Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density • Hacker News Board

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#131

Post by Gibbon1 » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:23 AM UTC

ex-aws-dude wrote: post #103

I don’t understand, why would this debut only in a motorcycle? Wouldn’t there be a much bigger market and investor interest in putting it in a car initially?

When I've looked at the power and energy requirements of vehicles it seems to follow some sort of log(size) law when it comes to speed and energy per mass distance. But not for acceleration which is linear.

What that means is a small vehicle like a motorcycle needs more energy and hp per lb than a car to have the same range.

So could see higher performance batteries being very useful for motorcycles. Have heard noises that electric motorcycles and bicycles are heavy feeling. So lighter probably would be considered better.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#132

Post by _carbyau_ » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:26 AM UTC

_carbyau_ wrote: post #25

Seems vaporware at the moment. But has anyone else had thoughts on how solid "solid state" batteries are? IE could the frame of my next motorbike be made from solid state batteries?

Curiously, anyone doubting the veracity of the claims has been voted down.

If anything, this makes me more cynical that this is a marketing exercise on something that continues to be vapourware until independently verified.

If anyone wants to show/link to an independent verification, feel free!

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#133

Post by tckk » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:27 AM UTC

nine_k wrote: post #41

> Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density This is damn impressive. I suppose all the makers of military drones are lining up at the factory already. I mean, electric bikes are fine, but who has the most burning need to increase range and payload?..

You can already buy Amprius's silicon anode cells at over 400wh/kg.. but they have low cycle life.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#134

Post by donny2018 » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:28 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #127

Workaccount2 wrote: post #118

This is so out of left field and so "ideal" that it warrants some pretty heavy skepticism. Donut isn't even a battery company, and plenty of other battery companies with lots of knowledge and lots more money have been pouring over this problem with mixed results. Because of this, now I am even a bit skeptical of their electric motor claims, which before I didn't really question much at all.

They’re making very direct, no caveat statements though, using words like “now”, “immediately”, and “in production”. So if it’s a bluff, they haven’t left themselves much wiggle room with weasel words. I don’t see any wiggle room. And if that’s that case then a failure to deliver would be have to be more “wow, yeah, turns out forgot a decimal point and messed up some imperial-metric confusion”. Or “my teenager kid fo…

This, and apparently they don’t have a track record of producing bluffware before. They already have some interesting know-how heavy products, and previously they have fully delivered on them.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#135

Post by aetherspawn » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:29 AM UTC

Solid state batteries already exist, but they’re unreliable. A few bus companies have been messing around with them over the last few years, even putting them on public roads. One had a huge recall when they started delaminating after a year or so.

They are not as safe, light or as good as advertised. Yet.

After delaminating, some caught fire.

Most wet chemistries (LFP) are safer than current dry chemistries.

Donut claim they have GWhr manufacturing capability. The way they claim that feels very third-person.

That being the case, chances are they just white-labelled someone else’s cell technology and packaged the cells in a box (this is super common, virtually every company in eMobility does this with CATL/LG/Sony cells).

Technically it’s a battery made by Donut, yes, but in that case Donut don’t have the valuable IP so don’t be so quick to jump to buy shares or whatever. Making a battery box is fairly easy.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#136

Post by tckk » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:29 AM UTC

tedk-42 wrote: post #3

I'm very skeptical of any company that just 'pops up' and makes a bunch of claims that will shake up the industry. I doubt they'd sell to endusers, but not having any partnerships with established brands with sales figures is a big red flag. No mention of manufacturing capabilities either so I think it's just hype (or worse a rug pull for early investors)

They didn't just pop up. Oems & their sister company Verge are already using their axial flux motors. And you can order the latest Verge motorcycle with the solid state battery today.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#137

Post by tckk » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:31 AM UTC

tonyhart7 wrote: post #75

what about the price tho ??? I think the biggest hurdle for EV is in need for cheaper battery tech

Donut claim their price is lower than current lithium ion cells.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#138

Post by tckk » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:33 AM UTC

_carbyau_ wrote: post #132

_carbyau_ wrote: post #25

Seems vaporware at the moment. But has anyone else had thoughts on how solid "solid state" batteries are? IE could the frame of my next motorbike be made from solid state batteries?

Curiously, anyone doubting the veracity of the claims has been voted down. If anything, this makes me more cynical that this is a marketing exercise on something that continues to be vapourware until independently verified . If anyone wants to show/link to an independent verification, feel free!

What would be the point of lying about something easily verifyable that you are shipping in the next few months?

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#139

Post by Workaccount2 » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:37 AM UTC

aetherspawn wrote: post #135

Solid state batteries already exist, but they’re unreliable. A few bus companies have been messing around with them over the last few years, even putting them on public roads. One had a huge recall when they started delaminating after a year or so. They are not as safe, light or as good as advertised. Yet. After delaminating, some caught fire. Most wet chemistries (LFP) are safer than current dry chemistries. Donut c…

It would be embarrassing if they jumped the gun with promises from a Chinese oem who was also just white labeling some other Chinese battery. Or giving engineering samples to Donut from a process with a 1% yield hoping they can figure it out in time.

To put in HN terms, if someone sold you a 20TB SDcard knowing your R/W speeds are limited to 100kbps, it's going to take you a while to confirm that the card is actually 20TB. Rough analogy, but there are similar ways you can hide true battery performance.

It's just extremely suspect that a company full of mechanical and electrical engineers, who made (supposed) blow out gains in electrical motors this year, also found the holy grail of (battery) chemical engineering too.

Re: Donut Lab’s all-solid-state battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density

#140

Post by verdverm » Tue, Jan 06, 2026, 5:38 AM UTC

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #122

verdverm wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most current EV owners charge at home for daily needs, you really only need charging stations for long distance and owners w/o options where they park (i.e. renters or street parking only) Even with street parking, I see lots of people running cables across the sidewalk (with safety / step covers thankfully) I drove across the country and accounted for midwest charging. Generally the rocky mountain states are minimal…

Yep. Mine is always charged at home, and so I've never needed to use a charging station locally. They're around just by virtue of the area being part of a major metro, but I haven't needed them. I haven't yet done a cross-country drive but would like to and have plotted out routes with ABRP, and yes, there's more in the midwest states than you'd think. Enough that just about any EV with EPA 250mi range or better can…

yup ABRP was awesome for the trip, nothing out there comes close

Be warned, as you approach and cross the Rockies, there is a lot of uphill and wind. Didn't mention this, but I also did the trip in early March, temps were just above freezing most of the trip, range was terrible. There's a spot in NE, which I'll never forget. Only stop in the middle of a long gap in stations, steepest incline in NE, blew through most a charge in 90 miles. Then the charger is old and very low charge rate (like 5+ year old speeds). The saving graces are (1) public restroom (2) Awesome awesome coffee shop owner who made me a nice brew after hours when I asked him where I might find one as we passed on the sidewalk.

WY was worse on the charger infra, most unreliable and sketchy part of the trip (mostly because of snow in the mountains as temps dropped below freezing, but also the worst charging infra at any point)