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Skeleton Technologies

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Skeleton Technologies is an energy storage developer and manufacturer for transportation, grid, automotive, and industrial applications. Skeleton is developing a novel raw material, curved graphene,[1] to produce solutions for the energy storage market, including high-power supercapacitors and high-energy solid-state batteries.

Ultracapacitators produced by Skeleton Technologies

About

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Skeleton was established in 2009 by Oliver Ahlberg, Taavi Madiberk, Dr. Jaan Leis, and Dr. Anti Perkson when they began developing graphene-based supercapacitors. The company now has over 300 employees throughout its various locations. Skeleton operates in Germany and Estonia, with headquarters, IT and module development in Tallinn. In Germany, the company operates a materials development facility for curved graphene in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, as well as a supercapacitor factory[2] in Großröhrsdorf. Skeleton is also building an additional supercapacitor factory near Leipzig in partnership with Siemens, which is estimated to become the world's largest supercapacitor production site.[3]

Currently, Skeleton is a supplier to a number of global OEMs in automotive, transportation, grid, and further industrial applications such as Siemens,[4] Škoda,[5] and Hitachi.[6] They are also a member of the European Battery Alliance,[7] an industry group with over 750 members focused on developing a European battery value chain. The company has received media attention in outlets such as Bloomberg News, The Economist, Sifted, and Financial Times for their German production,[8] battery expertise,[9] and development of novel technologies.[10][11]

Skeleton is a Global Cleantech 100 company.[12]

History

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2009–2012: First production

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Skeleton Technologies was created in 2009 for the purpose of developing graphene-based supercapacitors. In 2011, the company started the development of SpaceCap, a capacitor based on Skeleton's proprietary carbide-derived carbon material, as a part of a commission from the European Space Agency.[13] In 2012, Skeleton launched its first commercial product series.

2013–2016: First investor, manufacturing, and awards

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In 2013, Skeleton Technologies was incorporated in Germany for the first time as a GmbH, the German equivalent of a private limited company or limited liability company. That same year, the company received its first financing tranche of 2.2 million euros in Round A financing.[14]

In 2014, the company opened and began operating out of its first manufacturing facility in Viimsi, Estonia. They also participated in the Norway Grants "Green ICT" program, a cooperation programme between Estonia and Norway intended to facilitate sustainable development and green technology innovation, using the grant money to continue the development of their ultracapacitor technologies.[15]

At the Ecosummit 2015 in London, Skeleton Technologies was presented with the 'best startup' award as well as 1.5K EUR in prize money.[16] Together with Adgero SARL, in 2015 they introduced a supercapacitor-based kinetic energy recovery system for trucks, designed to reduce fuel consumption.[17]

2017–2019: Production scaling, portfolio expansion, and growth

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In 2017, Skeleton ISO 9001 and 14001 began to scale up production of its ISO 9001 and 14001 modules at its facility in Großröhrsdorf, Germany. At the tenth annual Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York City, the company was honoured as one of ten 2017 New Energy Pioneers.[18]

Beginning in 2018, the company expanded its product portfolio and began receiving orders from firms in the automotive, logistics, and aerospace industries.[19]

By 2019, Skeleton's revenue growth tripled, and the company received more than 100 million euros in order intake. After a stringent testing course, the company's SkelCap SCA series supercapacitor cells were given 810A certification from the safety organisation UL, certifying that the cells are safe for use in automotive applications and uninterruptible power supplies.[20]

2020–2022: Continued investment and new factory

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Following a Series D financing round in 2020, Skeleton raised an additional 41.3 million euros.[21]

In 2021, Skeleton Technologies was awarded the SET4FUTURE Innovation Award, honouring organisations that create innovative products and solutions for future railway technology and contribute to traffic reduction.[22] The company also received IATF 16949 certification, an international quality standard for the automotive industry, that year.[23]

In 2022, Skeleton announced the investment of 220 million euros to begin building a new factory near Leipzig, in partnership with Siemens.[24] The factory will be located in Markranstädt and is Skeleton's second manufacturing site in the state of Saxony.

