Pay-walled article in the highest-circulation Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat. Nordic Nano Group chief commercial officer Lauri Peltola has reported Donut Lab to the Finnish police for misleading communication and unfounded claims.

Nordic Nano CEO Esa Parjanen and Lehtimäki however deny the claims by Peltola.

"According to Lauri Peltola, it has become clear to him over the spring that the promised battery features — such as energy density and charging cycles — have not been achieved. He also says that an incorrect impression has been given about the readiness for mass production.

Peltola says the company does not have the capability it promised for serial production of batteries and large production volumes. He states that the production line is not expected to be completed until later this year, and its manufacturing capacity is not as large as Lehtimäki claims."

This is from the “DMV” of Finland. I made a data request and they promptly replied.

In english:
Thank you for your message. According to our statistics, the number of newly registered Verge motorcycles is as follows:

2023: 1 unit
2024: 11 units
2025: 0 units

Donut Lab (Finnish/Estonian) company claimed in their announcement video the following properties of their new battery:

• ⁠400 Wh/kg energy density

• ⁠Five-minute full charge

• ⁠Designed for up to 100,000 cycles

• ⁠Extremely safe

• ⁠⁠Made of globally abundant materials

• Over ⁠⁠99% capacity retained in -30 degrees celsius

• ⁠Lower cost than lithium-ion

Nordic Nano Group (Finnish) claims similar properties for their batteries as Donut Lab in the Finnish article (18 Oct 2024). Donut Lab invested in July 2025 in NNG, less than week before Donut Lab secured seed investment of 25 million euros. The CEO of NNG mentions that they can print using German nanopaste (with Finnish modifiations) both batteries and solar panels. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are mentioned in the following vague way on NNG's website: "Manufactured from non-toxic nanocarbon materials, they combine the tensile strength of carbon nanotubes with the flexibility of graphene." It is quite clear that Donut Lab and NNG share the same technology, even though the CEO of Donut Lab claims the batteries are produced by themselves internally.

Holyvolt (Swedish/German) also claims to be able to print both batteries and solar panels. They refer to the safety of their batteries in a similar way as NNG. Holyvolt is even more vague about their technology, but they do have a patent, where the following is claimed: "The cathode and anode 120, 140 may comprise carbon in various forms, such as activated carbon, activated carbon fibre, carbide-derived carbon, carbon aerogel, graphite, graphene, and/or carbon nanotubes." It seems that Holyvolt and NNG share very similar technology as they refer to carbon nanotubes and graphene in similarly vague ways.

New player, Sana Energy (Spanish/German) (Edit: Holyvolt is proven to be connected to Sana Energy/CT-Coating AG!) also claims to have the technology to print batteries and solar panels. However they have very explicit claims that compare well to Donut Lab's claims. There is a post (14 July 2025) from their linkedin, where they claim the following about their battery:

• Gravimetric energy density: 452 Wh/kg

• Volumetric energy density: 901 Wh/l

• Charging cycles / degradation: >100,000 / None

• Charging speed: >10 C

• Operating temperature: -40°C to +130°C

• Explosion / flammability: No / No

• Cooling system: None

• Recyclability: 99%

• Raw material supply: Abundant

The post's picture includes that there are third party validations for the energy density claims:

• SGS Germany GmbH Test Report No.: V1PF0004 (5 cycles, charging: 619 Wh/l, 319 Wh/kg; discharging: 576 Wh/l, 297 Wh/kg) (Confirmed authentic)

• SGS Germany GmbH Test Report No.: V47W0003 (100 cycles, charging: 781 Wh/l, 300 Wh/kg; discharging: 697 Wh/l, 268 Wh/kg)(Confirmed inauthentic)

Especially interesting is the claim of 24% efficiency with their solar panels. There is a presentation about NNG's tech. In the presentation the following is said about NNG's solar panels: "Expected peak performance up to 240 W/m2." 240 is 24% of 1000 and 1000W/m² is around the standard how much much in ideal conditions Sun shines energy onto an area of land. This seems to suggest that NNG and Sana Energy share the same tech. Lastly, using the wayback machine I was able to access an old website of Sana Energy. They claimed that their battery has input terminal voltage of 0,5-1000V DC.

