A London company, spun out of Imperial College, whose software makes electric vehicle and device batteries charge faster and last longer.
Breathe Battery Technologies makes software that controls how a battery is charged. Instead of only reading simple measures such as current, voltage and temperature, its software uses a model of the battery's inner chemistry, heat and mechanics to estimate what is happening inside. That lets the battery charge faster while staying safe and healthy. The company says it needs no extra hardware, and one report says the software makes the Volvo ES90 charge 38% faster.
Breathe was founded in 2019 as a spin-out from the Electrochemical Science and Engineering group at Imperial College London. The founders are Dr Ian Campbell (chief executive) and Dr Yan Zhao, who both have doctorates in lithium-ion battery engineering, and Professor Greg Offer, the company's chief scientist. Campbell has said the aim is to "extract unexploited performance and safety in existing and future batteries". He has also described a methodical approach that started "with a clean sheet of paper".
Breathe is headquartered in London. In early 2022 it had about 12 people and was planning to grow its London team and battery testing facilities. Its software is supplied to car makers and device makers. Volvo Cars, Polestar and Bang & Olufsen are named as companies working with it. Its website says the team has "over a century of battery engineering expertise" and offers three products, Breathe Discover, Breathe Simulate and Breathe Charge, and reports an 18-minute charge time and 800 km range achieved in the Volvo EX60. The company is also building design tools so that manufacturers can test combinations of materials on a computer before building physical prototypes.
Its approach is often compared with the way Formula 1 teams simulate a car before building it. The company states some firm beliefs on its About page: that battery management hardware is now a commodity, that the real difference comes from software, cell chemistry and system design, and that the best opportunity is to get the most out of a battery's first life. Campbell's work has been recognised with a Royal Academy of Engineering Princess Royal Silver Medal in 2026. We did not find a culture statement from the company, so treat the description of a careful, science-led team as an impression drawn from how its founders talk about their work.
Roles in a company like this include battery modellers and electrochemists, software and embedded-systems engineers, test engineers, data scientists and commercial staff. The pages we read did not give a current headcount or office address, so follow its news and look at who is named to learn more.
Website: breathebatteries.com
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