FREMONT-BASED ENOVIX SEEKS REVOLUTION IN BATTERIES, PREPS PUBLIC STOCK LAUNCH. Tech firm says mega players in consumer electronics hunger for its batteries:

Fremont-based Enovix also has begun to scout for an existing facility that could be re-tooled as a second manufacturing center in addition to the company’s existing production facilities in the East Bay.

This new center would likely be located outside California. But the new site would be an expansion of manufacturing and wouldn’t replace the existing factory line in Fremont.

What’s more, Enovix is hiring more workers in Fremont, according to the company.

All of these endeavors are being fueled by a core Enovix goal: Revolutionize the advanced battery sector.

“We are trying to completely disrupt the lithium battery industry,” said Harrold Rust, Enovix’s chief executive officer and co-founder. “The idea is to reinvent a product that hasn’t changed in 30 years.”

Enovix claims that it has crafted a battery that is more compact and can hold a considerably greater charge than conventional batteries. The materials in the battery are stacked and not wound, which reduces the size. The key material is silicon rather than conventional graphite.

“We are trying to put the silicon back in Silicon Valley,” Rust said.

First released by Sony in 1991, lithium-ion batteries have applications that include electric vehicles, laptop computers, phones, smartwatches, and tablets.

“We want our batteries to be a made-in-America product,” Rust said. “We are trying to do this in Silicon Valley.”

More power (pardon the pun) to them. As James Lileks once wrote, “This really is the future I wanted. Although I expected longer battery life.”

(Via PJM alum Michael Malone.)