Donut Lab alleged Solid State Battery launched at CES 2026

[Randy222]

So the company was lying and milking in investor money all the time, and not shipping. Damn I thought you were talking about Elon Musk and Tesla for a moment. Did you check if Donut was getting 60% of their profits from subsidies like Tesla?, that would be funny.

I don't see what all the drama is about when this is par for the course for most businesses.

Most dont know where Elon companies get money from. A large share is taxpayer money.

Drama, ? All this donut talk is making me hungry.

[kiko_kikkou]

Is it just me or do goobers forget all the highlights? VTT is real entity and u cant fabricate their results. Now we just need to wait another 3000000000 billion weeks for the right test results, stay patient i guess

[EEVblog]

I've gotta say, the IDoNutBelieve campaign is one of the best PR campaigns I've ever seen. 10/10

[SteveThackery]

Part of me wants the whole thing to be "true". Part of me wants a tinpot outfit to have beaten the industry giants and to have produced a solid-state battery that really is as good in every way as they claim it to be, and ready to go in 2026.

Part of me wants to see the industry giants shaken to the core. Part of me wants to see the vast number of cynics eat their words. Part of me wants to see the massive shockwaves arising from a major breakthrough in one of the most important technologies of this century.

Just think: if it were all true the implications would be massive - would you not want to witness and live through that?

Part of me - the biggest part of me - realises that the chances of this becoming true are vanishingly small.

[ejeffrey]

Part of me wants the whole thing to be "true".

Sure, everyone wants it to be true.  That's why the scam works.

But if they had what they claim it would take 2 minutes to prove and they would have the world banging down their doors -- not for more data and not to invest, but to place giant orders worth billions of dollars.  Well cycle life would take longer than two minutes but they could have run thousands of cycles since their first "test".  They could have been continuously live streamng tihe power supply going through load cycles.

Hell if their claims hold up, it's likely that in the near future lithium NMC batteries could be banned in some applications.  Lithium ion fires are rare but serious enough that if there were a replacement that worked as well or better but was significantly safer there would be little reason to keep using them.

Based on their actions either they have nothing at all or they have something  with a few minor advantages that come with serious tradeoffs.

[Bud]

I've gotta say, the IDoNutBelieve campaign is one of the best PR campaigns I've ever seen. 10/10

So true !

Marko Lehtimäki announced that the battery variant tested in the previous videos is not even the final version, and that a 2.0 variant will actually start production by the end of the year. However, that would be the subject of another video series, which Donut Lab CEO teased as "season 2" of the I Donut Believe campaign.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/donut-lab-looks-more-and-more-like-a-scam-as-it-fails-to-prove-it-produced-a-solid-state-battery-267955.html

[ejeffrey]

Marko Lehtimäki announced that the battery variant tested in the previous videos is not even the final version, and that a 2.0 variant will actually start production by the end of the year. However, that would be the subject of another video series, which Donut Lab CEO teased as "season 2" of the I Donut Believe campaign.

The charlie brown football gag never gets old.

[Electrodynamic]

Part of me wants the whole thing to be "true". Part of me wants a tinpot outfit to have beaten the industry giants and to have produced a solid-state battery that really is as good in every way as they claim it to be, and ready to go in 2026.

Part of me wants to see the industry giants shaken to the core. Part of me wants to see the vast number of cynics eat their words. Part of me wants to see the massive shockwaves arising from a major breakthrough in one of the most important technologies of this century.

Just think: if it were all true the implications would be massive - would you not want to witness and live through that?

Part of me - the biggest part of me - realises that the chances of this becoming true are vanishingly small.

Indeed and much of the harsh criticism seems to rely on the crab effect. More so when we have become a culture of comparison. So rather than raise others up we tend to drag them down. In effect, if not us then nobody.

Many others are saying, if they have the technology why not prove it?. Which reminds me of the saying, what is proof when the proof is unacceptable?. The most common theme is outright denial, it could be true then claiming they had the same idea last summer only better.

Science and technology seems much easier to understand that human nature imo.

[Randy222]

I've gotta say, the IDoNutBelieve campaign is one of the best PR campaigns I've ever seen. 10/10

That Nikola ev truck rolling down the hill via gravity was a nifty PR ad. It fooled everyone, until some beans fell out.

[EEVblog]

Marko Lehtimäki announced that the battery variant tested in the previous videos is not even the final version, and that a 2.0 variant will actually start production by the end of the year. However, that would be the subject of another video series, which Donut Lab CEO teased as "season 2" of the I Donut Believe campaign.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/donut-lab-looks-more-and-more-like-a-scam-as-it-fails-to-prove-it-produced-a-solid-state-battery-267955.html
[/quote]

Who could have possibly predicted they drag this out forever! I'm shocked! 

[EEVblog]

Part of me wants the whole thing to be "true".

Sure, everyone wants it to be true.  That's why the scam works.

But if they had what they claim it would take 2 minutes to prove and they would have the world banging down their doors -- not for more data and not to invest, but to place giant orders worth billions of dollars.  Well cycle life would take longer than two minutes but they could have run thousands of cycles since their first "test".  They could have been continuously live streamng tihe power supply going through load cycles.

