Startup Develops Safer, Longer Lasting Batteries

Bay area startup Cuberg has shown promise for the development of better battery technology to help electrically powered transportation devices fly or drive longer. The company recently released a video showing two drones flying until the power source ran out. The drone that was powered by a standard lithium-ion battery lasted a bit more than 17 minutes. However, the recently developed battery from Cuberg lasted more than 27 minutes.

Cuberg was founded in 2015 with a mission to develop lightweight batteries with greater capacity than already existed and that didn’t have the high flammability associated with lithium-ion batteries. The company was founded by two graduate students from Stanford University: Mauro Pasta and Richard Wang.

The startup was sponsored by none other than The Boeing Company. Through the years, the company has received several grants, each worth more than $150,000, from organizations such as the TomKat Center for Sustainable Energy, Army xTechSearch, NSF SBIR, CalSEED and, most recently, a $1.57 million grant from the California Energy Commission.

Whether the company will be able to develop larger batteries to support extended range for electric cars and VTOLs remains to be seen. But the Stanford graduates are working hard to continue their quest to provide sustainable, clean power.