EQONIC Group, a London-based battery developer, has confirmed aluminium as the core chemistry of its lithium-free, sodium-free, rare-earth-free battery technology. The company targets £50/kWh manufactured costs at scale and is moving toward industrial validation. EQONIC was selected for the UK government’s £452 million Battery Innovation Programme in June 2026.
UK battery developer EQONIC Group, based in London, has confirmed that aluminium is the core material behind its lithium-free, sodium-free and rare-earth-free battery technology, defining both the chemistry and architecture of the system.
The company says the technology targets material costs of 30% of those associated with traditional lithium metal batteries. EQONIC is now moving the aluminium-based composite from laboratory development into industrial-scale testing, a phase intended to prove manufacturability, performance and reliability at the volumes required for commercial production.
According to EQONIC, aluminium is one of the most abundant metals in the earth’s crust and is available through established supply chains, unlike lithium, sodium and rare earth materials, which the company says are subject to cost volatility, geopolitical tension and export restrictions. EQONIC adds that the chemistry is non-flammable, removing the thermal runaway risk associated with fires in some conventional battery systems. The company is targeting a manufactured cost of £50 per kilowatt-hour ($63/kWh) at scale, which it says is roughly half the industry average.
According to Jas Kandola, founder and chief executive at EQONIC, the company had said it would reveal its chemistry once ready to move to the next stage. “Aluminium-based chemistry gives us everything we set out to achieve – material abundancy, high-levels of safety and low cost – without the trade-offs that lithium, sodium and rare earth materials carry,” Kandola says. “Confirming the chemistry is one part of the story; progressing towards industrial validation is the part that matters most, and that’s exactly where our focus is now.”
The chemistry confirmation follows a series of announcements from EQONIC this year. In February, the company appointed John Saunders as executive director, bringing banking, regulatory and legal experience from Coutts, Barclays, UBS, Monument Bank and Deutsche Bank, and named Angela Knight CBE as non-executive director, with governance experience from Taylor Wimpey, Arbuthnot Banking Group and the British Bankers’ Association.
In May, EQONIC agreed a collaboration with Barton Knight Group, a NICEIC-approved electrical contractor, to jointly supply, install and maintain battery storage and renewable energy systems in the UK. In June, EQONIC was selected for the UK government’s £452 million ($554 million) Battery Innovation Programme, delivered by Innovate UK and supported by the Department for Business and Trade, to develop a digital twin of its manufacturing process.
