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/daily ·07 SEPT 2026 ·MONDAY ·2 MIN READ ·6 STORIES

Solid-state goes live, silicon anodes converge, Archer flies cities

ProLogium puts a solid-state cell into mass production, three silicon-anode bets land in the same week, and Archer Aviation moves from test flights to a city tour with a Los Angeles vertiport on the drawing board.

01 / The Day

MONDAY 07 SEPT 2026, ranked

06

ProLogium Gen 3.5 Solid-State Battery Enters Mass Production

ProLogium has announced that its Gen 3.5 Lithium Ceramic Battery — a solid-state cell using a ceramic electrolyte — has entered commercial mass production at its Taiwan facility, marking one of the clearest milestones yet in solid-state's decade-long transition from laboratory to production floor.

  • Gen 3.5 uses a ceramic solid electrolyte rather than liquid; the defining feature of solid-state chemistry
  • Production is at ProLogium's primary Taiwan site; European gigafactory remains at development stage
  • ProLogium has OEM supply agreements contingent on achieving scaling milestones
Why it mattersSolid-state batteries have been 'five years away' for a decade; a production announcement from a company with OEM agreements attached is the clearest signal yet that the timeline is compressing.
01 prologium.com↗

Asahi Kasei's Silicon Anode Pre-Doping Method Requires No Line Changes

Asahi Kasei has developed a lithium pre-doping technique for silicon-based anodes using lithium carbonate and electrolyte additives, improving energy density, cycle life, and cost without requiring significant modifications to existing production equipment — a critical drop-in requirement for cell manufacturers considering the chemistry.

  • Lithium carbonate pre-doping addresses the first-cycle capacity loss that has limited silicon anode economics
  • Electrolyte additive package improves cycle life in parallel with the pre-doping step
  • Drop-in compatibility with existing lines lowers the adoption barrier for established cell manufacturers
Why it mattersSilicon anodes offer a step-change in energy density over graphite, but manufacturing integration has been the bottleneck; a drop-in method changes the cost of switching.
02 asahi-kasei.com↗

Independent Testing Confirms Donut Lab Cell at 409 Wh/kg

Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre independently confirmed that a battery cell from Donut Lab achieved 409 Wh/kg gravimetric and 805 Wh/L volumetric energy density — figures that exceed current high-end lithium-ion cells by roughly 30 percent and were validated by an accredited third-party laboratory.

  • VTT is an accredited independent testing body; certification removes self-reporting risk
  • 409 Wh/kg exceeds leading commercial lithium-ion cells by approximately 30 percent
  • 805 Wh/L volumetric density is relevant for space-constrained EV pack designs
Why it mattersThird-party validation separates an energy density press release from an engineering milestone — and VTT accreditation meets that standard.
03 vttresearch.com↗

DOE Awards Coreshell $50M for Silicon-Anode Gigafactory

The US Department of Energy awarded Coreshell Technologies $50 million to construct a domestic gigafactory producing lithium-ion cells with metallurgical silicon anodes — a lower-purity, lower-cost feedstock than refined silicon — targeting both reduced graphite import dependence and over 100 manufacturing jobs.

  • Metallurgical silicon anodes use lower-cost, lower-purity silicon feedstock vs. refined silicon
  • Award explicitly targets domestic supply-chain independence from synthetic graphite, mostly Chinese-made
  • Facility produces commercial-format cells rather than samples, per DOE grant terms
Why it mattersFederal funding for silicon-anode manufacturing is as much a supply-chain play as a chemistry one — the US has essentially no domestic graphite cell manufacturing at commercial scale.
04 energy.gov↗

LG Energy Solution Pivots: Sodium-Ion ESS, Lithium-Metal-Rich EVs, 10-Year Lithium Supply

Days after opening its Lansing, Michigan campus, LG Energy Solution outlined a three-pronged chemistry strategy: sodium-ion cells for energy storage customers (first samples targeted for 2027), lithium-metal-rich cathodes for premium EV clients, and a ten-year lithium carbonate supply agreement with Smackover Lithium. The company's ESS division posted nearly fivefold revenue growth year-on-year.

  • Sodium-ion pilot line under construction; first commercial samples targeted for 2027
  • Lithium-metal-rich cathode development targets higher-energy EV cells beyond NMC variants
  • Ten-year lithium carbonate supply deal with Smackover Lithium secures US raw material
Why it mattersWhen the world's second-largest cell manufacturer bets simultaneously on three chemistries and locks in a decade of domestic raw material, it signals that no single chemistry is expected to win the next decade.
05 energy-storage.news↗

Archer Aviation Tours US Cities, Plans LA LIVE Vertiport

Archer Aviation launched a city-to-city flight tour across the United States to expand real-world testing ahead of its planned late-2026 commercial launch, while Anschutz Entertainment Group separately announced plans for downtown Los Angeles' first vertiport at L.A. LIVE — connecting demonstration flights to committed permanent ground infrastructure.

  • Flight tour covers multiple US cities, combining passenger demonstrations with FAA operational data collection
  • L.A. LIVE vertiport would serve the downtown Los Angeles arena district
  • Archer targets initial US commercial flights in late 2026 pending FAA type certificate completion
Why it mattersConnecting flight demonstrations to committed vertiport infrastructure is the step between 'we can fly' and 'there is somewhere to land' — where urban air mobility has repeatedly stalled.
06 electrek.co↗
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