Gatsmus and other technology giants gamble on new battery technology

Beijing time on April 16th news, Bloomberg today wrote that in order to meet the power needs of Tesla electric vehicles, Elon Musk has invested $5 billion to build a new battery factory in Nevada. In fact, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was very interested in a new generation of battery technology in 2009 and invested in a new battery development company two years later. The addition of technology giants such as Gates and Musk has made the competition for a new generation of battery technology more intense.

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Professor Donald Sadoway still remembers that in 2009 he received an e-mail that made him snicker, and the sender claimed to be the representative of Bill Gates. According to the e-mail, Gates saw Sato's book "Introduction to Solid State Chemistry" on the Internet. The world's richest man wants to know if he can see Sato when he next goes to Boston. On the upper side.

"I thought it was just a student's mischief," Sato. He taught a very popular course at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In order to find a cheaper, longer-life battery that would keep humans away from non-clean energy, he spent more than a decade working on multiple metals. material. If Gates’s assistant sent an email again and asked Sadho to respond, he almost forgot about it.

Gates invests in new battery developers

A month later, at the Saskatchewan office on the MIT campus, he and Gates exchanged views on how to curb climate change. They discussed the progress of batteries in helping solar and wind energy fight fossil fuels. Gates said that whenever Sado is ready to start his own business, he can call him at any time. Saduo said, "He promised to invest in the company I created. Without his help, this road will be extremely difficult."

Sato is already ready. He and other scientists have received strong support from numerous startups and well-known investment companies. They are trying to solve a tough problem: how to save and provide energy around the clock so that renewable energy can replace fossil fuels. At the Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York this week, “how these power storage projects can make public power customers get rid of the dependence on the transmission grid” is one of the topics debated by the participants.

Today's nickel-cadmium and lithium-ion batteries are not enough to meet this demand. They can't be used by a family for hours, nor can they run more than 100 miles (160 kilometers). The cost of this type of battery is about $400 per kWh. Analysts believe that only half the cost can be used to promote green energy. “Developing a storage device that is different from lithium batteries is critical to unlocking the value of electric vehicles and renewable energy,” says Andrew Chung. He is a partner at Khosla Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, California.

The time has come for inventors and investors to show their talents. Last year, wind turbines accounted for 45% of the new electricity generated in the United States, while solar energy accounted for 34% of the world's new power generation. Storing energy has always been a costly project when there is no light or wind. Some people who believe that battery applications have broad prospects point out that the situation is changing. Over the past decade, they have invested more than $5 billion in this area, vying to bring relevant technologies to market as quickly as possible.

They believe that new batteries can store enough clean energy to meet the needs of a car, a home or an entire campus; new batteries can store energy from wind or solar power plants; they can replace generators and reduce minerals The demand for fuel power generation equipment, in turn, makes the power supply more environmentally friendly. Energy management consulting firm Navigant Consulting said that the market for new energy storage devices will grow nearly 10 times in three years to 2,400 megawatts, equivalent to the power generation of six natural gas turbine engines.

Venture capital joins battery industry competition

In 2011, Gates fulfilled his promise and invested in the Ambri company founded by Savage, but the amount of investment is unknown. This investment contributed to the creation of Ambri. Gates declined to comment. Billionaire Nick Pritzker and his son, Joby Pritzker, invested in Pittsburgh-based new energy company Aquion Energy through its Prelude Ventures and Tao Invest funds. .

In Aquion, a Carnegie Mellon University professor is renovating a factory that once produced Volkswagen and Sony TV in order to produce new batteries for home and hotel use. The technology of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has also received investment from venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. The three major US automakers are testing lithium-polymer batteries developed by the lab to meet the electricity needs of cars and homes and are expected to begin sales next year.

