Investigation Finds Donut Lab Made False Claims About Revolutionary Battery Tech
Key takeaways
- In January, there was a lot of hype around an announcement from Finnish company Donut Lab: It claimed to have created the world's first production-ready solid-state battery.
- The Donut battery, marketed as the energy source behind the Verge TS Pro motorcycle, was allegedly a "pioneer" in bringing this new battery technology to a production-ready electric vehicle.
- But it now appears to be a wolf in sheep's clothing.
In January, there was a lot of hype around an announcement from Finnish company Donut Lab: It claimed to have created the world's first production-ready solid-state battery.
The Donut battery, marketed as the energy source behind the Verge TS Pro motorcycle, was allegedly a "pioneer" in bringing this new battery technology to a production-ready electric vehicle. During CES 2026, Donut Lab's phone-size powerhouse was even a finalist for CNET's Best Transportation category, where we noted that the cell promised "huge improvements in energy density, charging speed and safety."
But it now appears to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. The battery is allegedly using existing lithium-ion technology, not sodium-ion solid-state chemistry, according to new reports following an investigation from battery researcher Ryan Inis Hughes, known for his YouTube channel Ziroth.