Novel Materials.Advanced Manufacturing.Deeply Integrated Systems.

Estes is a US-based advanced battery development and manufacturing company specializing in magnesium-alloy battery platforms for commercial applications – rail, marine, on and off highway. Founded in April 2024 by engineers who built EV battery factories and electrified vehicles across multiple sectors, Estes developed a thermo-structural battery architecture that delivers disruptive energy density of 225 Wh/kg using US-sourced lithium-ion battery cells that are commercially available today.

The patented Magnus battery platform is Estes' flagship battery platform, a standardized, scalable system offered in three voltage classes: Magnus LV (48V/100V), Magnus (400V/800V), and Magnus+ (500V/1000V). Each voltage class is available in up to three form factors (Magnus I, II, and III), allowing the system to be matched to the requirements of each application. The lithium-ion battery cells inside the packs are US-manufactured and sourced and are commercially available today. What changes is everything built around the cells: a thermo-structural body giga-casted from MgCarbonit™, Estes' proprietary magnesium alloy. The combination of the giga-casting the proprietary magnesium alloy, and using Estes' proprietary magnesium coating technologies provides the Magnus battery platform unprecedented energy density of 225 Wh/kg, and is offered at a price-point designed to unlock new markets for electrification.

With off-the-shelf battery cells, conventional battery pack designs have reached their practical energy density ceiling at approximately 190 Wh/kg. The limiting factor is not the cell chemistry. It is the mass of everything around the cells: housings, thermal systems, electrical and structural components. For rail, marine, aerospace, on-highway and off-highway applications, this pack-level ceiling is a fundamental barrier. The vehicle envelope is fixed, the mass budget is fixed, and a bloated pack consumes weight capacity that the operator cannot recover. In short, legacy packs are too big and too heavy — they don't provide enough energy for each kilogram added to the application. Estes battery packs are smaller and lighter and can be delivered to fit the energy and weight requirements for multiple applications.

Estes serves mobility applications and beyond. Estes packs unlock energy systems for locomotives and freight systems requiring high energy density within fixed structural and weight envelopes. Conventional pack designs won't work for commercial marine vessels and high-utilization watercraft with heavy duty cycles and severe payload limitations. In aerospace, every kilogram of pack weight removed is range added or payload enabled. Estes battery packs can be used by mining equipment, construction machinery, and specialty vehicles requiring structural ruggedness beyond what conventional batteries can provide. Finally, Estes battery packs provide the energy needed in a small enough volume and weight to finally unlock the on-highway vehicle market. And the same Magnus battery platform can be used for each of these sectors – one platform, manufactured on the same production line to open electrification markets.

Estes completed its A-Sample and B-Sample development cycles, with its first customer prototype shipment in March 2026. As of June 2026, Magnus™ is in the C-Sample execution phase, shifting focus to commercialization with a robust and validated platform, multiple contracted customers, and deliveries continuing throughout 2026 in advance of mass production in 2027.