Industries and applications

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Automotive

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Skeleton produces supercapacitors to improve fuel efficiency and support power storage and discharge in electric vehicles. In automotive applications, supercapacitors can be connected in parallel with batteries to increase both energy density and power density and improve the longevity of the energy storage system.[25]

Grid

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Skeleton offers supercapacitor-based energy storage systems for wind power applications, which help control wind power plant output and provide ancillary services to the power system.[26] As an energy storage medium, supercapacitors can deploy electricity instantaneously to manage demand surges and power quality issues such as flickers and interruption events.[27] In heavy transport and grid applications, Skeleton works with the Italian electronics wholesaler DimacRed S.p.A. for distribution and technical cooperation.[28]

Industrial

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Skeleton has developed solutions for cranes and elevators as well as technologies for the marine, medical, and oil & gas sectors. For Transiidikeskus, one of the largest container terminals in the Baltic Region, the company developed a crane equipped with a graphene supercapacitor-powered kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), reducing the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 34%.[29] Skeleton has also developed a KERS system for elevators that is able to reduce energy consumption by 50% or more by storing and reusing energy generated during operation.[30][31]

Transportation

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In addition to cars, Skeleton Technologies provides supercapacitor-based solutions for rail and trams, trucks, bus, and heavy equipment.

Skeleton Technologies and Class8 Energy, a Canadian equipment distributor, have signed an €11.6 million contract to supply supercapacitor modules to the North American trucking and retail industries. The modules will reduce cold-cranking time by a factor of 2 and offer higher cranking power than a battery, without toxic materials.[32]

The company is a supplier for several tram producers in major European cities. Skeleton has a contract with Škoda Electric, a branch of the auto company which produces electric motors for rail applications, to provide supercapacitors for Mannheim's tram system.[33] They also have a large-scale contract with Medcom, an electric traction producer, to provide supercapacitors for the Warsaw tram network.[34] For Škoda and Medcom, the SkelMod 51V module has enabled energy savings of up to 30% with onboard kinetic energy recovery, an application where braking energy is harnessed by the supercapacitor module bank and used for acceleration.[35]

Polish electrical switchgear manufacturer ZPUE and Skeleton Technologies have signed a letter of intent, stating that Skeleton will provide supercapacitors for rail wayside storage at 200 MW per year from 2023 to 2025. These storage systems, located inside the station rather than in the train itself, capture energy released as the train brakes and use it to power acceleration. Skeleton will also supply 160 MW of storage for grid stability applications between 2023 and 2025. The cooperation represents more than 30 million euros of commercial value.[36] As with tram applications, Skeleton's technologies have been shown to improve train efficiency by increasing energy savings to reduce costs and CO2 emissions.[37] The implementation of supercapacitor technology provides effective voltage stabilization for rail systems, improves propulsion performance for light rail vehicles, and advances locomotive engine starting technologies.[38]

Technology

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Skeleton's SkelCap supercapacitor series provides up to four times higher power density[39] as well as lower equivalent series resistance[40] when compared to other supercapacitor cells, leading to improved application lifetime. They have a long lifetime of over 1 million charge cycles or 15+ years[41] and near-total efficiency in temperatures ranging from −40 to 65 degrees Celsius.[42]

Financing

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Skeleton Technologies has secured funding from a variety of sources including:

  • €2.5 million from the European Innovation Council to double the capacity of their graphene supercapacitors as part of the SKLCARBONP2 project.[43]
  • €4 million in investments from KIC InnoEnergy, an investment company dedicated to promoting sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe's energy industry.[44]
  • €15 million in ‘quasi-equity’ financing from the European Investment Bank.[45][46]
  • €13 million in new investment from FirstFloor Capital, a Malaysian venture capital investment firm specialising in funding high-growth technology companies.[47] This investment brought Skeleton's total financing to €26.7 million in Round C.[48]
  • €51 million from Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWi) and the Free State of Saxony to execute their development roadmap as part of the European Battery Innovation IPCEI.[49]
  • €70.4 million in total Round D financing.[50]
  • €108 million from Siemens, Marubeni Corporation and CBMM to scale production of their batteries and supercapacitors.[51][52]

