Hi r/technology! I’m Gene Berdichevsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Sila, a next-gen battery materials company. My journey in battery innovation began as the 7th employee at Tesla, helping lead the development of the Roadster battery, the world’s first safe, mass-produced lithium-ion battery system for EVs.

At Tesla, I realized that conventional lithium-ion batteries had reached their energy limits, due to the use of graphite anodes. The lack of progress in lithium-ion battery performance is a major barrier to improvements in EV range, charge time, and cost—critical factors for mass adoption. I knew there had to be a better solution, and at Sila we engineered one. Using silicon as an anode material has been the holy grail within battery innovation circles because of its ability to store 10x more charge than graphite. However, the powerful properties of silicon were hard to tame for safe, commercial use in batteries. After more than a decade of research, we cracked the code.

We introduced the first next-gen battery material to the market. Our anode, Titan Silicon, boosts energy density by 20-40% to enable smaller, more powerful batteries. Our tech debuted in the Whoop 4.0 fitness tracker and is now powering multiple devices. We recently launched a Battery Engineering Service to help device manufacturers bring ambitious product innovations to the market, powered by next-gen battery performance.

Designing batteries for cars—a “computer on four wheels”—taught me how to create batteries that can power major platform shifts. Now, I’m applying these principles at Sila to address the growing demands of consumer electronics, a fast-evolving market driven by AI and AR. As brands race to market, battery design has become a critical focus in product development. If battery life falls short, consumers will switch brands, making battery performance a top priority.

Ask me anything about silicon anode technology, designing batteries for new products, or how we’re working to ensure that battery life is not left behind in the wave of power-hungry devices embedded with AI and AR. I’ll be here until 10am PT to answer your questions!

My proof: https://imgur.com/a/LXeppqw

*edit 10:30am -- hopping off now and will check back in later to tackle a few more questions! so if anythings pressing, feel free to drop your question below. thanks everyone for the great questions and conversation!!