As the United States, China, and Germany are all working to reduce greenhouse gases, more money will be invested in this $50 billion industry in the global market. The battery market covers everything from flashlights, home solar energy, island power supplies to grid electricity storage. Panasonic and LG Electronics continue to launch their own products, leading the field, and many startups are also close behind. “This is a wonderful era, and the power of some technologies is so strong,” said Venkat Srinivasan, head of energy storage research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Sato is the first person to go out on his own initiative. This year, he plans to ship six prototypes consisting of hundreds of liquid metal batteries to Hawaii's wind and solar power plants, as well as a microgrid in Alaska and a Consolidated Edison in Manhattan. Substation. When the power demand is reduced, Ambri's battery will store the excess power of Edison United Electric Company. Then, when New Yorkers' demand for electricity rises, Edison United Electric Company does not have to start another coal or gas-fired power station, but instead can call the electricity stored in the Ambri battery.

Sato is a Canadian. He is 65 years old. He doesn't like the inventor's old-fashioned image. Sato is holding champagne in his hand and wearing a tuxedo to teach the students. However, when he talked about the battery, he was completely doing research. Sato Verde and one of his former students eventually perfected a tricky chemical technique, and he said that thanks to this effort, Ambri's products are superior to lithium batteries in terms of price and service life.

The battery uses two metals with different weights and melting points (Sado is not willing to disclose what these two metals are). He uses a salt layer for separation, and the current allows the temperature of the two metals to reach a maximum of 700 degrees Celsius, so that electrons can pass through the molten salt. This helps the metal store more power. Unlike a lithium-ion battery (a lithium-ion battery that can be charged 400 times and a service life of 4 years), Sato says his battery pack can be charged 10,000 times and has a service life of more than 10 years.

Musk's $5 billion gamble

Sony introduced the ubiquitous lithium-ion battery technology in 1991. This battery and its flammable liquid electrolyte have never overcome several inherent ills. They will suddenly catch fire and need a toxic solution with the name N-methylpyrrolidone. What makes investors even more frustrated is that so far, no one has come up with a concrete solution to increase prices while lowering prices.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he can accept this challenge. To this end, Musk throws $5 billion to build a large factory near a lithium mine in Nevada. Thanks to this battery factory, the price of Tesla's cheap models will drop to around $35,000 by 2017. Miles will exceed 200 miles. Currently, Tesla's most expensive Model S model is priced at $100,000, which means that the cost of the next-generation Tesla electric car is about one-third that of the Model S.

Many analysts estimate that Tesla's battery cost will be less than $400 per kWh. Musk said he hopes to reduce battery costs by 30%. Tesla declined to comment on the battery price. Critics have previously pointed out that Tesla has lost its "green label" due to its connection to the entire grid. Musk responded to this criticism by committing to provide solar panels to homes and some charging stations.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (hereinafter referred to as "KPCB") launched a massive campaign to phase out lithium-ion batteries in 2007. It only raises a simple question: What kind of battery is the ideal battery? The VC, known for its mining technology companies such as Netscape and Google, has assembled a large number of analysts and partners at its Menlo Park headquarters.

According to KPCB partner Ray Lane, they listed the “impossible product requirements” list and then set out to find the technology – hopefully hidden in a chemist’s lab – and Ready to make further improvements and finally bring it to market. KPCB sent company partner, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy and KPCB Green Technology's David Wells to Pittsburgh.

The two visited Jay Whitacre, who holds a doctorate in materials science. Waitakere is long and slender and especially likes to ride a bicycle. When he taught future materials engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, he studied the chemical properties of batteries. Rani said: "There are only a handful of technologies that can beat lithium-ion batteries. Jay Waitakere is the only one who claims to be able to do this. I didn't believe him at first." Rani used to be software. The former president of Oracle, now the chairman of Aquion and Carnegie Mellon University.

Strive to reduce battery cost

Whether you believe it or not, KPCB does not want to miss the opportunity. In 2008, KPCB gave Waitakere $1.6 million to speed up research. He used the upgraded version of the brine battery invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800 to develop a new type of battery. Six months later, the 43-year-old Waitakere is preparing to take his sodium-based energy storage battery out of the Carnegie Mellon University laboratory. He called Aquion to learn about the latter's water-soluble ion chemistry.

