The 2021 Edison Awards gala was held in Fort Meyers, Florida on Thursday, April 22. Solid-state battery maker ProLogium has been awarded a bronze award. ProLogium has been selected as a finalist for the category of Critical Human Infrastructure. The three finalists in the subcategory are all outstanding examples of utilizing technology innovation as a means to promote safety and efficiency of electricity use.

ProLogium is chosen for its proprietary ASM (Active Safety Mechanism) technology designed for battery safety. Winners are decided the votes of 3,000 senior industry leaders, making the award a truly special honor. Founded in 1987, the Edison Awards is an annual celebration of innovative technology highlighting excellent inventions for the betterment of human life. ProLogium is the only solid-state battery company in the world that has been recognized two times in the Awards’ history.

Back in 2019, ProLogium won its first Edison Gold Award for its patented BiPolar+ technology. The BiPolar+ technology took solid-state battery performance to a whole new level, while the ASM technology guarantees absolute safety. This signifies another major step forward for the application of solid-state battery in EV cars.

Why did ProLogium want to develop the ASM technology for the market?
Absolute safety can only be achieved when battery safety is assured at the cell level. Unsafe cells can lead to risk of thermal runaway even when the module is well protected. Solid-state battery is intrinsically safe because of its use of solid-state electrolyte. This means passive safety is guaranteed.

However, when large quantities of electrodes and cells are densely packed and stacked, innovative technology is needed to enable active safety. The ASM, or Active Safety Mechanism, is a technology developed by ProLogium that actively terminates the thermal runaway reaction and ensures the safety of battery cells. The ASM is unlike any other active safety mechanism that came before it.
We have seen mechanisms using flame retardant to reduce combustion, or adding additives to slow down the electrochemistry and delay thermal runaway.However, these methods will inevitably hinder battery performance. That is why ProLogium decided to take a more fundamental approach and develop a mechanism that reduces energy and prevents the possibility of thermal runaway.

“We believe that ASM is the only way to absolute safety for EV and ESS battery. With the ASM technology, we are able to fulfill our commitment to battery safety. We hope to combine the ASM with the MAB, ProLogium’s propriety modular technology, and introduce our battery module to the market, so that we can help automotive OEMs as well as customers with needs for large-capacity battery packs to optimize their product performance and eliminate any risk of fire or explosion.In other words, we can make truly safe battery with excellent mileage capacity and usher in a new era for solid-state battery.” CEO of ProLogium, Vincent Yang said in an interview.

As stated by Martin Eberhard, cofounder, original CEO and chairman of Tesla, “ProLogium’s solid-state electrolyte battery technology is the most exciting new development I have seen in this field. The combination of safety, aging characteristics, fast charge rate, and bipolar packaging, all without sacrifice energy density, and at a competitive price, make ProLogium cells the best I have seen for automotive applications.”