Technology

Better Battery Technology.

We are now hand-building a prototype that should have 1,100 to 2,200 Watt-hours per kilogram of capacity. (1,100 Wh/kg is 4 times the capacity of leading lithium ion batteries, and we expect that in mass production, we will always be able to undercut their cost per kilowatt-hour of capacity.)

Early tests indicate a potential in mass production of over 4,500 Watt-hours per kilogram, which is far above NASA’s 700 Watt-hours per kg estimate of the tipping point to go beyond the research on hybrid battery aircraft, to full battery electric commercial passenger aircraft (reference: direct communication with head of Small Business Innovation Research for the Aeronautics Division). The capacity may exceed 3,000 Watt-hours per kilogram within a year.

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[The chart to the right is no longer current & will be updated.] If it’s good enough for aircraft, it will work for light-, medium- and heavy-duty land and sea vehicles. It will also work for stationary applications, including providing intermittent renewable-source electricity on demand for smart micro-grids and giant grids, wind and solar farms, residential and commercial rooftop (and canopy) solar, and charging the world’s vehicles at night with energy stored during the day.

Technical performance is valuable; it takes long cycle life, safety, abundant materials, and low cost to make it revolutionary. Here is how our battery technology stacks up:

It’s designed for 10,000 charge and discharge cycles, to 85% depth of discharge, with 80% capacity retention after over 27 years, at one cycle per day.
Electrodes and solid-state electrolytes are fired at close to 1,000 degrees C; they won't ignite. Electrolyte ingredients could put fires out. The battery is nontoxic, and we expect it to be 90% to 95% recyclable or reusable.
Most of our ceramic grade (95% pure) commodity raw materials are abundant worldwide and cost less than $2 per kilogram. We don’t use lithium, cobalt, strong acids, or rare earth materials. We can surge as others struggle with shortages in materials supply and production capacity.

The ceramic tile factory is a mature, high-volume, very low-cost mass fabrication system for the electrodes and (when we get there) solid electrolytes. We expect to be able to sell for under $100 per kWh of battery capacity, at full volume production – 650-700 Gigawatt-hours (650-700 million kWh) per year, per plant. [The chart below is no longer current and will be updated.]