Is Donut Lab’s power pack a battery or capacitor? Does it matter??

Battery or capacitor?

Verge Motorcycles announced in January that it would have an electric motorcycle available in the U.S. in the first quarter of 2026. But, is the solid-state Donut Lab power pack it runs on a battery or capacitor?

This is the question electric vehicle (EV) enthusiasts are now debating.

Basic tech

First, a bit of a primer. Asking about the difference between the two, AI says “that both store energy but differ fundamentally: batteries use chemical reactions for high energy density and steady, long-term power, while capacitors use electrostatic fields for rapid, short bursts of power.

Batteries offer more energy for their size and maintain voltage longer, but capacitors charge/discharge much faster, have longer lifespans, and handle more cycles.”

Well, clearly whatever Donut Lab has built does not fully behave like a capacitor. The battery delivers 400 Wh/kg of energy density without the need to limit charging to 80%. Full charge and full discharge are safe, repeatable, and expected in daily operation along with a long service life under continuous use and repeated fast charging — all of which sounds very capacitor-like.

Not so basic tech

Donut Lab uses a screenprinting process which allows for versatile shapes and sizes, using a nanofluid ink containing titanium dioxide nanoparticles which becomes the core of their solid electrolyte in what is claimed to be a scalable manufacturing process.

The materials are more abundant and the solid-state design eliminates the fire risk inherent in lithium-ion battery packs.

Battery or??

The device certainly isn’t made like the batteries currently in use (layering and/or rolling) and I do not have the expertise to determine if the device is a capacitor or not.

The argument seems to suggest that it is devalued and poo pooed as a capacitor. As if it is a cheat.

So I will say this: so what if it is a capacitor? If Donut Lab has managed to build a capacitor that manages to control discharge like a battery, creating that steady, long-term power with high energy density, then they have solved the solid-state battery problem that the EV industry has been chasing for decades.

For the record, Verge‘s motorcycles feature 370 miles of range on what surely is a small form factor battery that can be “refilled” in ten minutes.

We should know by the end of 2026 if the day of the solid-state EV has truly arrived.

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