And gave the ebikes using the battery to a dozen Youtube review channels for a week and tell them to have at it.
If you can't produce a few dozens of these prototype batteries to shop around demos like that, then you've got nothing.

[EEVblog]

Based on their actions either they have nothing at all or they have something  with a few minor advantages that come with serious tradeoffs.

Reminds me of the Batteriser. Countless people said it was a scam, but I said they'd deliver and ultimately they did, and it was actually quite well engineered. It just never met the ridiculous marketing claims, not even close.

In the case of Donut, I think it's the latter. They have something, but it ultimately won't ever live up to the claims. And making a production battery at scale is not trivial. If I had to bet, I'd bet that it just quietly fades away into nothing after a few years.

[Simmed]

currently the SSD prices are way high
and then just like the donut lab battery
you spot a $50buck offer for 1TB
no way
this cannot be true
 

come to think of it
someone must have already bought a test vehicle no ?
i suppose they have NDA for buying 1 ?
you are not allowed to post reviews ?
 

[EEVblog]

someone must have already bought a test vehicle no ?
i suppose they have NDA for buying 1 ?
you are not allowed to post reviews ?

There is no doubt that anyone who gets their hands physically on one of these will either be under NDA, or under contract not to physically dismantle it or remove the battery from the bike and subject it to your own testing.

[kiko_kikkou]

davie why u think there are always 3000 people waiting for the video to go live? cus half of them are contracted to obtain it and take a glimpse inside

also stop spamming dave, u can quote multiple people in one post, i might take moderative action against u if u continue

jokes jokes i hope u likes it im gonna hide under AUKUS now.

[SteveThackery]

It looks like BYD has been panicked into making bullshit statements about their solid state batteries:

https://carnewschina.com/2026/04/08/byd-chief-scientist-solid-state-battery-at-critical-breakthrough-stage-while-commercialisation-constrained/

[Randy222]

From the online chitter.

Chery's solid-state battery claims are currently viewed as more credible and grounded in industrial reality than Donut Lab's, which have been widely labeled as contradictory or potentially a scam by industry experts.

Chery, along with other major Chinese manufacturers like Geely, CATL, and BYD, is actively developing and testing all-solid-state batteries with energy densities approaching 600 Wh/kg, with prototypes already undergoing winter testing.  In contrast, Donut Lab claims a 400 Wh/kg density with 100,000 cycles and 5-minute charging, but these specifications have been rejected by Chinese battery giants like Svolt Energy, whose CEO stated, "That battery doesn't exist in the world," citing contradictory parameters.

[LogicDude]

There is definitely a race to release a solid-state battery with full volume production capacity for the automotive industry.  It takes a long time to get approval and designed-in to an electric vehicle so it's hard to know when everything will go mainstream.  2027?  2028?  2029?

If you are optimistic you can look back at history for fairly quick technology changeovers.  From the videocassette to the DVD, from CRT televisions to flat-screen televisions, from dumb phones to smartphones.

Hopefully sooner than later.  The stakes are high.  I don't see Donut Lab being in the running at all.

[jheissjr]

What approvals do car and electronic manufactures need to use a new battery?

[LogicDude]

It's a long and exhaustive process to get a part designed into an automobile.  The auto industry is very conservative and will go through a very long and stringent procedure to eventually approve a part for mass production.  They can't afford part recalls, the possible danger to the public, and adverse publicity if they make a mistake.  To get a battery designed-in to an electric vehicle might take a year or more.

[jheissjr]

Does anyone know why Don't Believe didn't publish a video today and miss their Monday new video schedule?

[Siwastaja]

What approvals do car and electronic manufactures need to use a new battery?

At least in EU, none. Consumer electronics and cars are all self-certified products - no official approvals. Of course there are standards one "needs" to follow - even then, most of the details are not 100% binding if you can show equivalent safety, and large manufacturers of course are good at this. And whenever something is new and doesn't fall into the scope of the existing standards, it gives more freedom, not the other way.

Basically, large manufacturers can and will do whatever they want.

[ftg]

The CCO of Nordic Nano Group, Lauri Peltola has opened a criminal case against Donut Lab with the Finnish Police.
Due to Donut Lab's misleading or untrue statements.

Paywalled article in Finnish here:
https://www.hs.fi/visio/art-2000011948614.html

Helsingin Sanomat (HS) is the largest news paper in Finland and is generally considered reliable, they are not yellow press.

So it looks like Nordic Nano is doing damage control due to them being in the blast radius of the Donut Circus.

[jheissjr]

The COO of the company that manufactures the batteries says Donut Lab overstates their battery and are misleading investors. Do investors get to see technical info unreleased to the public before investing to make their investing decision?

[Bud]

according to the emails viewed by HS, CT-Coating had abandoned development on that cell in favor of a one still in early development, despite Donut Lab’s claim in January that it had a technology ready to enter mass production.

https://www.engadget.com/transportation/donut-labs-battery-claims-reportedly-subject-of-whistleblower-complaint-142133269.html