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The start-ups hoping to return battery making to the US
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As heatwaves scorched Europe this summer, workers at a US battery company noticed an uptick in demand.
Key facts
- Last December, LFP batteries, a relatively cheap form of lithium ion battery, were trading at $81 per kilowatt hour, external (kWh) whereas Unigrid's sodium ion battery pricing is roughly $100 kWh
- Peak Energy is also, at present, relying on China-sourced cells for its first installations, but hopes to help GM launch a US-based production facility in Michigan "by the end of 2028", says Cameron
- Prof Dame Clare Grey at the University of Cambridge, who is co-founder of battery firm Nyobolt, points out that under certain conditions chromium-3 may form chromium-6, a toxic, cancer-causing material
- Ivana Hasa at the University of Warwick, who has no connection to Unigrid, agrees that it is possible for chromium-3 to form chromium-6 at high states of charge, though she says this can be mitigated
Summary
San Diego-based Unigrid sells a nine kilowatt hour battery for people's homes. "We have requests coming from Spain, France, Germany, The Netherlands," says Darren Tan, co-founder and chief executive. Unigrid's battery is an emerging technology, it's a sodium ion, rather than lithium ion device. They're potentially less likely to catch fire and should also work in a wider range of temperatures, even down to lows of minus 40C, external.