BERLIN — Mercedes-Benz will incorporate a brand new, extremely energy-dense battery in its upcoming electrical G-Class from 2025, an answer to the issue of the right way to energy giant electrical automobiles with out weighing them down with heavy batteries.

The battery, made by start-up Sila Nanotechnologies, makes use of silicon-based anodes and is 20 p.c to 40 p.c extra power dense than comparable cells at the moment accessible, Mercedes mentioned.

Silicon gives an alternative choice to the extra generally used graphite, 70 p.c of which comes from China. Tesla mentioned in 2020  that it might construct up the usage of silicon in its batteries.

Mercedes is the primary publicly introduced automotive buyer of California-based battery start-up Sila Nanotechnologies, which is investing a determine within the low tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in a brand new plant in Washington state because of open in 2024.

Mercedes has a minority fairness stake within the unlisted Sila, which can also be working with BMW.

Sila, based by an ex-Tesla engineer, raised a further $590 million final yr, boosting its valuation to an estimated $3.3 billion.

“Delivering such a excessive power density is a real sport changer and permits us to assume in utterly new instructions when growing future electrical automobiles,” Mercedes Chief Expertise Officer Markus Schaefer mentioned in a press release.

The G-Class is among the many costliest automobiles within the Mercedes vary, taking part in an more and more necessary position within the producer’s technique of boosting margins to assist fund its transition to EV know-how.

When a battery is charged, ions movement from the cathode to the anode. When it is discharged, the ions reverse course. The traditional anode materials is graphite, however researchers have been silicon as an alternative choice to develop a battery that may pack extra power.

When Mercedes got here up with the G-Class within the late Nineteen Seventies, its boxy design and all-terrain capabilities had been envisioned for troopers and explorers.

It largely stayed in that area of interest till the SUV increase vaulted the mannequin extra into to the mainstream, gaining high-profile prospects together with Sylvester Stallone, Kim Kardashian and Megan Fox.

Mercedes didn’t present an replace on the electrical G-Class’s anticipated vary.

Bloomberg contributed to this report