In our recent interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Gopi Latpate, a dynamic entrepreneur and co-founder of Capattery, a cutting-edge material science company specializing in cost-effective, high quality and scalable graphene production. Gopi shared his journey from a successful IT entrepreneur to a key player in the startup ecosystem, having invested in over 40 companies globally. His latest venture, Capattery, emerged from his fascination with the potential of graphene, a wonder material known for its exceptional conductivity and strength.
Gopi’s background is rooted in chemical engineering and information systems, which provided a unique foundation for his transition into the world of advanced materials. In the battery ecosystem. Capattery’s focus is on solving the three major challenges: reducing charging time, extending battery lifespan, and enhancing safety. By replacing graphite with graphene in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, Capattery is pushing the boundaries of battery performance while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
During the interview, Gopi highlighted the significant advantages of graphene, including its ability to charge batteries faster, improve longevity, and withstand higher temperatures, which addresses common issues like overheating in current batteries. He also emphasized the importance of overcoming misconceptions about graphene, as many still see it as a material limited to lab-scale applications. Gopi is determined to demonstrate the commercial viability of graphene, not just in batteries but also in concrete and solar panel applications, where it shows tremendous promise.
As a Nevada-based startup, Gopi is proud to contribute to the state’s growing ecosystem of innovation. He sees Capattery as a potential hub for advanced materials and technologies and calls for support from the local community and industry to embrace graphene’s potential.
Gopi’s message is clear: Nevada is on the cusp of something great, and with the right support, Capattery could lead the charge in revolutionizing industries with the power of graphene. We are thrilled to have Gopi and his team as part of the Nevada Battery coalition, and look forward to supporting their continued success.
Interview Transcript:
Caleb Cage: Help introduce yourself to our membership. Tell us about yourself and your background.
Gopi Latpate: So, I’m a Vegas resident in two different tranches between 2004 to 2008 and then 2018 to now.
And, you know, between that period, I basically built IT software, IT services and products company called ValuD Consulting LLC and got it sold to JLL, Jones Lang Lasalle, one of the Fortune 500 companies in 2018. This company was 100% bootstrapped. And since then, You know, I moved to Vegas again that time and then since then pretty much into the startup ecosystem as an investor. Early stage startups, that’s what I’ve been an investor and then been an investor in quite a number of things, 40 odd companies or all in different segments here locally and internationally as well.
So the company which I’m right now, a co-founder, Capattery, is an offshoot from pretty much like I was probably the first few investors and that turned into one thing led to another over the last couple of years, now fully into a co-founder role in Capattery.
Caleb Cage: And do you have a scientific background or a business background or both? How did you come to this field?
Gopi Latpate: No, I’m a chemical engineer and an MBA in information systems. And so again, I moved into the IT side of the house, and coming in full circles into the chemical part of it, it’s pretty interesting.
Caleb Cage: What makes Capattery unique?
Gopi Latpate: So it’s very interesting. A long time back when I met my co-founder while I was in India, and he is a six-time Presidential Award winner as a young innovator in India, and very, very brilliant mind. He showed me something very interesting that he built: a power bank which can charge in two minutes; and that caught my attention. I said, how is that possible? And then, you know, started kind of working with him to really see what makes that magic. And then realized that what really does behind the scene, it’s graphene that makes this happen. And therefore I shifted the focus from being a product company. And we said, I think the common denomination is graphene. However, there’s a big catch, which happens to any new technology, which is cost, quality and scalability and all three were missing in the graphene segment as such. It’s very costly, different types of qualities of graphene and scalability. So that’s where we thought, instead of being a product on the other side, let’s solve a very complicated problem, which is how to make graphene affordable, consistent quality, and high scalability. And that is what we took on a journey. So we got a bunch of material scientists and we really kind of mastered the process. How do we produce a very high quality graphene at one-tenth of the market cost, and with a process that is highly scalable.
So that’s kind of core of what we are. We are a material science company, produce a very high quality graphene at a good and at a cost-effective way, and yet highly scalable. So, that’s the core. And from there, we said, okay, great, we’ve solved that big problem. So, where do we take this graphene? So, first, what we did was on the cell side: we replaced the graphite anode with the graphene anode; on the cathode active material side, we added traces of graphene; and along with the binders and on the, when we make the slurry binders and solvent, which is our IP again. With that, we saw that phenomenal change in the behavior of LFP cell, which is we can now charge our cell in less than 20 minutes. We have a lifespan, which is more than 6,000 cycles. Normally, LFP cells can have a maximum life cycle that is 2,000 to 3,000. And now we have a very, very thermally stable cell. So, we took that graphene the power of graphene put into the cell. And that’s an idea we have. We have a patent for that, too.
