An IndyCar Experience car sponsored by Lyten. (Photo: Lyten/Business Wire)
Lyten Motorsports will use Lyten’s proprietary 3D Graphene supermaterials platform to supply the motorsports industry with stronger, lighter parts.
SAN JOSE, Calif., and INDIANAPOLIS—Supermaterial applications company Lyten recently opened a design and manufacturing facility in Indianapolis for motorsport parts, co-located with the INDYCAR Experience headquarters. The new venture, Lyten Motorsports, is designed to bring Lyten’s material science innovations to motorsports parts, the company said in a release.
While Lyten will continue to execute materials research and development at its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Lyten Motorsports will bring technology from Silicon Valley into the heart of motorsports innovation, according to the release.
Lyten described its 3D Graphene as “a foundational, carbon-based material that can be tuned to meet the specific needs of high-performance applications, impacting material properties like strength, weight, conductivity, and permeability.” The company is already using its proprietary 3D Graphene platform to build lithium-sulfur batteries that reportedly approach twice the energy density of lithium-ion while eliminating 85 percent of the mined minerals, including nickel, cobalt, and graphite. Lyten stated in the release that it uses the strength, weight, and conductivity of its materials to design and build parts that further push the limit of strength-to-weight ratio in motorsports.
“Material science is creating a future that is lighter, stronger, and safer, while reducing our impact on the planet,” said Dan Cook, Lyten co-founder and CEO, in the release. “Motorsports sit at the apex of materials innovation, where small improvements make the difference in speed and safety. The introduction of carbon fiber revolutionized the sport, and we believe Lyten 3D Graphene can be the next materials revolution in motorsports.”
According to the release, Lyten Motorsports is currently manufacturing 3D printed parts using Lyten’s proprietary filaments and adhesives, and it is quickly expanding into autoclave manufacturing to meet market demands. Lyten will work to further enhance the performance of carbon fiber parts and identify metal parts that can be converted into lighter, lower cost composite parts. Lyten Motorsports plans to develop parts for a broad range of U.S. and international racing series, the release stated.
Lyten stated that it has been testing new material designs on the INDYCAR Experience 2-seat INDYCAR for more than two years, and will continue to use the platform to accelerate part development. The Lyten-sponsored INDYCAR Experience 2-seater will be active throughout this year’s racing season, including this year’s Indy 500.
“Motorsports is a high-growth, technology enabled industry, and challenge number one is pushing the bounds of known materials,” said INDYCAR Experience CEO Scott Jasek, in the release. “There is tremendous demand for that next materials innovation, and Lyten has it with its 3D Graphene platform. I am excited to use our base in Indianapolis to scale up U.S. manufacturing of motorsport parts and bring with it technology focused jobs.”
Lyten is a privately held company with more than $425 million in equity investment, including investment from Stellantis, FedEx, Honeywell, Nokia, Prime Movers Lab, the European Investment Fund, and Luxembourg Future Fund. Its products include lithium-sulfur batteries, composites, concrete, and sensors, all built on Lyten’s 3D Graphene supermaterials platform.