https://spectrum.ieee.org/liquid-metal-battery
The important variable is Cost is a crucial for any battery that could serve as a renewable energy storage on the grid. An analysis by researchers at MIT has shown that energy storage would need to cost only a small amount such as US $20 per kilowatt-hour for the grid to be powered fully via wind and solar power. A fully installed 100-megawatt, 10-hour grid storage lithium-ion battery systems now costs about $405/kWh, according to a PNNL – Pacific Northwest National Laboratory report.
Now, however, a liquid-metal battery scheduled for a real-world deployment in 2024 could lower energy storage costs considerably. A startup out of MIT, Ambri’s grid battery costs $180/kWh to $250/kWh depending on size and duration, the company says. But its projected cost is about $21/kWh by 2030, according to a paper Sadoway and colleagues published in October 2021 in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. And the Marlborough, Mass., company is now poised for its first utility installation. Ambri and utility company Xcel Energy will start installation of a 300-kWh system in Aurora, Colo. in early 2024; the system should be fully operational by the end of that year.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032121006729
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/iveco-battery-swaps-could-be-key-electric-vans
Iveco battery swaps could be key to electric vans
Cassette-style battery pack allows rapid recharges and greater flexibility for drivers
In this first-of-its-kind battery, a benzoquinone-based negative electrode is used alongside a solid Nafion polymer electrolyte.
Metals traditionally serve as the active materials for the negative electrodes in batteries. However, there’s been a shift towards using redox-active organic molecules like quinone- and amine-based compounds as negative electrodes in rechargeable metal–air batteries, which feature oxygen-reducing positive electrodes.
Here, protons and hydroxide ions participate in the redox reactions. Such batteries exhibit high performance, close to the maximum capacity that is theoretically possible. Furthermore, using redox-active organic molecules in rechargeable air batteries overcomes problems associated with metals, including the formation of structures called ‘dendrites,’ which impact battery performance, and have negative environmental impact.
Now, in a new study recently published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a group of Japanese researchers have developed an all-solid-state rechargeable air battery (SSAB) and investigated its capacity and durability. The study was led by Professor Kenji Miyatake from Waseda University and the University of Yamanashi, and co-authored by Professor Kenichi Oyaizu from Waseda University.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.202304366
Big batteries across Australia could one day be powered by a little-known element called vanadium and manufactured onshore, an industry leader says.
The silvery-grey metal is the latest “pit to grid” sensation for electricity system operators, although most people have never heard of it.
“Seven years ago lithium was in the same spot,” Australian Vanadium chief executive Graham Arvidson said ahead of a briefing on the element at the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum in Kalgoorlie on Wednesday.
Australia is home to almost one-third (or 31 per cent) of the world’s vanadium, according to Geoscience Australia, but none of it is mined.
Some 80 per cent of the world’s vanadium comes from China and Russia, and more is produced in South Africa.
Most vanadium is used to make metal alloys, but it can also be used to make an increasingly popular kind of battery – Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries — that may be the answer to storing energy for long periods to support solar and wind power generation.
Battery swap startup Ample looks to accelerate the electrification of last-mile delivery vehicles – particularly those from Mitsubishi Fuso. The two companies announced a new global partnership this morning in which Ample will implement its EV battery swap technology on Mitsubishi Fuso trucks to sell to fleets around the world.
For years, NASA has been researching battery-powered flight as part of its Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety program. “SABERS continues to exceed its goals,” said Rocco Viggiano, principal investigator for SABERS at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland in a press release last year. “We’re starting to approach this new frontier of battery research that could do so much more than lithium-ion batteries can. The possibilities are pretty incredible.”
https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/sabers_cas_fact_sheet_508.pdf
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-023-01254-6
Fires are relatively common yet underreported occurrences in chemical laboratories, but their consequences can be devastating. Here we describe our first-hand experience of a savage laboratory fire, highlighting the detrimental effects that it had on the research group and the lessons learned.
Is it cheaper to refuel your EV battery or gas tank? We did the math in all 50 states.
You can dive into their helpful tool here.
Conclusion: In all 50 states in the USA, it’s cheaper for the everyday American to charge EVs — and much cheaper in some regions such as the Pacific Northwest, with low electricity rates and high gasoline prices.