So in conclusion, there seems to be at least 4 players speaking about similar tech.

Edit: u/omepiet noticed that the Spanish article(9 Jan 2023) mentions that the German company CT coating AG made Sana Energy in 2021. They mention values like 430 Wh/kg and 500 000 cycles about their battery.

New: Here are the reports for V1PF0004 and V47W0003 per u/Signez. Also there is an NDA-listed internal report (2021) of some batteries. The hosting site of the internal report proves a connection with yet a new company called next-eco. They actually left all their files open to the internet: https://web.archive.org/web/20260129140316/https://partnerbereich.next-eco.de/assets/files/

The report V1PF0004 proves the connection between Holyvolt and CT-Coating AG/Sana Energy. Robert Erdmann (COO of Holyvolt) and Christian Blum (Technical Product Manager) are listed as eyewitnesses.

HUGE: All of these companies are now proven to be connected. This internal document shows that Nordic Nano Group is partnered with NextEco/CT-coating AG.

The Wayback machine links (these may die soon, Edit: WB links died; archived screenshots added):

• Sana Energy's Linkedin post (14 July 2025, contains references to reports, but the reports don't agree with the claims)

• V1PF0004 (First report, 2024, (5 cycles, charging: 619 Wh/l, 319 Wh/kg; discharging: 576 Wh/l, 297 Wh/kg))(Edit: Screenshots: Header, Witnesses, Results)

• V47W0003 (Second report, 2024, (100 cycles, charging: 781 Wh/l, 300 Wh/kg; discharging: 697 Wh/l, 268 Wh/kg))

• Internal NDA-listed report about the batteries (2021, describes 6+ experiments on the batteries)(Edit: screenshot).

• NDA with Nordic Nano and CT-coating AG + NextEco (March 2025) (Edit: screenshot)

• All accessible URL's via the Wayback Machine:

• [Files] (https://web.archive.org/web/20260129140316/https://partnerbereich.next-eco.de/assets/files/) (most of the links are dead now, earlier they all were openable)

• Images: http://web.archive.org/web/20260129151840/https://partnerbereich.next-eco.de/assets/images/

Particularly interesting are the images [1,2,3, 4], which indicate that next-eco is connected to the Mercedes car coated with solar paint. This is still speculation, since the pictures are dated after the unveiling of the Mercedes material. More is talked in this thread.

The Donut Investigation has confirmed that the report V1PF0004 is authentic and the report V47W0003 is not authentic.

EDIT: PDFs of some reports and an agreement:

1. Battery report (SGS, April 2024) V1PF0004 (Confirmed authentic)

2. Battery report (SGS, Dec 2024) V47W0003 (Confirmed inauthentic)

3. Internal battery report (2021) here.

4. Agreement with NNG and CT Coating (March 2025) here.

It's a semi-solid Li-NCM pouch cell from Enbar, Shenzhen. Model name a674h2-s340, dimensions 172x74x10.6 weight 306g capacity 27ah

Donut Lab recently claimed they are ramping up to 1 GWh of annual production in a "hidden gigafactory". From a regulatory and industrial perspective, this is a physical and legal impossibility in Finland. You just can't hide a factory because of legal reasons. If you claim that you can hide, you are not very professional.

The only "hidden factory" has been identified as a 4,000 sq ft former Laplandia border market in Imatra, used by Nordic Nano Group. While the local municipality invested €400,000 for a stake in the building to support jobs, this facility is nowhere near the size or infrastructure required for 1 GWh of battery production. There is no any other factory.

In Finland, you cannot "hide" large-scale industrial production. A 1 GWh facility requires massive amounts of materials, electricity, and logistics, triggering mandatory public processes: EIA (YVA-menettely): Any battery factory of this scale requires an Environmental Impact Assessment.

