The information: One of many main corporations providing options to lithium batteries for the grid has simply acquired a virtually $400 million mortgage from the US Division of Power. Eos Power makes zinc-halide batteries, which the agency hopes may someday be used to retailer renewable vitality at a decrease price than is feasible with present lithium-ion batteries.
What they’re manufactured from: Eos’s batteries are primarily constructed from zinc, the fourth most produced steel on the planet, and use a water-based electrolyte (the liquid that strikes cost round in a battery) as an alternative of natural solvent. This makes them extra steady than lithium-ion cells, and means they received’t catch hearth.
Why it issues: Whereas the price of lithium-ion batteries has plummeted over the previous decade, there’s a rising want for even cheaper choices. The zinc-based know-how Eos hopes to commercialize may retailer electrical energy for hours and even days at low price. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
How water may make safer batteries
Batteries’ electrolytes dictate loads about how they work, in addition to how protected they’re. A rising variety of different battery makers are turning to an attention-grabbing ingredient to make use of of their electrolyte to decrease the chance of them catching hearth: water.
Casey has dug additional into the fascinating know-how behind different batteries within the newest version of The Spark, her weekly local weather publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
How ought to we regulate AI?
The information: One of many main corporations providing options to lithium batteries for the grid has simply acquired a virtually $400 million mortgage from the US Division of Power. Eos Power makes zinc-halide batteries, which the agency hopes may someday be used to retailer renewable vitality at a decrease price than is feasible with present lithium-ion batteries.
What they’re manufactured from: Eos’s batteries are primarily constructed from zinc, the fourth most produced steel on the planet, and use a water-based electrolyte (the liquid that strikes cost round in a battery) as an alternative of natural solvent. This makes them extra steady than lithium-ion cells, and means they received’t catch hearth.
Why it issues: Whereas the price of lithium-ion batteries has plummeted over the previous decade, there’s a rising want for even cheaper choices. The zinc-based know-how Eos hopes to commercialize may retailer electrical energy for hours and even days at low price. Learn the complete story.
—Casey Crownhart
How water may make safer batteries
Batteries’ electrolytes dictate loads about how they work, in addition to how protected they’re. A rising variety of different battery makers are turning to an attention-grabbing ingredient to make use of of their electrolyte to decrease the chance of them catching hearth: water.
Casey has dug additional into the fascinating know-how behind different batteries within the newest version of The Spark, her weekly local weather publication. Enroll to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.
How ought to we regulate AI?
