2022 Canadians to Watch

CHOSEN BECAUSE:

Li-Metal is chasing what has been described as the holy grail of electric vehicle batteries.

Maciej Jastrzebski, 40, launched the Toronto-based firm little more than three and a half years ago with the initial aim of lowering the cost of producing lithium metal, a material

that holds the potential to double the range of next-generation EVs.

But as the company refined its metal-production process, it also uncovered a cheap way to make high-performance anodes for the negative side of a battery cell.

“We’re trying to position ourselves as having a technology leadership position we can leverage as the demand starts to take shape,” Jastrzebski said. “And people underestimate how quickly it will come, just like they underestimated how quickly EVs would reach mass adoption and the rest of the supply chain would have to scramble to catch up.”

Targeting the market’s midstream, between mining companies and battery-cell makers, Li-Metal is currently scaling up its process for producing both lithium metal and thin, customizable anodes.

IN HIS OWN WORDS:

“It’s going to be a very interesting decade from a battery perspective. If you thought the last decade was interesting with all the development on the cathode side, now you have development on both ends.”