StoreDot and Volvo to develop Fast Charging Batteries

Herzeliya (Israel) based StoreDot, has signed a multi-year agreement with Volvo Cars to develop an optimized battery for the next generation Volvo cars. This collaboration, with experts from Volvo Cars and StoreDot working together, is aimed to develop extreme fast charging (XFC) battery cells, optimized and tailored for Volvo’s future electric vehicle architectures. It is expected that the first samples will be delivered for testing next year.

Volvo Cars is already a strategic investor in StoreDot, but this newly agreed collaboration takes the relationship a step further. Dr. Doron Myersdorf, StoreDot CEO, said it is a highly significant agreement for StoreDot. “Our teams are now working together developing B-sample cells for Volvo Cars’ next generation fully electric architectures. The goal is to enable Volvo Cars’ customers to benefit from our XFC battery technology, which enables 100 miles of range in just five minutes of charging.”

StoreDot has developed a unicque Extreme Fast Charging batteries for electric vehicles . It has revolutionized the conventional Li-ion battery by synthesizing proprietary organic and inorganic compounds, enabling to achieve very fast charging. In 2022, the company achieved a world first by demonstrating a live extreme fast charging of an EV battery cell in just 10 minutes.

Recently StoreDot reported performance feedback for the evaluation and integration A-Samples testing phase of its XFC electric vehicle battery cells. The comprehensive testing programs took place earlier this year by 15 leading global automotive brand manufacturers from Europe, Asia, and the US, as well as several of StoreDot’s strategic ecosystem partners.

Volvo invests in optical and imaging technology start-up Spectralics

Volvo Cars has invested in the optical and imaging technology start-up Spectralics through the Volvo Cars Tech Fund, the company’s venture capital investment arm. The investment gives Volvo Cars access to promising technology at an early stage of development that could contribute to making cars safer and revolutionise in-car user experience.

Coming from a background in aerospace technology development, Israel-based Spectralics creates state-of-the-art imaging and optical infrastructure spanning materials, hardware and software, enabling a wide variety of advanced optical capabilities. One of the company’s core solutions is the multi-layered thin combiner (MLTC) which is a new type of thin optics ‘film’ applicable to see-through surfaces of all shapes and sizes. Integrated into a car’s windshield or windows, the technology could be used to overlay imagery on the glass. In a windshield configuration, the technology could create a wide field of view ‘heads-up display’ that can instill a sense of distance as virtual objects are superimposed onto the real-world environment for a safe and immersive experience.

“Spectralics is an exciting company with technology that holds truly great promise,” said Henrik Green, chief product officer at Volvo Cars. “By supporting their development, we can bring forward the potential their products could have in future Volvo cars.”

Other potential uses of the technology include advanced filters for various applications, in-cabin sensing, blind-proof front-looking cameras and digital holographic projections.

“We are proud to partner with a progressive technology leader like Volvo Cars,” said Ran Bar-Yosef, co-founder and chief executive officer of Spectralics. “We identify multiple touch-points with Volvo Cars’ vision in the ecosystem and recognise future Volvos as the right fit for new technologies.”

Spectralics is an alumnus of the MobilityXLab programme in Gothenburg, Sweden and is part of the DRIVE network in Tel-Aviv, Israel. They are both accelerators for promising start-ups with ideas that can break new ground in the mobility sector. Volvo Cars has been a leading partner in both initiatives since 2017.

“This investment is another result of our successful collaboration with MobilityXlab and DRIVE, and it deepens our relationship with these innovation partners,” said Lee Ma, head of the Volvo Cars Tech Fund. “Spectralics is a good portfolio fit for us and we believe that their technology has the potential to set a standard for the next generation of displays and cameras.”

The Volvo Cars Tech Fund was launched in 2018 and invests in high-potential technology start-ups around the globe. It focuses its investments on strategic technology trends transforming the auto industry, such as artificial intelligence, electrification and autonomous driving.

[Pictured above: Spectralics founders from left to right – Ran Bar Yosef, Dr. Eran Falk, Dr. Yuval Kashtar, Yuval Keinan. Credit – Tal Givoni]

Renault, Volvo and Hyundai Invested in Upstream Security

Photo above: Upstream’s Co-founders Yoav Levy (Left) and Yonatan Appel

Upstream Security from Herzliya, Israel, announced the completion of a $30 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the company’s total investment to date to $41 million. The round was led by Renault Venture Capital and included Volvo Group Venture Capital, Hyundai, Hyundai AutoEver, Nationwide Ventures and others. Original Upstream investors Charles River Ventures, Glilot Capital and Maniv Mobility all participated in the round.

The company’s Upstream Security C4 (Centralized Connected Car Cybersecurity Security) Platform is a purpose-built solution for protecting connected vehicles. C4 is deployed in the Automotive Cloud; in the demarcation point between the operational network and the IT network, ensuring protection of the communication data between the vehicles and command and control servers. Upstream system analyze the communications between data centers and fleets in order to detect, interpret and alert in real-time of any threats to the fleet.

Nobody is Safe

“This first of its kind investor syndicate, is a testament to the severity of the problem the industry is tackling,” said Yoav Levy, Upstream Security Co-founder and CEO. Earlier this year a report published by Upstream Security outlining the automotive threat landscape spanning the past decade, showing that OEM vehicle manufacturers and commercial and public sector fleets have been targeted. In many cases attacks were executed indirectly via connected services and applications and from long distance.

Establishing a security framework for connected cars entails a multi-layer approach that secures both the vehicles and the infrastructure connecting them. Upstream C4 platform enables OEM car manufacturers and fleets to detect, monitor and respond to attacks targeting any part of the connected vehicle framework – even for vehicles already on the road.

2 Million Protected Cars

“Securing our customers’ connected vehicles is always top of mind for Volvo,” noted David Hanngren, Investment Director at Volvo Group. “We have chosen to invest in Upstream because they have a great vision for addressing this unique sector and serious depth in both automotive domain expertise and cybersecurity.”

The CEO Yoav Levy revealed in the company’s blog, that over the last year the company haz dedicated extensive efforts in growing its partner network with MSSPs (Managed Security Service Providers), suppliers and OEMs. “Our platform is already ingesting data of over 2 million vehicles.”

Upstream was established in 2017 by the CEO Yoav Levy and the CTO Yonatan Appel. Yoav brings over 17 years of experience in multi-national high-tech companies and start-ups in leading vendors such as Check Point, Juniper Networks and Broadcom. Yonatan is involved with technology development for the last 20 years in industry-leading companies such as Check Point, Imperva, Microsoft and in in an elite technological unit in the IDF Intelligence Corps.