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Ever wanted a battery to last longer? Of course! Today’s startup says it has found a new way to make that happen.

Read on to learn all about CamVolt.

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CamVolt handles the pressure of developing longer-lasting, more reliable batteries

We all want our batteries to do more. How many times have you wished your phone, or maybe electric car, would last longer or charge faster? As we increasingly rely on batteries to store renewable energy, this demand is only going to increase.

There’s a lot of research around the world going into achieving better battery performance. This typically focuses on chemistry, but one Cambridge-based startup believes another factor should be optimised: the pressure inside the cell.

“Today the battery industry is obsessed with chemistry optimisations, but they mostly ignore the mechanical environment, even though this is a parameter that silently kills lifetime performance, safety, and reliability,” says Heng Wang, co-founder of CamVolt.

Wang says that battery pressure can be a blind spot for researchers and manufacturers alike.

“People today apply pressure on batteries using passive methods such as screws and bolts. They tighten the screws so that the materials experience a certain amount of pressure. However, that only sets the initial pressure. Over time, these materials expand and contract, and that results in significant fluctuations.”

Wang says these pressure fluctuations lead to inconsistent performance and even battery failures. It’s this issue that CamVolt wants to solve.

They plan to do this with a light and compact actuator that can fit into the majority of battery packs on the market, providing active pressure control.

“Megapascals is a typical way people measure pressure. We want to apply a pressure that is up to 3 megapascals. As of today, the industry standard is to apply about 10% of this, because people don't really have a good way to apply a higher pressure reliably. We provide a solution,” Wang says.

The component CamVolt is developing is designed to maintain a stable, high pressure on materials inside the battery no matter how much they swell or contract over time. The startup also plans to integrate a sensor to give customers a better understanding of what’s happening inside the battery.

The story so far

Wang is building CamVolt with Joe Stallard. They are both academics in the field of batteries and have ties to the University of Cambridge, although their startup is not a spinout.

Stallard originally launched the company to serve the needs of battery developers, bringing Wang on board because of his relevant research work into battery pressure. CamVolt is now a team of six.

Together they developed tools for lab researchers to monitor battery pressure. This proved commercially successful. Wang says so far around 200 of CamVolt’s initial devices have been sold to research labs across the UK.

But they realised there could be demand for what they were doing beyond the lab market.

“We thought there was a bigger opportunity in the battery pack space,” says Stallard.

“One of the things we picked up from people designing new types of cells was they're after these much bigger ranges of pressure than are possible in today's packs. It's given us a sense of where we think the market will want to go, towards these higher pressures. CamVolt really wants to be there to support that when it when it comes to market in the future.”

Last year, CamVolt took part in the Conception X programme that helps to turn PhD research into startups.

CamVolt continues to sell its existing equipment, and Stallard says they recently received their biggest order yet. The startup next plans to file for IP protection for its new system for battery packs, as it moves towards a commercial launch, initially in the electric vehicle market.

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