ZapBatt and Toshiba are partnering to unlock proven lithium titanium oxide (LTO) battery technology for micro-mobility. In a press release emailed to me, ZapBatt shared that it’s merging its proprietary artificial intelligence technology and next-gen battery hardware with Toshiba’s lithium titanium oxide battery cells.
The goal is to create a new battery option for the micro-mobility marketplace. This will enable LTO batteries to be faster, smarter, and more economical while allowing for real-time battery management and optimization.
Three challenges of using Lithium Titanium Oxide chemistry in batteries solved
Photo credit: ZapBatt
There are three challenges of using LTO chemistry in batteries that ZapBatt is helping Toshiba solve.
- Chips. At the time, chips didn’t exist to work with LTO, however, ZapBatt’s custom LTO battery management system (BMS) is changing this. The BMS works at the unique voltages of LTO with the ability to be re-configured to adapt as the cell chemistry grows. This enables a programmable chip that works with other chemistries and voltages.
- Voltage. ZapBatt has a bi-directional adaptive terminal voltage (BATV) technology. This allows the battery system’s voltage control to be digitally controlled with software. Think of a universal adapter that allows LTO batteries to be a one-for-one swap with any lithium-ion chemistry without the need for modification to the system. The benefit is the ability to re-configure batteries for other applications at software speed.
- Energy Density. ZapBatt will use integrated AI which allows the battery to improve the system’s performance. The AI will analyze how energy is being used. One example is enhanced regenerative braking in e-bikes.
Toshiba & ZapBatt Statements
Greg Mack, Toshiba’s Vice President and General Manager of the Power Electronics Division shared the following statement about the new partnership.
“ZapBatt unlocked the potential of Toshiba’s LTO chemistry for a variety of industries and new markets with disruptive technology, moving away from the ‘miracle battery’ trap and providing a real solution hitting the market today.”
“With ZapBatt’s hardware and software, and our LTO chemistry, there is no other solution as fast, safe, and cost-effective on the market.”
Charlie Welch, CEO and Co-Founder of ZapBatt also shared a statement.
“For global carbon reduction and electrification, we need better battery solutions now, not in ten years. To address this problem, we worked with Toshiba to allow lithium titanium oxide to come alive, bridge into new markets quickly, and provide maximum economic and environmental benefit.”
“Unlike other chemistries, lithium titanium oxide is very efficient in a variety of conditions, not just on a lab bench. It’s like the Seabiscuit of batteries.”
How Toshiba’s Lithium Titanium Oxide Cells Will Work
The company noted that the cells are designed for fast charging and high-power environments with a minimal decrease in function–even after thousands of charges and uses.
These cells are ideal for micro-mobility applications and will provide up to a 100% usable charge without shortening the cycle life. They also perform in freezing temperatures as low as -30 degrees celsius.
The LTO cells also reduce operating expenses and e-waste. And they eliminate the risk of fire with ZapBatt’s LTO system. ZapBatt noted that its LTO batteries have virtually no risk for self-thermal runaway.
In addition to this, ZapBatt pointed out that its combination of machine learning and proprietary hardware will continuously improve battery performance. The software analyzes 26 data points that illustrate how the battery performs to improve charging operations.
ZapBatt’s New Hardware Solution
ZapBatt built a new hardware solution for its LTO BATV system. The BATV system allows the system to control the battery voltage input and output all digitally with software. This allows LTO batteries to integrate with a variety of applications.
Amiad Zionpur, ZapBatt’s Chief Operating Officer shared some thoughts about this technology.
“ZapBatt’s bi-directional adaptive terminal voltage (BATV) technology allows the battery to reconfigure itself based on the customer’s needs, essentially making it a universal adapter that has the potential to change the battery landscape completely.”
“Because of this unique ability, the e-bike battery can be used in many different applications, from micro-mobility to consumer products.”
My Interview With ZapBatt CEO, Charlie Welch
In June, I interviewed Charlie for CleanTechnica in a two-part series. In the first part, which you can read here, Charlie shared how he got started with ZapBatt, the difference between ZapBatt and the overall battery industry, and charging in just 15 minutes.
In the second part of our interview, which you can read here, we spoke about overlooked technologies, the industries that ZapBatt wants to impact, and availability and sustainability.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and AI Director Ashok Elluswamy celebrated Christmas Eve by sharing personal experiences with Robotaxi vehicles that had no safety monitor or occupant in the driver’s seat. Musk described the system’s “perfect driving” around Austin, while Elluswamy posted video from the back seat, calling it “an amazing experience.”
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Elon and Ashok’s firsthand Robotaxi insights
Prior to Musk and the Tesla AI Director’s posts, sightings of unmanned Teslas navigating public roads were widely shared on social media. One such vehicle was spotted in Austin, Texas, which Elon Musk acknowleged by stating that “Testing is underway with no occupants in the car.”
Based on his Christmas Eve post, Musk seemed to have tested an unmanned Tesla himself. “A Tesla with no safety monitor in the car and me sitting in the passenger seat took me all around Austin on Sunday with perfect driving,” Musk wrote in his post.
Elluswamy responded with a 2-minute video showing himself in the rear of an unmanned Tesla. The video featured the vehicle’s empty front seats, as well as its smooth handling through real-world traffic. He captioned his video with the words, “It’s an amazing experience!”
Towards Unsupervised operations
During an xAI Hackathon earlier this month, Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla owed be removing Safety Monitors from its Robotaxis in Austin in just three weeks. “Unsupervised is pretty much solved at this point. So there will be Tesla Robotaxis operating in Austin with no one in them. Not even anyone in the passenger seat in about three weeks,” he said. Musk echoed similar estimates at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting and the Q3 2025 earnings call.
Considering the insights that were posted Musk and Elluswamy, it does appear that Tesla is working hard towards operating its Robotaxis with no safety monitors. This is quite impressive considering that the service was launched just earlier this year.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
News
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
