At CES 2026, Finnish startup Donut Lab went one step further and unveiled what it calls the first solid electrolyte battery ready for mass production.
The company said the battery is ready for OEM deployment and will first appear in Verge Motorcycles’ production bikes, specifically the TS Pro and Ultra models. If these announcements are fulfilled in practice, it would be an important moment for electrification, as solid electrolyte technology would move from the laboratory to mass production for the first time.
Donut Lab states that the battery offers an energy density of 400 Wh/kg, which enables lower mass, greater autonomy and significantly greater freedom in vehicle design. One of the key claims is extremely fast charging as the battery, according to the company, can be charged in just five minutes, without the need to limit charging to 80 percent capacity.
Donut Lab claims that the solid electrolyte battery is ready for real use
Unlike classic lithium-ion batteries, this solid electrolyte battery has minimal capacity degradation and a designed service life of as many as 100,000 charge and discharge cycles. Without liquid electrolyte, without thermal uncontrolled heating and without the formation of metal dendrites, Donut Lab claims that the causes of battery ignition are completely eliminated.
The company adds that the batteries have been tested in extreme conditions. At temperatures up to -30 °C, they retain more than 99% of their capacity, while at temperatures above 100 °C they also remain stable, without signs of ignition or degradation.
When it comes to costs, Donut Lab states that the battery uses widely available and cheap materials, without relying on rare or geopolitically sensitive elements, and that it can be cheaper to manufacture than classic lithium-ion solutions. However, the company has not yet revealed the exact composition of the cells.
According to reports from CES 2026, a single battery unit is about the size of a large smartphone and is extremely light, making it suitable for use in drones. In motorcycles, several such batteries are combined into 5 kWh modules, which are then installed in the frame of the vehicle.
Verge electric motorcycles equipped with this technology can reportedly be charged in 10 minutes, with each minute of charging providing up to 60 kilometers of combined range, while extended-range versions offer up to 600 kilometers on a single charge.
At the same time, Donut Lab announced cooperation with the WATTEV company on the development of ultra-light modular electric vehicles, combining its own technology of electric motors and batteries with solid electrolyte.
Company CEO Marko Lehtimäki says that Donut Lab did not want to talk about this technology until it has been fully tested and installed in real vehicles. According to him, batteries with a solid electrolyte are no longer a promise of the future, but a technology ready for serial application today.