Raw magnesium in. Finished battery platform out. Every step happens on US soil, through processes Estes invented. Magnus qualifies from the ground up for Buy America requirements, DoW non-FEoC mandates, and supply chain resilience standards.
The Problem.
Conventional battery packs worked for passenger cars. The engineers who built those platforms understood early on that the energy density curve using conventional design would hit a ceiling, and would never unlock the market for electrified marine, aviation, rail, construction, mining, and on and off highway commercial vehicles - their requirements and economics demand a new class of energy density and cost.
The answer.
The industry can't wait for a better cell. It needs an entirely new battery pack platform. The Magnus battery platform delivers 225 Wh/kg today, and is designed to unlock markets that conventional packs cannot serve.
In the 2000s, Estes engineers built the first passenger car batteries. In the 2010s, Estes engineers built world class R&D centers and gigafactories. Now, Estes engineers have designed an entirely new platform to drive the era of electrification.
One platform that can free rail from dependency on costly infrastructure; one platform dense enough to deliver the range that’s kept maritime tied to diesel; one platform light enough to make the math solve for electric aviation.
Mission
To build the step change in energy density needed to truly unleash mass adoption of electrification: a new material, a new platform, a new manufacturing model, developed and made here in the USA.
Vision
To become the leading American materials and systems company, bringing first principles engineering to automotive scale across the industries that power our world.
Founding Principles
Only three. People first, solutions engineered from first principles, and everything made in the USA.
Who founded Estes?
Estes was founded in April 2024 by engineers who have built battery factories and electrified vehicles across multiple transportation modes – passenger car, on-highway (medium and heavy duty trucks, transit and coach buses) and off-highway (port equipment and construction equipment). The founding team is comprised of Dustin Grace (CEO, formerly Tesla), David Lai (Chief Engineer, formerly Tesla), Çağkan Yildiz (CTO, formerly Sila), and Tolga Yildiz (Head of Partnerships, formerly Cummins).
What is the Estes founding team's background?
Where is Estes based?
What makes Estes a manufacturer rather than an assembler?
Why does domestic manufacturing matter for Estes customers?
