In the early-1990s, lithium-ion energy storage systems replaced nickel cadmium batteries to serve the burgeoning cellphone and consumer electronics markets. More recently, they are being used in medical equipment and electric vehicles.
Tesla is building massive “gigafactories” to produce lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and Tesla Energy’s storage solutions business, including its newest Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai, China. GM just announced a multibillion-dollar investment in a lithium-ion battery plant in Ohio.
But lithium-ion batteries have limitations. They lose capacity the more they’re charged and discharged, eventually needing replacement, and on occasion have exploded or caught fire. Iron low-energy storage systems, by contrast, last indefinitely, with no environmental risks. Both systems store energy from solar, wind and water on power grids, pulling it off as needed and re-injecting it when not.
From 2010 to 2018, lithium-ion battery costs declined by 85% and are forecast to decline by another 50% by 2030
“And lithium ion can still compete at four hours. But as we move into the next phase of the energy transition, four hours isn’t going to cut it anymore. That’s why all these investors are asking if there’s a longer-duration technology that scales better than lithium ion. This is where flow batteries come in.”
“You can follow the money,” Finn-Foley said. “All the investors are smelling it.”
In October of this year, ESS, a manufacturer of low-cost, long-duration, iron-flow batteries for the global renewable energy infrastructure, secured $30 million in a Series C investment round from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the group of private investors led by Bill Gates and fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Richard Branson and Jack Ma, among others.
investors see our technology as one that offers consumers a number of benefits over lithium ion — longer duration in order to have solar-plus as a base load, the ability to work in very hot environments, and indefinite cycles at a similar price point.”
Flow battery technology is not the only bet the big money is making on competitors to traditional lithium-ion batteries. Tesla employee No. 7, Gene Berdichevsky, who worked on the original Tesla Roadster’s battery, is now CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies, which took in $70 million from VC investors in 2018 for its silicon anode battery technology. Enevate, another silicon anode battery start-up — which is sometimes referred to as “next-gen” lithium ion — has raised more than $100 million in VC funding and includes GM battery partner LG Chem among its recent investors.
Bill Gates: 12/12/2016 A new model for investing in energy innovation Our new fund will invest more than $1 billion in clean energy breakthroughs...... today, I, along with an incredible group of people who care a lot about energy innovation, am announcing the launch of Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), a fund that will invest more than $1 billion in scientific breakthroughs that have the potential to deliver cheap and reliable clean energy to the world........ an investment in a true energy transformation requires governments, research institutions, businesses, and private investors to work together. ..... Government funding gives scientists the freedom to come up with bold new ideas and try to prove they will work. But government research is not enough. The world needs the skills and resources of investors with experience driving innovation from a lab to the marketplace. The private sector knows how to take great research, turn it into a great product, and ultimately create a great company to bring a transformative technology to market........ During the Cold War, the Department of Defense developed a network of computers that could survive a nuclear attack, and private companies saw an opportunity to expand this technology to the public. Together, they created the Internet........ Unlike a software start up, getting a new energy technology from a lab to market takes a lot of infrastructure, a lot of upfront capital, and a lot of time....... The Breakthrough Energy Coalition created BEV to address some of those challenges in the energy market. We are willing to wait a longer time for returns than other funds. We have a higher tolerance for technical risk, because we know it’s tough to determine which technologies will succeed in a complicated energy market. ........ The fund is also driven by science. Because of the technical nature of succeeding in an energy market, we will build a team that knows as much about the science behind energy breakthroughs as the investment strategies necessary to build those businesses........ to be successful, you have to get the most out of the technology you already have while developing the technology you still need.
Flow battery While it has technical advantages over conventional rechargeables, such as potentially separable liquid tanks and near unlimited longevity, current implementations are comparatively less powerful and require more sophisticated electronics.
Lithium–silicon battery Silicon has a much larger specific capacity (3600 mAh/g) than graphite (372 mAh/g) ..... Silicon's large volume change (approximately 400% based on crystallographic densities) when lithium is inserted is one of the main obstacles along with high reactivity in the charged state to commercializing this type of anode
Lithium-Ion Battery Vs Iron Low-Energy Battery Vs Silicon Anode Battery https://t.co/WQbVZoaYnj @elonmusk @JeffBezos @BillGates @richardbranson #cleanenergy #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis
— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) December 15, 2019