In total, Skeleton Technologies have received over 300 million euros in financing.[51] Additional investors include Harju Elekter,[53] Up Invest,[54] MM Grupp,[55] CTEK,[56] and Wise.[57]

Philanthropy

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Skeleton Technologies CEO and co-founder Taavi Madiberk initiated discussions to establish a €20 million support fund from the European Innovation Council for Ukrainian deep tech startups after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[58] At a press conference in Brussels, Commissioner for Innovation and Research Mariya Gabriel announced her support for the fund, which targets innovative tech companies that are established in Ukraine as well as companies that have relocated to EU member states or Horizon Europe-associated countries following the start of the war.[59] The proposal focuses on strengthening the Ukrainian tech ecosystem and supporting innovative solutions for rebuilding.

References

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  1. ^ US application 2013133923, Leis, Jaan; Arulepp, Mati & Perkson, Anti, "A carbon composite electrode for the electric double-layer capacitor", published 2013-05-30, assigned to OÛ Skeleton Technologies , since abandoned.
  2. ^ Zedníček, Tomáš (2017-03-30). "Skeleton Technologies Opens Largest Ultracapacitor Factory in Europe". Passive Components Blog. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  3. ^ "Estonia's Skeleton to build Siemens-designed supercapacitor factory in Germany". Reuters. 2022-07-19. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  4. ^ "Skeleton and Siemens agree on strategic partnership for the production of supercapacitors". Automotive World. 2022-07-25. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  5. ^ Kütt, Ave (2019-08-26). "Skeleton's ultracaps to power Škoda trams in Germany". Invest in Estonia. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. ^ "Skeleton Technologies, Siemens to Build World's Largest Supercapacitor Plant - News". eepower.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  7. ^ "NETWORK". European Battery Alliance. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  8. ^ Tammik, Ott (2022-01-27). "Estonian Battery Maker Skeleton Gets Cash to Ramp Up German Production". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  9. ^ "How to hybridise batteries and supercapacitors". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  10. ^ "The Estonian superbattery that is beating Tesla | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  11. ^ "Start-ups aim to unlock full potential of 'green' tech". Financial Times. 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  12. ^ "i3 Connect - Insight and Data Across the Global Clean Technology Marketplace". i3connect.com. Retrieved 2022-11-02.
  13. ^ Zedníček, Tomáš (2018-12-18). "Qualification of Commercial Off-The- Shelf Supercapacitors for Space Applications". European Passive Components Institute. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  14. ^ "Ultracapacitor Manufacturer Skeleton Technologies Raises €3.9 Million (US$5.2 Million) in Round A Financing". PR.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  15. ^ Estonia, Life in (2014-09-25). "A small Estonian company aims to conquer the world". Estonian World. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  16. ^ "ECO15 London Award - ECOSUMMIT - Smart Green Business Network and Conference". Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  17. ^ "Skeleton Technologies and Adgero introduce ultracap-based KERS system for truck trailers | E-Hike". e-hike.net. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  18. ^ "BNEF Pioneers 2023 | BloombergNEF | Bloomberg Finance LP". BloombergNEF. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  19. ^ International, Batteries (2018-07-19). "Skeleton Technologies moves manufacturing to Dresden, Germany". Batteries International. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  20. ^ "UL Certification For Skeleton Technologies' Ultracapacitors". Diesel Progress. 2019-07-26. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  21. ^ "Skeleton Technologies | Graphene-Info". www.graphene-info.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  22. ^ "Die Preisträger des SET4FUTURE Innovation Award" (in German). Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  23. ^ "Skeleton Technologies Receives IATF 16949 Certification, the Stringent Automotive Quality Standard". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  24. ^ "Advanced Batteries & Energy Storage Research by IDTechEx". Advanced Batteries & Energy Storage Research. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  25. ^ "Unlocking New Possibilities Through Innovative Energy Storage. The Role of Ultracapacitors in the Energy Transition". European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT). 2022-06-30. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  26. ^ Abbey, Chad; Chahwan, John; Joos, Geza (2007-10-01). "Energy storage and management in wind turbine generator systems". EPE Journal. 17 – via ResearchGate.
