Tesla Battery Expert Joins Tech Startup Sila Technologies, Gets $45M Funding

Former longtime Tesla executive Kurt Kelty will join car battery startup Sila Technologies.

Kelty, who left Tesla in 2017 after spending a career as director of battery technology for more than eleven years, was on Sila's advisory board before taking on the role of vice president of automotive, as reported by TechCrunch.

"As part of Sila Nano's advisory board, I've seen the results of the breakthrough battery chemistry firsthand and I could not pass up the opportunity to take it a step further and lead the company's automotive partnership efforts," Kelty said in a statement.

Kelty, who is fluent in Japanese and worked as a director for Panasonic before his tenure with Tesla, was an integral part of the Silicon Valley company and Japanese conglomerate's partnership. The two companies that opened the lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle factory in 2016 have since strained their relationship.

After Tesla, Kelty worked for vertical farming company Plenty Inc. as Senior VP of operations in his venture into agriculture, but his role for Sila Nano returns him to his life-long career with batteries.

Sila, an Almeda, California-based company, manufactures a silicon-based battery anode that will replace graphite in lithium-ion batteries, which they claim can improve the performance of the batteries by 20% and reach 40% improvement against the li-ion.

Sila's application also tackles consumer electronics, electric power grid, and electrified passenger aircraft.

"Batteries are all about trade-offs. With Sila, you get improved energy density without all the trade-offs," said Kelty in an interview.

"Let's say a Tesla car gets 200 miles per charge and 1,000 cycles. If you can get 5,000 cycles with the same range, you are talking about a million-mile car. I've spent 25 years working toward this. It's a natural fit for me."

In addition to hiring Kelty, Sila Nano also found their first Chief Operating Officer in Bill Mulligan, who was an executive vice president of global operations for SunPower. Sila also received a fresh $45 million funds from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board that adds to the $170 million they secured in April from a funding round led by Daimler.