Advanced E.V. Batteries Move From Labs to Mass Production - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Tesla effectively created the E.V. battery industry by proving that people would buy electric vehicles and forcing traditional carmakers to reckon with the technology, Mr. Berdichevsky said. “That’s what’s going to make the world go electric,” he said, “everyone competing to make a better electric car.”

Sila belongs to a group of start-ups that have developed materials that substantially improve the performance of existing battery designs, increasing range by 20 percent or more. Others include Group14 Technologies in Woodinville, Wash., near Seattle, which has backing from Porsche, and OneD Battery Sciences in Palo Alto, Calif.

All three have found ways to use silicon to store electricity inside batteries, rather than the graphite that is prevalent in existing designs. Silicon can hold much more energy per pound than graphite, allowing batteries to be lighter and cheaper and charge faster. Silicon would also ease the U.S. dependence on graphite refined in China.