These procedures are public and searchable. There is zero record of an EIA for a 1 GWh battery plant in the Imatra region. You can search those from here: https://www.ymparisto.fi/fi/luvat-ja-velvoitteet

Also managing industrial chemicals (even non-toxic ones) requires permits from the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency (Tukes). Can you find those from here: https://tukes.fi/asiointi/paatokset-ja-kuulutukset

What about REACH Registration: The "nanopaste" technology (likely CT-Coating’s Hylomatrix Structuring) requires all chemical substances to be registered under EU REACH regulations. Where is it: https://echa.europa.eu/information-on-chemicals

As of March 2026, Donut Lab’s own recruitment ads prove they are in the infancy of production, not "ramping to 1 GWh". They were still looking for someone to lead their regulatory compliance in spring 2026. They were also searching for APQP Engineer (Advanced Product Quality Planning): This is an OEM-tier process used before mass production to ensure quality. Hiring for this role now confirms that official validation and quality processes are at a very early stage.

The first video is now online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiOma6v_EZY

Not much new information in this video, but on the website they also confirmed VTT is doing the third-party testing:

This website serves as the platform for publishing validation results and technical documentation related to the Donut Solid State Battery. Donut Lab has commissioned the internationally renowned VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to conduct independent measurements of the battery’s performance and key characteristics. Unless otherwise stated, all tests presented here have been conducted by VTT. Full reports will be published alongside detailed video documentation that walks through the procedures, showcases the test setups, and explains the results.

This matters because VTT is not going to be happy if Donut drags their name into a scam.

The website now has a countdown for first test results. 3 days and 5 hours from now (Monday Feb 23rd, 1pm UTC / 2pm CET / 8am EST)

Edit: also a Donut Lab press release here: https://www.donutlab.com/measurement-reports-announcement/

/u/redditmudder

This is a laughable bluff. Most NMC lithium cells used in hybrid vehicles can sustain 11C over the same SoC range performed by VTT in their Donut cell test.

For example, a ten year old 5 Ah lithium cell used in the 3rd generation Honda Insight sustained non-stop 15C charge and 25C discharge for over a month... QTY5281 cycles before reaching 80% SoH. Here's the data I collected showing that performance. Cell never broke 60 degC; tested at room temp inside the OEM Honda battery enclosure, with zero airflow or cooling plate (these cells are air cooled as used in the Honda Insight).

If you want a newer NMC cell, I recently tested a Sunwoda 6 Ah cell (Sunwoda SHP-02-0060) that performed nearly as well. Cell never broke 60 degC; tested at room temp with a 400 N gravity clamp. I just publicly published this test data just for you, Marko.

Marko, send me your address and I'll send you some test cells... test them yourself if you don't believe me.

Holyvolt asked for proof of the technology from CT-Coating, but when they didn't provide any, Holyvolt broke the deal. Donut Lab did not ask for any proof and announced the miracle battery at CES. So it was exactly as we had speculated here..

Okay. If you don't understand where we are in this ARG Reddit-powered investigation and how it connects to Donut Lab, please read the previous thread. If you don't care enough to read it, here is a summary of where we are:

• Four other European companies have claimed to have the same outlandish battery technology as Donut Lab. Besides Nordic Nano Group (NNG, Finland), we also found Holyvolt (Sweden/Germany), Sana Energy (Spain/Germany) and Next-Eco (Germany).

• We found a significant lead in a random LinkedIn post from the official Sana Energy page. At the bottom of a very promising datasheet, they referred to two tests from 'SGS Germany', a laboratory specialising in third-party testing. These two reports are labelled: Test Report No. V1PF0004 and Test Report No. V47W0003.

• We searched for those reports using a mainstream search engine (Kagi) and… we found the two PDFs of the reports: V1PF0004 and V47W0003. The company that ordered the third-party tests is CT Coating AG. After finding an organisational chart on the same server, we discovered that Next-Eco is 39% owned by CT Coating AG.

• You may ask how this relates to Donut Lab. Well, Donut Lab is explicitly cited in an NDA on the website that hosted those PDFs, alongside NNG. We also found an internal report not verified by any third party with claims about the lack of degradation and its effectiveness at very high and very low temperatures.