Rani and his partners were very pleased with Waitakere's early research progress, and in 2009 agreed to an additional investment of $7 million. KPCB also helped Aquion raise $172 million in funds, including Gates and Pritzker. Nick Pritzker is the cousin of Jay Pritzker, founder of the founding Hyatt Hotel Group, who died in 1999. As a private company, Aquion does not accept personal investment. Aquion CEO Scott Pearson said the situation could change next year: "We are only one step away from IPO or equity trading."

Aquion rented a three-story red brick building in a more secluded part of Pittsburgh, which is very close to Waitakere's residence, and he can be reached by a 2.5-mile ride from the campus. Waitakere recalled that on the day of February, the raging winds near the Allegheny River, but that day, he developed a new type of battery that can be used by families or hospitals. It is also the cheapest non-toxic battery with a long battery life.

It can provide at least 8 hours of battery life and release solar energy stored during the day. Waitakere showed off the fruits of his labor: a 28.6 kWh battery module that is the size of a dryer. It can supply power to home appliances such as refrigerators, coffee makers and water heaters.

Aquion's robotic equipment worked hard 30 miles east of the Red Brick Building. This automated device was originally used to pack chocolate candy, but now it is used to pull out the carbon black block and the manganese powder block, and then put it in a container to wait for it to be filled with salt water. Today, 50 trays of boxed batteries are being shipped to the Big Island of Hawaii, ready to give Earl Bakken (invented an external wearable cardiac pacemaker) an area of ​​8 acres (about 3 hectares) ) The building is powered. They save electricity generated by 512 solar panels instead of a propane engine.

Waitakere is in the process of producing enough batteries to hold 200 megawatt hours of electricity. In the beginning, he planned to sell electricity to locals using diesel generators. “Island and microgrids are the first important markets for our products,” he said. Aquion currently has only one production line, and the company hopes to add another four. Aquion CEO Persson said that it is possible to reduce battery costs to a minimum of $100 per kWh.

Competing to develop new battery technology

Chemical engineer Hany Eitouni is also trying to produce this cheap battery pack using a technology he invented at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The porous material used by Ettony allows electrons to flow into the new dry lithium battery. Khosla Ventures and Samsung Venture Investment invested $17 million in Seeo, which works for Ettony. Since 2007, the company has received more than $42 million in venture capital.

The 37-year-old Ettoni said that the latest lithium-ion polymer battery he invented is equivalent to a briefcase size, and the storage capacity per unit weight is two to three times that of today's liquid lithium batteries. This type of storage capacity is critical for electric vehicles that travel more than 200 miles per charge. In addition, Ettony also said that the solid polymer battery he invented lost less energy in the form of heat dissipation, which is a common problem of the current generation of lithium-ion batteries.

The fog began to cover the East Bay Industrial Park, and Seeo technicians dressed in white, wearing protective glasses, began to deal with irritating chemicals used to clean the metal in the core of the battery. Multiple machines wind 40 layers of lithium metal foil into a cylinder with two polymer layers (squeezed into a bag). Ettony’s passing score for his battery “is around 95 points.”

Seeo CEO Hal Zarem said that in the next few years, with its best design for full-load production, Seeo expects to reduce battery costs to less than $100 per kWh. Jeremy Neubauer, senior engineer at the Center for Transportation Technology and Systems Research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, said: "As production scales continue to expand, Seeo's batteries will be very cheap."

Ambri CEO Phil Giudice said that thanks to some of the biggest investments in technology, new batteries will eventually enable renewable energy to compete with fossil fuels. "Khosla, Gates, Musk, and Pritzker, they are all trying to make the world a better place, and they are excited about this prospect. They are realizing tasks that seem impossible." Dess said, "Every day, we are one step closer to this goal."

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