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Is the ‘Holy Grail of batteries’ finally ready to bless us with its presence?
Transportation Close Transportation Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Transportation Report Close Report Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Report Science Close Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Science Is the ‘Holy Grail of batteries’ finally ready to bless us with its presence? Finnish startup Donut Lab claims it’s made a solid-state battery breakthrough. Whether you believe it or not, the technology does appear to be more than just hype. by Andrew J. Hawkins Close Andrew J. Hawkins Transportation editor Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Andrew J. Hawkins Apr 11, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC Link Share Gift Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Donut Labs Transportation Close Transportation Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Transportation Report Close Report Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Report Science Close Science Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All Science Is the ‘Holy Grail of batteries’ finally ready to bless us with its presence? Finnish startup Donut Lab claims it’s made a solid-state battery breakthrough. Whether you believe it or not, the technology does appear to be more than just hype. by Andrew J. Hawkins Close Andrew J. Hawkins Transportation editor Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Andrew J. Hawkins Apr 11, 2026, 11:00 AM UTC Link Share Gift Andrew J. Hawkins Close Andrew J. Hawkins Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. Follow Follow See All by Andrew J. Hawkins is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Earlier this year, a relatively unknown startup from Finland made a startling announcement : It had finally solved solid-state batteries. Not only that, but Donut Lab, a spinoff of Verge Motorcycles, said that its solid-state battery — long considered the “Holy Grail of batteries” for their high-density, durable, fast-charging abilities — would go into production later this year. Battery experts were understandably skeptical. After all, solid-state batteries are one of those technologies, along with artificial general intelligence and the hyperloop , that seem perpetually two years away. And while most legitimate efforts in this field — whether academic or commercial — have some level of published research or recognizable names attached, Donut Lab seemed to have emerged out of nowhere, with no known researchers or prior presence in the field. This lack of traceability immediately raised concerns about the startup’s credibility. “I can’t say they didn’t do it,” said Eric Wachsman, the director of the Maryland Energy Innovation Institute and an expert on solid-state batteries and solid oxide fuel cells. “All I can say is they haven’t demonstrated that they have.” I Donut Believe The skepticism seems warranted, especially when you consider how many other people have been chasing the solid-state dream. Were we really to believe this obscure startup had beaten Toyota, Stellantis, and the entire nation of China to the punch? The odds were against it. Donut Lab seemed to anticipate the doubt, launching a website last February called idonutbelieve.com that would serve as a platform to publish independent tests verifying that, in fact, its solid-state battery was real, and spectacular. Over the course of several weeks, the startup posted third-party results from state-owned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland that it said proved its battery was what it said it was: a fast-charging , high-energy-density solid-state battery that wasn’t actually a supercapacitor in disguise . “The resistance won’t disappear when we present the proof,” Donut Lab CEO and cofounder Marko Lehtimäki said in a video. “It will just intensify because this new technology is a threat to the established players in the industry.” But Donut Lab is still hiding the ball on some key information. At CES in January, the startup said its solid-state battery has an energy density of 400Wh per kilogram—roughly twice that of typical lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in production. Not only that, but it could charge to full in five minutes, had a practically unlimited lifespan of 100,000 charging cycles, was unaffected by heat and cold (negative 30 degrees Celsius and 100C), and contains no rare earth elements, precious metals, or flammable liquid electrolytes. M
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