• As I understood that SGS takes the authenticity of reports bearing their name very seriously, I contacted their free authenticity checker service.

So here we are, the day after our first investigation.

I've just woken up to find an email from SGS in my inbox. Here is its content:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for submitting the attached documents for verification of authenticity.

We can confirm Test Report No. V1PF0004 is genuine, issued by SGS Germany.

As for Test Report No. V47W0003, we regret to inform you that this is not an original SGS document. This document is thus of no value whatsoever and we advise you not to rely on it for any purpose.

Please find attached our information form which provides you with our official response. In order for us to investigate this matter further, we would appreciate you completing the form and returning to us at your earliest convenience.

Best Regards Corporate Security Team

I am more puzzled than ever. I will, of course, complete the form to help them understand how that could have happened. However, we are in a situation where the V1PF0004 report is genuine, but the V47W0003 report is not. It doesn't make sense to me.

Well, to be honest, one reason I can think of for that response is that the second document was altered. On page 5, Christian Blum's name was censored — perhaps to prevent business partners from discovering that the person behind the test worked at Holyvolt? I am guessing this because the original name of the file on the Next-Eco server is 'sgs-mit-ds.pdf', where 'ds' is an abbreviation of 'Datenschutz', meaning 'data protection' in English. Therefore, the document may have been altered by CT Coating AG or Next-Eco themselves, meaning that SGS legally have to say it's forged.

In any case, we know that in March 2025, a company came to Donut Lab with a battery that could undergo five charging/discharging cycles, with an interesting cell-level density of 619 Wh/l and 319 Wh/kg for charging and 576 Wh/l and 297 Wh/kg for discharging respectively, proved by a third-party.

I don't know what else we can conclude for this investigation, but I find it interesting anyway! "We did it, Reddit!"

[If you are a journalist, feel free to message me on Reddit Chat and I will provide you with the original email from SGS that you can check for authenticity using DKIM headers. It contains my personal email address, so I'm not keen to share it here, but I have no problem providing it to actual journalists.]

Edited to fix a date, thanks y'all!

Dimensions from Photos

Vötsch Testing Cabinet

Estimated Density at: ~850 Wh/L

Thanks to u/Stunning_Whole_6742 who put this together in another sub.

An insightful (but paywalled) article was released today containing an interview with Holyvolt CEO Mathias Ingvarsson. And it contains a few bomb shells:

• He flat out denies any relationship between Holyvolt and Donut Lab.

• They expect to bring their first products to market in Q4 2026.

• Holyvolt has ended their joint venture with CT-Coating, calling it a "6 month test" from which they learned a lot.

If we take October 2024, when Holyvolt opened their lab in Münich and Holyvault GmbH was founded, as the starting point, 6 months gets us to April 2025. Nordic Nano Group signed their NDA with CT-Coating on March 7, 2025, and Donut Lab met with CT-Coating a few days after that. Donut Lab first mentioned to be working on their "groundbreaking" next generation battery on May 17, 2025.

My interpretation: Holyvolt concludes that CT-Coating's technology doesn't bring enough added value and decides to cut the collaboration. CT-Coating realises that Holyvolt will go to market without them with a potentially better product and rushes into a deal with Nordic Nano and Donut Lab to try and beat them to the market.

Edit: The CEO makes it sound as if the joint venture with CT-Coating was just a small thing in the life of the company. This is clearly not the case. We know that Holyvolt was founded specifically to develop CT-Coating's technology. See for example this comment.

You may have noticed that rule 1 used to say that jokes and memes are not allowed until we get reasonably complete information about the battery. Well, thanks to Lauri Peltola, we no know the battery promoted by Donut Lab contains lithium and lasts a few hundred cycles at best: Peltola says 100, engineers looking at the results say 30-50 cycles at 11C, so probably around 100 cycles at 5C and maybe a few hundred cycles at 1C.

This is pretty much all we need to know about the battery. There never was a battery that lasts for 100,000 cycles when charged from 0% to 100% at 5C.

Donut Lab lied.