Donut Lab Says Its Solid-State Battery Ends Range Anxiety. Hype or Reality?

If there is a single psychological hurdle stalling the complete takeover of electric vehicles, it isn’t just cost – it is ‘range anxiety’. The persistent fear of running dry in the countryside, or the frustration of waiting hours at a charging station while a petrol/diesel engine car zooms past, remains a serious deterrent.

At CES 2026, Finnish startup Donut Lab took the stage to announce that this era is over. Their claim? They have achieved the industry’s “Holy Grail”: a production-ready, all-solid-state battery.

The announcement was thick with superlatives: “No compromises,” “Infinite life,” and “Instant charging.” If true, the internal combustion engine (ICE) is indeed now a relic of the past. However, in an industry famous for vapourware and PowerPoint engineering, such big claims require extraordinary scrutiny. A YouTube comment at the top of the announcement video puts this better: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”.

Let’s look into this announcement with a little more scrutiny.

The “No Compromise” Vision:

For decades, battery design has been stuck in a ‘Pick Two’ trap: Energy Density (range), Fast Charging (speed), and Safety. Because of how battery chemistry works, pushing for two of these features almost always ruins the third. You could have a long-range battery that charges slowly, or a fast-charging battery with less range, but getting all three at once has been the industry’s ‘impossible’ goal.

Marko Lehtimäki, CEO of Donut Lab, opened the presentation by dismantling this accepted reality. He explicitly distinguished the “Donut Battery” as a true all-solid-state system. This is a critical distinction. Many competitors, to bridge the gap, use “semi-solid” or hybrid solutions that still contain gel or liquid components.

The Analogy: The Wet Sponge vs. The Stone To understand why this matters, imagine a traditional lithium-ion battery as a wet sponge. The liquid inside allows ions (energy) to move freely and quickly, but that liquid is flammable and sensitive to heat. If you squeeze it too hard (fast charge), it heats up. If you puncture it, it leaks or burns.

Donut Lab claims to have turned that sponge into a stone (solid electrolyte).

• The Benefit: A stone doesn’t leak. It doesn’t catch fire. It is incredibly dense.
• The Historical Problem: It is very hard to move energy through a stone quickly. Ions get stuck. This is why solid-state batteries have historically been safe but slow to charge.

Lehtimäki claims they have solved this conductivity problem, allowing ions to move through the solid material faster than they do through liquid.

Donut Battery’s Impossible Specifications:

The numbers presented are staggering. They read less like a spec sheet and more like a wish list for the perfect energy storage device. Let’s break them down, applying the necessary scepticism and citing the data.

1. Energy Density: 400 Wh/kg

Donut Lab claims a gravimetric energy density of 400 Wh/kg.

• The Context: This is roughly double the density of standard lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) packs found in many entry-level EVs.
• The Implication: This allows manufacturers two distinct paths. They can either double a car’s range (1,000 km on a single charge) or, more likely, halve the battery size to maintain current ranges. This would drastically reduce vehicle weight, improving handling and efficiency.
• Reality Check & Source: This figure is plausible. While high, it matches the targets set by major industry players. For instance, Sunwoda announced a 400 Wh/kg cell in late 2025, and Samsung SDI has demonstrated similar prototypes. Donut Lab is on the cutting edge here, but their claim is consistent with the current ceiling of battery science.

2. The 5-Minute Charge:

Here is where the eyebrows rise. Donut Lab claims their cells can charge from zero to full in just five minutes.

• The Claim: Unlike lithium-ion batteries, which must taper (slow down) charging after 80% to prevent overheating, Donut claims a linear charge to 100%.
• The Physics Hurdle: Charging a 100kWh car battery in 5 minutes requires a power delivery of roughly 1.2 Megawatts.
  • To put that in context: A standard Tesla Supercharger V3 delivers about 250kW. This claim requires five times that power.
  • Even if the battery can take it, the charging cable would need to be as thick as a drainpipe or liquid-cooled to cryogenic temperatures to stop it from melting.
• Reality Check & Source: This is technically possible but logistically unlikely. While Top Gear’s coverage notes the company’s claim of a 5-minute charge, engineering discussions highlight that dendrite formation at such high currents remains a massive risk. Furthermore, research indicates that current solid-state prototypes typically manage fast charging in closer to 10 minutes, suggesting the 5-minute figure may be a “best case” lab scenario rather than a real-world norm.

3. Longevity: The 100,000 Cycle Claim

Perhaps the boldest claim is the lifespan: 100,000 charge cycles.

• The Math: If a car has a 300-mile range, 100,000 cycles equals 30 million miles.
• The Reality Check: This is effectively immortality. The car’s chassis will rust, the upholstery will rot, and the electric motors will seize long before the battery degrades.
• Reality Check & Source: According to extensive data from Geotab’s analysis of 10,000 vehicles, modern EV batteries degrade at roughly 1.8% per year. Most retain over 80% health well beyond 150,000 miles. Donut Lab’s claim of 100,000 cycles matches the most optimistic laboratory results reported for emerging Zinc-ion technology, which is the only other chemistry to boast such figures.
• The Real Value: The value here isn’t for driving; it’s for the Grid. A car with this battery could plug into the house and power the home every night for 50 years. It transforms the vehicle into a permanent energy asset.

