifecycle relying on independent systems. Raythink’s approach consolidates data from all environments onto a single platform, which the company says also yields process and quality insights beyond safety monitoring.
“The system addresses key gaps in traditional lithium-ion battery safety monitoring and enables proactive, full-lifecycle management of EV battery thermal risks,” according to the company.
EV charging solutions provider Versinetic is warning UK charger manufacturers and charge point operators to act ahead of charging standards changes taking effect in 2026.
The changes have downstream implications for organizations responsible for deploying EV charging infrastructure.
The convergence of new technical protocols and tougher regulations is raising the minimum technical and regulatory baseline for EV chargers sold or deployed in the UK, according to Versinetic.
Changes include the rapid adoption of ISO 15118 (Plug & Charge), which introduces certificate-based authentication and secure charger-to-vehicle communication, and migration to Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) 2.0.1 and 2.1, raising expectations around cybersecurity, smart charging and interoperability with back-office systems. In addition, companies will need to comply with UK-specific regulations such as the Smart Charge Points Regulations and Public Charge Point Regulations, which impose mandatory requirements around smart charging, payments, reliability and data transparency.
These overlapping technical and regulatory requirements are tightening procurement and interoperability expectations across charging networks. Manufacturers that fail to address them risk products stalling at certification, facing costly redesigns or being excluded from future network procurement as operators and fleets increasingly demand full standards compliance, Versinetic said.
The guide is structured around five areas that directly affect charger roadmaps: standards alignment, compliance and testing, hardware and firmware architecture, operational readiness and future planning.
The guide also includes an interactive audit and compliance toolkit that allows manufacturers to assess their current readiness against emerging standards and identify where late design decisions could create certification, retrofit or market-access risk.
“UK EV charging standards are increasingly acting as gatekeepers for grid connection, certification, and commercial deployment. What many manufacturers underestimate is when compliance decisions are effectively locked in during the development cycle,” said Dunstan Power, Managing Director at Versinetic.
“One of the biggest risks we’re seeing is manufacturers assuming they can retrofit compliance later. In practice, hardware architecture, firmware structure and security choices constrain what can be achieved, and by the time non-compliance becomes visible, the cost and disruption are often far higher than expected.”
