Steve Sheridan interviews Marko Lehtimäki, Co-founder and CEO of Donut Lab, about their production-ready solid-state battery designed to integrate into several platforms and applications.
The Donut battery has a high energy density of 400 Wh/kg and can support 100,000 charge cycles. Due to its solid-state design, it is extremely safe and low cost when compared to liquid electrolyte batteries such as lithium-ion.
Marko showed the Verge TS Pro motorcycle, which includes the Donut battery that powers a Donut rim motor. The frictionless rim motor drives the rear wheel and delivers high efficiency, power, and torque. Using the Donut battery and motor, the TS Pro provides 737 lb-ft of torque, achieves 0 – 60 mph in 3.5 sec, and has a range of 370 miles on a single charge.
Marko also showed Donut’s WattEV ultra-lightweight skateboard platform. It is a modular platform that supports multiple vehicle types and includes an aluminum architecture, integrated motors, inverters, software, and battery.
Learn more at https://www.donutlab.com/
Using a Screen Reader? click here
Transcript of Interview
Steve: I’m here with Makco Letimachi at the Donut Lab booth, and I heard an announcement yesterday by your company that was just fantastic. I’m very interested in your technology, so I’d like you to explain a little bit of how it works when incorporated into this Verge motorcycle.
Marko: Sure. Verge TS Pro already uses our motors. It’s an in‑wheel motor — a rim motor, as we call it.
Steve: I heard the term “hubless.”
Marko: Yes, it’s a hubless rim motor. Normally an in‑wheel motor is in the hub, but this is in the rim. That gives much more power and torque because the materials are at a larger radius. This motor produces 1,000 newton‑meters of torque and up to 200 horsepower in our ultra model.
Steve: That’s a lot of horsepower. Can I ask how this is implemented? The point of rotation is between these two pieces?
Marko: Exactly. The stationary part is here, and the rotating part is this.
Steve: Is there any physical contact, or is it magnetically separated?
Marko: It’s magnetically separated. No physical friction, only magnetic.
Steve: That helps with performance.
Marko: Yes. It’s extremely efficient — instant torque and high power. About three times more torque and power per kilogram than the next best motor. On a motorcycle, anywhere.
Steve: Impressive. These three large electrical cables provide power to the motor?
Marko: Yes. The battery is up front — actually the whole bottom part of the vehicle. Since the motor is in the wheel, we can use all the space for the battery.
Steve: Can we talk about battery capacity?
Marko: There are two variants: 20 kWh, and a 33.3 kWh version announced yesterday — about 350 miles of range.
Steve: On a single charge?
Marko: Yes. And it’s a solid‑state battery. This is the first vehicle shipping to customers with a solid‑state battery.
Steve: That enables very fast charging.
Marko: Less than 10 minutes from zero to full, versus about 35 minutes previously. Cycle life is 100,000 cycles — effectively dozens of lifetimes.
Steve: Practically speaking, what chargers can you use?
Marko: NACS in the U.S. You can use Tesla chargers.
Steve: Max charge rate?
Marko: Around 200 kW.
Steve: That’s Tesla‑class. Now the solid‑state tech — power density?
Marko: 400 Wh/kg. Cell‑level charging can be as fast as five minutes. It also works from 200°F down to −30°F with ~99% capacity.
Steve: No preconditioning?
Marko: None. You can charge from 0% to 100% without degradation.
Steve: That’s impressive. Can you share details of the chemistry?
Marko: I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you. So no — it’s proprietary.
Steve: Fair enough. Safety compared to lithium‑ion?
Marko: No thermal runaway. You can puncture the cell and it won’t ignite. That’s important for vehicles, grid storage, and home batteries.
Steve: Beyond motorcycles, where else is this used?
Marko: We supply a modular skateboard platform to over 200 OEMs — commercial vehicles, sports cars, marine, drones, grid balancing, charging stations.
Steve: Sounds like demand is high.
Marko: Very. We’ve already had over 1,000 OEM inquiries. We’re at gigawatt‑hour scale now and moving to tens of gigawatt‑hours next year.
Steve: Fantastic. Marco, it’s been a pleasure.
Marko: Thank you very much.