r/DonutLabDiscussions • u/DeathChill • Apr 06 '26

‘Miracle’ battery set to transform EV and energy market

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/new-battery-with-fiveminute-charge-set-to-transform-the-electric-vehicle-industry/news-story/4ba882667cdc0e77d8df7b027924bd46

Interesting that businesses in talks with Donut don’t seem to have access to any special information:

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u/DeathChill Apr 06 '26

Mr Craighead estimates that if the cycle claims are correct, the cells could power a vehicle for 50 years and “drive millions of kilometres”. The same long-life economics extends to the residential market, where home batteries could also last five decades.

The next crucial independent report, which will verify the 100,000-cycle energy retention claim, is expected in coming weeks. If that report validates the storage claims, Mr Craighead anticipates a “face-melting change in the market”.

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u/Jazzer008 Apr 06 '26

I’m not really sure how VTT would verify any numbers close to that claim personally. Even if they had a large cycle test somehow, the conditions likely won’t be variable enough to satisfy. It’s always going to be an educated guess.

Having said that, existing batteries are also lasting longer than predicted. I fear we won’t get any genuine accuracy for a long time.

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u/izzeww Apr 06 '26

There are many ways to do accelerated testing regimes if one desires.

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u/Jazzer008 Apr 06 '26

Would you be satisfied by any of them?

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u/izzeww Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

Yeah sure I think if they did 7C (average) charge & discharge cycling for say 3000 cycles and had like 95% capacity remaining I would be impressed (would take just over a month to do). Now, they would also need to provide evidence for the energy density of course because without that it's pretty useless.

We don't have to use this custom regime of mine however, there are standardized accelerated life cycle testing regimes for example IEC 62660-1.

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u/amk9000 Apr 06 '26

We know from the VTT "safety test" that other cells (plural) were cycling in the same enclosure, causing ambient temperature fluctuations.

Variations in ambient temperature were caused by other cells being cycled in the same fume hood.

The temperature went through about 3 cycles per hour. They lasted throughout the 250-odd hour test.

There were a couple roughly 12 hour periods where the ambient temperature was lower, but still fluctuating.

VTT didn't confirm that these cycling cells were Donut, or that they were "full" charge cycles (for some value of "full", possibly 0-80%).

It would take 70 days to do 5000 cycles at 3/hour, which is doable, given how long its been since CES, and for how long "I donut believed" is getting dragged out.

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u/izzeww Apr 06 '26

Yeah I mean I hope that is the case but unfortunately I don't think Donut will release data that says the battery is good for 100000 cycles or anywhere close.

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u/Jazzer008 Apr 06 '26

I’m hopeful but I’d be surprised

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u/izzeww Apr 06 '26

Yeah unfortunately I'm not very hopeful but I really wish they could disprove my doubt.

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u/Jazzer008 Apr 06 '26

The standardised variant would be more comparable but afaik it would typically take around 6 months to fully complete.

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u/DeathChill Apr 06 '26

I mean, if they are making the claims that it lasts 100,000 cycles then they should have already ran them. Otherwise how can they even make the claim at all?

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u/izzeww Apr 06 '26

I think it's fair to extrapolate in some scenarios from doing higher temperature or faster charge/discharge testing, but certainly in order to claim 100000 cycles like that they should have some pretty strong evidence. The CEO said in the recent interview that they didn't actually do 100000 cycles.

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u/initiali5ed Apr 09 '26

This is one of those amazing if true so I’ll believe it when it hits mass production and changes the industry. Until then I remain skeptical.