Energy Storage

Silica aerogels are gaining traction as thermal barriers in lithium-ion batteries. This premium article will provide further analysis of the trends and players in this field.

Anglo American unveils a prototype of the world's largest hydrogen-powered mine haul truck designed to operate in everyday mining conditions at its Mogalakwena PGMs mine in South Africa.

Having existed and been in commercial use for many decades, zinc batteries are back in the limelight. Zn-air batteries have been used for medical devices such as hearing aids while primary zinc batteries, comprising a zinc anode and a MnO2 cathode, are ubiquitous for consumer devices, such as TV remotes. Enabling rechargeability could help zinc batteries succeed in the stationary storage sector given inherent advantages regarding the use of cheap, widely available, and safe materials. This premium article provides an introduction into rechargeable zinc battery technology and the companies looking to commercialise zinc batteries for stationary energy storage applications.

ChargedEVs is an online conference featuring various talks and presentations on the electric vehicle (EV) market. They are largely given by companies involved in the supply chain or componentry relating to the EV industry. The event is often a good way to keep up to date with the latest products and developments from these companies, as well as some more general EV charging component and engineering trends. This article covers several presentations relating to the EV charging infrastructure.

The Volkswagen Group and SEAT SA will mobilise 10 billion euros, together with their partners in the Future: Fast Forward project, in the event of a positive resolution of the PERTE VEC. The Gigafactory will have an annual production capacity of 40 GWh, supplying the total volume of cells to Martorell and Pamplona. It will employ more than 3,000 people by 2030 and occupy an area of 200 hectares. Construction of the Gigafactory will begin in the first quarter of 2023, and production will start in 2026.

It is impossible to avoid headlines about the "graphene battery"; the concept of this Nobel Prize winning nanomaterial revolutionizing the energy storage market is naturally very enticing, but it is graphene's older sibling carbon nanotubes that have progressed beyond the hype and disillusionment phases of their commercial journey by finding a value-add high volume energy storage adoption.

The promise of silicon anodes in providing a step change improvement to Li-ion battery energy density has led to considerable interest from the industry. Around 30 start-ups, or early stage companies, are developing silicon anode technology and approximately US$2 billion of funding has been secured by these companies, with some into their second decade of development. New companies are still being founded, lured by the massive opportunity afforded by the battery and electric vehicle markets, while others are at the early stages of commercialisation. This premium article gives an introduction into some of the key start-ups in the silicon anode space.

Sodium-ion battery cathode producer Altris AB has today signed a deal with AB Sandvik Materials Technology to house the company's first industrial scale manufacturing facility in Sandviken. The new facility, called 'Ferrum', will have the annual capacity to produce 2000 metric tonnes of Altris' ground-breaking cathode material Fennac - enabling 1GWh of sustainable sodium-ion batteries to enter the market each year.

BYD Co Ltd presents the latest models of the successful Battery-Box series of energy storage systems. Highlights include the introduction of the new BYD Battery-Max Lite for industrial and commercial application as well as a preview on the Battery-Box HVC .

An industry-first application of liquid air energy storage energy efficiency technology is now a live IEEA demonstrator project at Aggregate Industries' Cauldon Cement Works.