Chris Burns, no stranger to battery start-ups, returns to his cathode research roots after purchasing Novonix’s Canadian assets for US$1

Nova Scotia is bringing a  cathode battery technology company back home, led by a familiar face.

Chris Burns, former CEO and co-founder of Novonix, an Australian-headquartered producer of synthetic graphite for use in lithium-ion batteries, is bringing his battery technology expertise back to Nova Scotia with his latest venture, Dryve.

The company is the result of a divestiture by Novonix, which sold its Canadian assets to Burns for US$1 and a 15 per cent stake in Dryve. The move is part of Novonix’s larger strategy to focus its business on large-scale synthetic graphite, which it mostly produces in the U.S.

Novonix is also seeding Dryve with US$2 million in working capital.

“Dryve is built to fundamentally simplify how cathode materials are made,” says Chris Burns, founder and CEO of Dryve, in a press release.

“Spinning out as an independent company allows us to move faster, stay focused, and build the right partnerships to scale this technology globally.”

What will Dryve do?

Dryve’s initial business goal is to scale technology to commercialize “a patented, dry, pCAM-free synthesis platform for lithium-ion cathode materials, enabling a more efficient, lower-cost, and scalable approach to cathode manufacturing,” according to the company’s website.

Its facilities in Dartmouth, N.S., are validated to produce up to 100 tonnes of dry pCAM-free cathode material per year. The company considers this pilot-scale production.

The “dry” part of Dryve’s production process means it doesn’t use solvents in the manufacturing process, which greatly shrinks environmental impact and cost-intensity.

“Our dry, pCAM-free synthesis platform eliminates conventional precursor steps and enables a more efficient, lower-cost, and scalable path to cathode production,” says Burns.

Dryve estimates those savings to be in the range of a 30 per cent reduction in capital expense intensity, 50 per cent lower processing costs and 27 per cent lower power consumption.

The starting line-up

Dryve is still a pre-revenue company and has just 16 employees.

In addition to Burns, Dryve’s management team includes other ex-Novonix employees. Stephanie Reid is now Dryve’s VP of operations, while Mark McArthur is Dryve’s director of technology.

Dryve’s chief scientific advisor remains Jeff Dahn, Burns’ esteemed Dalhousie University professor, who is globally recognized as the godfather of lithium-ion batteries and a long-time mentor and champion of his former student.