Donut’s Proof:

In an industry rife with “vapourware,” Donut Lab brought a physical proof of concept. The video introduction featured Spencer from Verge Motorcycles, revealing that the Verge TS Pro is the first production vehicle powered by this technology.

However, a critical thinker must look at the relationship here. Verge Motorcycles and Donut Lab are not strangers. While presented as a partnership, the two are inextricably linked by blood and ownership. As detailed by InsightEV, the companies are run by the Lehtimäki brothers (Tuomo runs Verge, Marko runs Donut). Furthermore, Donut Lab was explicitly spun out of Verge as a subsidiary in 2024 to commercialise their internal tech. This is not Ford or Toyota independently validating the technology; it is, in many ways, an “in-house” validation loop.

That said, the integration into the Verge TS Pro translates these high-level specs into tangible performance:

• Charging: Slashed from 35 minutes to under 10 minutes. (Note: The system throttles the theoretical 5-minute – for some reason not stated in the video).
• Range: A new “Ultra” variant boasts a real-world range of up to 600 km
• Availability: Customers in the US and Europe with existing orders will reportedly receive an automatic upgrade, with deliveries slated for Q1 2026.

This timeline is the ultimate truth-teller. If customers are riding these bikes in June 2026, the revolution is real. If delays occur, the scepticism will solidify.

The Donut Ecosystem: Vertical Integration

It became clear during the announcement that Donut Lab is positioning itself as more than just a component supplier. They are selling a vertically integrated “Donut Platform” designed to allow other manufacturers to build EVs rapidly.

Based on their technical architecture, the platform consists of four distinct pillars:

1. The Donut Motor: The doughnut-shaped, hubless in-wheel motor that eliminates the need for axles, gears, or belts.
2. The Donut Battery: The new solid-state pack described above, designed to be structural and modular.
3. Donut Control & OS: A centralised “brain” and software stack that manages the interplay between the motor and battery.
4. The EV Skateboard: Through a strategic partnership with Watt Electric Vehicles, Donut Lab offers a pre-validated aluminium “skateboard” chassis. This allows OEMs to simply drop a body shell on top of the Donut powertrain.

The Application Layer To prove this platform works, Donut Lab showcased specific commercial applications (which are users of the platform, not parts of it):

• Verge Motorcycles: The primary “halo” product demonstrating performance.
• Cova Power: A joint venture focused on heavy transport. They use the Donut Platform to build smart trailers that assist diesel trucks, reportedly reducing fuel consumption by up to 54%.

The Unanswered Questions

Despite the excitement, significant nuances demand scrutiny.

1. The Chemistry Mystery Donut Lab speaks proudly of “green, abundant materials,” but they have not released the specific chemical composition of their solid electrolyte or anode. Is it sulphide-based? Oxide-based? Polymer? Without peer-reviewed data or third-party teardowns, the scientific community remains in the dark. See: Reddit Engineering Discussion on Lack of Patents

2. The Cost Paradox Lehtimäki claims the battery is cheaper to produce than lithium-ion.

• The Conflict: Solid-state manufacturing has historically been orders of magnitude more expensive due to the difficulty of processing solid electrolytes at scale. It requires clean-room environments and high pressure.
• Reality Check & Source: While Donut Lab claims parity, general scientific consensus holds that solid-state batteries currently face massive cost barriers in mass production. If Donut Lab has solved this, that achievement is arguably bigger than the battery itself. Yet, no detailed cost breakdowns were provided.

3. Extreme Temperature Claims The battery is claimed to retain over 99% of its capacity at both -30°C and over 100°C, a performance level that far exceeds the temperature dependence reported for current solid‑state and lithium‑ion systems in peer‑reviewed studies, which show meaningful degradation at temperature extremes rather than near‑perfect retention. While solid‑state chemistry is theoretically better at resisting cold than liquid electrolytes, published research typically shows substantial improvement, not perfection across such a wide range, and even advanced prototypes like Sunwoda’s report around 80% capacity retention at -20°C rather than 99% at -30°C.

The Verdict: Cautious Optimism

If these claims hold up to independent testing, the implications are profound.

• A 5-minute charge removes the need for overnight charging infrastructure, making EVs viable for apartment dwellers who rely on street parking.
• 100,000-cycle life stabilises renewable energy networks by turning cars into distributed storage.
• Non-flammability rewrites safety standards, potentially removing heavy armour plating from car designs.

Donut Lab has promised the world the future, and they claim it is shipping today. However, until a neutral third party – be it a major automotive publication or a certification body – tears one of these packs apart and validates the data, we must remain vigilant.

The future might just be here. The true test comes when the data is verifiable!