Disruptive anodes for a growth market: LionVolt powers the future

With a disruptive lithium-metal anode and a roll-to-roll production process, LionVolt is poised to reshape energy storage, right from the heart of Europe’s thin-film capital.

In a sleek new facility at the Brainport Industries Campus (BIC) in Eindhoven, Kevin Brundish stands at the helm of a fast-scaling startup that aims to make batteries more powerful, smaller, or both. As CEO of LionVolt, a spin-out from TNO and a former Gerard & Anton Award winner, he leads a company developing next-generation battery technology based on 3D-structured lithium-metal anodes. “We’re working on a complete step change,” he says. “It’s a revolution.”

A disruptive anode for a growing market

The world is going electric, from cars and laptops to drones, aircraft, and wearables. But today’s batteries, mostly based on graphite anodes, are approaching their performance ceiling. “Graphite has done a great job,” Brundish says. “But to get more energy, we’ve had to just keep adding more of it; more weight, more volume.”

LionVolt’s solution is to replace graphite with lithium metal, boosting energy density by 50 to 100 percent. That means devices can either run longer on the same footprint, or shrink in size while maintaining the same power. “It’s a game changer for anything that moves,” Brundish says. “Mobility in all its forms - whether drones, laptops, wearables, or aircraft - is where the disruption really hits.”

Europe’s battery moment

While some headlines paint a gloomy picture for battery manufacturing in Europe (with Northvolt as the grimmest example), Brundish is optimistic. “You have to zoom out and look at the whole of Europe. Gigafactories are opening, and many are already successful,” he says, pointing to Poland’s battery hubs and longstanding facilities in the UK.

LionVolt isn’t building a gigafactory itself, at least not yet. Instead, the company focuses on what Brundish calls a “sub-component” of the battery: the anode. Its business model revolves around integrating it seamlessly into existing supply chains. “We’ll eventually scale the anode business,” he explains, “and let the cell manufacturers do what they do best. We make it easy for them by providing a drop-in solution.”

LionVolt CEO Kevin Brundish on top of the company's brand new cleanroom at Brainport Industries Campus © IO+

Thin films and thick opportunity

Why Eindhoven? The answer lies in the region’s unparalleled know-how in thin-film technology, an essential element in LionVolt’s manufacturing approach. “Thin films are in Eindhoven’s DNA,” Brundish says. “This region already excels in semiconductors, solar, and advanced manufacturing. We’re building on that foundation.”

The connection goes deeper: LionVolt is a spin-out of TNO, the Dutch applied research organization headquartered in the same high-tech corridor. And the startup’s original home on the High Tech Campus has given way to its new production facility at the Brainport Industries Campus, a move that signals both growth and long-term commitment.

“BIC gives us the ability to scale fast,” Brundish says. “It’s one of the few places in the country where we could literally just start building. You need power, infrastructure, and access to bonded storage. That’s all here. Plus the ecosystem that supports us.”

And building is what LionVolt did at BIC. Next to a casually designed office room - lots of still-to-be-unpacked boxes with laptops and screens in the corner, a meeting room with just a table and three chairs, not a single decoration on the walls - the company has created state-of-the-art cleanrooms and dryrooms. Filling three stories within the BIC building, LionVolt has already received curious eyes from the employees of neighboring companies like ASML, Meta, and Hexagon. “Although this is exactly what we wanted, it turns out to be even more impressive than we could have thought. By the way, did you know you can really feel the humidity of our normal life after leaving a dryroom?”

Scotland + Eindhoven = Synergy

To complement its Eindhoven facility, LionVolt acquired a production plant in Scotland, a site with decades of experience in battery cell manufacturing. While the Netherlands excels in R&D and thin-film processes, the UK site adds manufacturing depth.

“The UK team didn’t know our deposition techniques, but they bring enormous value on the cell side,” Brundish explains. “Together, we’re now able to produce megawatt-hours of complete battery cells - demonstrating not just the innovation, but the manufacturability.”

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LionVolt is now producing early batches of battery cells, mainly for customers in aviation, wearables, consumer electronics, and drones. Automotive is on the horizon, but with its demanding mix of low cost, high volume, and extreme reliability, it’s a market Brundish is approaching strategically.

“We’re not naming clients,” he says, “but we’re working with end users and integrating into their development cycles. First, we deliver prototypes, then we move into A/B/C maturity levels. Once you’re designed into a product, they can’t change you that easily anymore.”

That means the next 18 to 24 months are critical. “We're transitioning from one-off batches to offtake agreements, repeat orders that pave the way to a larger-scale factory.” In that period, Brundish expects to have found out whether producing ‘just’ the anodes is the right strategy, or LionVolt will focus on complete cell manufacturing. “This is the most important business decision for the next two years or so.”

The BIC advantage

LionVolt’s presence at BIC is more than symbolic. The site offers a unique blend of infrastructure, manufacturing readiness, and proximity to a deep talent pool. “There’s nothing like this elsewhere,” Brundish says. “It’s like a microcosm of small factories operating inside a large one. We’re surrounded by companies that use similar equipment or might even become customers.”

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Although expansion space in the current building is limited, future growth is already under discussion. “If the market asks for more - and the signs are it will - we’ll scale up. But we don’t expect to decide on that before 2027.” Which nicely coincides with BIC’s plans for the development of its second cluster.

Europe's chance to lead

Brundish believes Europe has a rare opportunity to regain control of a critical supply chain. “Lithium-ion was largely developed in Europe and Japan. We should own part of its future,” he says. With almost all of the graphite still coming from China, LionVolt’s lithium-metal solution can provide a strategic advantage.

In that light, he praises the Netherlands’ deep-tech ecosystem, from research powerhouses like TNO to investor-backed vehicles like InvestNL and Innovation Industries. “The government understands the opportunity. This is one of the few ways we can truly shift the economic tide.”

“Every step we take is focused on scale,” Brundish concludes. “We’ve already moved from lab to pilot production. The next step is going from megawatts to gigawatts. That’s what makes it real.”