As battery demand shifts towards  high energy cathodes, the limitations of graphite require silicon additives to achieve high energy density.  In fact, silicon based anode materials are being introduced by more and more companies.

NIO & GAC announce “inorganic pre-lithiated silicon carbon negative electrode technology”

Carbon-coated silicon oxide (SiOx /C) & silicon-carbon (Si/C) particles are by far the most commercially successful graphite composite materials. 

The degree of difficulty at maintaining battery performance increases as silicon content increases from

Si < 10% Tesla/Panasonic to 30% academic research.

Pure silicon anodes still been a number of years away.

Graphite  > $7k USD/ton

Silicon battery materials > $20k USD/ton

Silicon Light Aug 2021