  27. ^ UCL (2022-03-01). "Supercapacitors". UCL Department of Chemical Engineering. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  28. ^ "[PRESS RELEASE] Skeleton Technologies and DIMAC RED S.p.A. Signed a Contract to Scale Up Ultracapacitor Distribution". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  29. ^ "o-mag | Services for Industry & Trade". www.o-mag.eu. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  30. ^ "Elevator energy consumption cut in half". www.electronicspecifier.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  31. ^ "Case Study: Ultracapacitors Enable up to 70% Energy Savings in Elevators". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  32. ^ Cousineau, Matt (2022-08-18). "Skeleton Technologies to supply Class8 Energy with supercapacitor modules for commercial vehicles". Charged EVs. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  33. ^ "Skeleton's ultracapacitors to power Škoda trams in Mannheim". www.innoenergy.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  34. ^ "Skeleton Technologies to provide ultracapacitor for Warsaw tram system". Railway Technology. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  35. ^ "Trusted by Škoda and Medcom among others - Skeleton's popular SkelMod 51V module now rail-certified". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  36. ^ "Evertiq - Skeleton targets the Polish market – teams up with ZPUE". evertiq.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  37. ^ "Skeleton Technologies". Railway-News. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  38. ^ "Avnet: Quality Electronic Components & Services". www.avnet.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  39. ^ "Estonia-based ultracapacitor manufacturer Skeleton Technologies raises €29M in Series D extension; "now moving to "Superbatteries" | Silicon Canals". 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  40. ^ "Skeleton Beats Competitors in US Office of Naval Research Ultracapacitor Test". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  41. ^ "SKELCAP ULTRACAPACITORS". product.statnano.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  42. ^ Söderbom, Johan (2020-12-01). "The Role of Ultracapacitors in the Energy Transition" (PDF).
  43. ^ "Advanced ultracapacitors power a revolution in energy storage | Research and Innovation". ec.europa.eu. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  44. ^ "KIC InnoEnergy backs Skeleton's Graphene Ultracaps with €4m - News". eepower.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  45. ^ "The European Commission's priorities". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  46. ^ "Ultracapacitor maker Skeleton gets EUR-15m EIB financing". Renewablesnow.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  47. ^ Novac, Dragos. "Skeleton Technologies secured €13M from FirstFloor Capital, Harju Elekter Group et al". Nordic 9. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  48. ^ andero (2016-08-03). "Skeleton Technologies receives € 13 million of investment". Invest in Estonia. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  49. ^ Barkan, Terrance (2021-03-16). "Skeleton Technologies Receives an Additional €51 Million Funding to Scale up Ultracapacitors Production".
  50. ^ Lombardo, Tom (2021-07-07). "Skeleton Technologies raises €70 million to develop EV batteries and supercapacitors". Charged EVs. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  51. ^ a b Wanat, Zosia (2023-10-13). "Estonia's Skeleton Technologies raises another €108m to scale fast-charging battery tech". sifted.
  52. ^ "Skeleton Technologies raises €108M in funding round led by Siemens and Marubeni". Tech.eu. 2023-10-13. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  53. ^ "AS Harju Elekter to invest in Skeleton Technologies Group OÜ". Harju Elekter. 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  54. ^ Pullen, Ellie (2014-08-04). "Up Invest leads €3.9m Skeleton Tech round". Unquote.
  55. ^ "Skeleton Technologies brings in additional capital to close a total of €70 million equity in Round D financing". BatteryIndustry.tech. 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  56. ^ "Skeleton Technologies closes €37.6 million D3 financing round | Graphene-Info". www.graphene-info.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  57. ^ "Wise's Taavet Hinrikus backs Skeleton Technologies ultracapacitors | Sifted". sifted.eu. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  58. ^ "The EIC will allocate 20 M EUR to support Ukrainian deeptech start-ups & their integration into European ecosystems". www.skeletontech.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
  59. ^ "European Innovation Council launches €20M fund for Ukrainian start-ups". Science|Business. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
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