Caleb Cage: How does that help you charge more quickly and produce better products?
Gopi Latpate: Graphite, over a period of time, has a brittling capacity. It actually brittles and it creates the deposition of ions pretty early,. So, it decays, it creates a problem over the period of time. Graphene being extremely smooth material and very, very high surface area. For example, the graphite, the surface area is about anywhere between 20 and 40m2/gm. The same surface area for graphene is between 500 to 2,000 m2/gm. So, what if you freely move without depositing it on to the anode side of the house? Therefore, your LFP anode decays very quickly over the period of time, where graphene can go on and on without increasing any kind of resistance.
Caleb Cage: How does your technology or how will your technology improve or change the battery industry?
Gopi Latpate: In a very big way, it solves the three fundamental problems in the battery today. One is the charging time. So currently, it takes anywhere between three to six hours for fully charging the battery. What we need is a fast charging to the tune of 3C ratings and above. That particular capability is not available in the current battery cells. Second, the lifespan of these batteries can be improved by two to three times more than what it is today. Three, you see all kinds of fires going around. With graphene being a very tough material, 200 times stronger than steel, therefore, it can withstand a very high temperature. So safety is a big part. So, these are the big problems that are currently available in the current lithium cell, which are the prominent cell chemistry worldwide. And that is where graphene plays a bigger role. Grpahene powered batteries solves all these 3 challenges in a big way. And the reason why we are able to do that again is because my graphene cost is comparable to the graphite cost now. Anybody who has an assembly line for any lithium cell is very simple. Replace your graphite with graphene and add a small traces of graphene on the cathode side, and you will see a cell with like a multi-fold performance and across all parameters without increasing the cost. That is the value proposition we have. So actually enhancing your chemistry, think about it more of a catalyst to improve performance again without adding too much of a cost burden to you so far. Also, it does one big thing, which is from the US perspective, from the supply chain perspective, we’re very dependent on graphite from China. And therefore, if we can kind of produce graphene and graphite coming from different places, you don’t have to depend on battery-grade graphite being sourced from China.
Caleb Cage: You’re a startup here in Nevada, which is awesome. We’re so glad you chose Nevada as a place to launch. And the last time I was in Las Vegas and met with you, you had just shipped your first order of graphene. I remember shaking your hand and smiling with you over that. How’s business going?
Gopi Latpate: Very good so far. So think about it where we started. We started with technology readiness. We start from zero to 10, and we did all of that in less than two years. So it’s a very, very fast pace for any technology company. Now we are in a revenue generation stage. The best way to generate the revenue is to develop the relationships with the large uptakers, someone who can actually take your material. There’s an institution called the Graphene Council, which we have a business membership with them. There are thousands of applications of that. However, we have chosen battery as one segment. The second segment we are looking at is the usage of graphene in the concrete. A graphene additive into the concrete mix actually increases the strength by 30% and you need less concrete. So less concrete means less CO2 emissions. It’s more sustainable. So that’s the one big application we are actually doing the commercial pilot with right now. And the third application for the solar coating. On the solar panels, if you coat them with graphene, it actually improves the throughput. Solar panels generally give you 65 to 75 percent throughput, but now it improves your throughput by at least 30 percent. It’s a highly conductive material and therefore it absorbs the energy and reflects less, because it has a very less reflection capability, therefore it absorbs more energy and it gives you more output of the same panels which we currently have. So that’s kind of where our universe is from the graphene application point of view.
Caleb Cage: What are the biggest challenges for your company are you experiencing right now?
Gopi Latpate: I think the big one is the graphene as such as it has some level of I would say stigma is not a right word but I think it’s been very misunderstood as a component. A lot of VC firms and all of that, they know that this is a great thing and this is really good, but hey, we don’t think that it’s a big market. It has not been proven yet to the point of being commercially viable technology. Therefore, the funding sometimes it can be challenging. That’s number one. Second, and that’s why we need to spend more time with our potential customers to prove to them on their application that, look, this works and this works like a charm. So therefore, the technology proof cycle is a little bit more than what you would have. Once that we can cross that hurdle, then absolutely consistently producing that level of capacity and delivering to that capacity is again the third challenge. But again, the first one is a big one: everybody has a little bit of a notion that this material has not gone beyond lab scale to a meaningful thing. And therefore, as I said, you know, a lot of things which we are claiming is to be true. So we are our own enemy sometimes. And we just have to keep proving more and more. That’s probably the challenge.