If you're down on the lithium space, you may wish to check out the stellar performance of ASX lithium stock Li-S Energy Ltd (ASX: LIS) today.
Li-S Energy shares closed Friday at 12 cents, but they didn't stay there for long. Shares rocketed higher on open and continued to gain ground from there. At the time of writing in early afternoon trade on Monday, shares are swapping hands for 20 cents apiece, up a blistering 62.5%.
For some context, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is just about flat at this same time.
Here's what's grabbing ASX investor interest today.
ASX lithium stock soars on tech breakthrough
Investors are sending shares in the ASX lithium stock through the roof after the company reported a significant breakthrough in its unique lithium sulphur cell battery chemistry.
LIS said this development had substantially improved the performance of its lithium sulphur battery technology.
The company is targeting the growth markets of drones, defence and electric aviation, where battery weight is a crucial factor in determining payload capacity, range, and endurance.
According to the release:
From its Phase 3 automated pouch cell production facility, LIS has manufactured full size 10Ah semi-solid-state cells delivering an energy density of 498Wh/kg on first discharge, and an industry leading 456Wh/kg after formation cycling, with the cells continuing to cycle in ongoing testing.
The ASX lithium stock delivered test cells to the first of its key partners to validate performance for aerospace battery packs that integrate LIS cells and the new LIS-developed intelligent battery management system.
What did management say?
Commenting on the battery results sending the ASX lithium stock rocketing today, LIS chief technology officer Steve Rowlands said, "These results represent an important breakthrough for lithium sulfur cell chemistry."
Rowlands continued:
Reaching 456Wh/kg from 10Ah cells post formation places LIS at the global forefront of lithium sulfur performance.
Many R&D institutions and battery start-ups test performance on coin cells or very small pouch cells and publish energy density results from the cell's first discharge, which is always significantly higher than its practical performance in the field.
At LIS we have taken a far more pragmatic and commercial approach, testing full size 10Ah and 20Ah pouch cells produced on our automated production line and reporting performance after formation cycling, which more faithfully represents the true cell performance when delivered to a customer.
LIS CEO Lee Finniear added:
Our partners in the aerospace, drone and defence industries have been clear that they need the highest possible energy density for their applications, plus reliable, high-quality cell production and a pathway to scale as demand grows…
Today's results are an early vindication of this strategy, setting a new benchmark in lithium sulfur performance. The Phase 3 facility empowers our team to innovate at pace, being able to rapidly iterate cell design, material optimisation and production processes at scale.
LIS expects to sign up more partners over the coming months, noting that it will assist them in integrating its cell and BMS technologies into their applications.
With today's intraday lift factored in, shares in the ASX lithium stock are up 18.7% year to date.
