startup Flint stole the spotlight at the 2026 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, winning the Best Sustainability Innovation Award and being hailed by industry experts as a potential “game-changer” to end lithium-ion battery hegemony. Unlike traditional batteries that rely on toxic heavy metals, the plant-based paper battery is compostable, cobalt-free, and costs less than half of conventional lithium-ion alternatives while matching their energy density.
Unveiled on Monday at CES, Flint’s breakthrough battery uses plant cellulose — similar to raw material for paper — as its separator and electrodes, paired with water-based electrolytes and zinc-manganese minerals. Critically, it contains no lithium, cobalt, or nickel, eliminating the environmental and ethical risks associated with the mining of these scarce metals, the company said.
“Our plant-based battery is designed to rewrite the rules of energy storage by addressing the three biggest pain points of traditional batteries: pollution, high cost and resource scarcity,” said a Flint spokesperson at the CES launch event. “When discarded, it decomposes by more than 80% in six months if placed in soil — essentially turning into plant fertilizer — while lithium-ion batteries take 100 to 200 years to break down and leak toxic heavy metals into the environment.”
A side-by-side comparison highlights the battery’s competitive edge. With an energy density of over 220 Wh/kg, it matches mainstream lithium-ion batteries, and its voltage and service life are on par with traditional alkaline batteries, making it suitable for most consumer electronics, IoT devices, and even small-scale energy storage systems. Its target mass production cost is around $50 per kWh, less than half the current average cost of lithium-ion batteries, which are plagued by price volatility due to scarce resource supplies.
In terms of safety, the water-based electrolyte makes the paper battery non-flammable and explosion-proof, even when punctured or exposed to high temperatures — a stark contrast to lithium-ion batteries, which have been linked to over 200 safety incidents worldwide in 2025 alone, mostly due to thermal runaway. This safety feature, combined with its low cost, makes it particularly promising for IoT devices, which number in the billions globally and currently rely on disposable alkaline batteries that are costly to replace and difficult to recycle.
The innovation comes at a time when the global battery industry is grappling with pressing challenges. Each year, more than 5 million tons of batteries are discarded worldwide, with lithium-ion batteries accounting for a large portion of this waste. Meanwhile, China — the world’s largest lithium-ion battery producer — faces a 26% dependence on imported lithium and a staggering 92% dependence on imported cobalt, most of which comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where cobalt mining is often linked to child labor and unsafe working conditions.
Industry analysts say Flint’s battery could reshape the energy storage landscape by reducing reliance on scarce metals and mitigating environmental harm. “This technology jumps out of the traditional race for higher energy density and instead focuses on sustainability and affordability — a shift that the industry desperately needs as the world accelerates its transition to renewable energy,” said an energy storage expert from a leading global research firm.
Flint has not yet announced a specific timeline for mass production but noted that it is in talks with several electronics and IoT manufacturers to pilot the battery in smart meters, environmental sensors, and portable devices. The company aims to begin small-scale production by the end of 2026 and scale up to meet global demand in the following years.
The battery’s launch at CES comes alongside other cobalt-free battery innovations, including the European COBRA project’s prototype for electric vehicle batteries and the growing adoption of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are also cobalt-free but still rely on lithium. Flint’s plant-based design, however, stands out for its full lifecycle sustainability, from raw material extraction to disposal.