Swedish startup Enerpoly has opened the sector’s first zinc-ion battery megafactory. Its imaginative and prescient is to scale a greater choice to lithium-ion for storing renewable power over longer classes of time.
The Enerpoly Manufacturing Innovation Heart (EPIC) facility is positioned north of Stockholm. Commissioning has already begun and the plant is anticipated to make the primary zinc-ion batteries subsequent yr. The corporate targets to achieve a most manufacturing capability of 100MWh by way of 2026 — sufficient power to energy round 20,000 properties.
In 2018, Dr. Mylad Chamoun made a step forward in zinc-ion battery chemistry whilst pursuing his PhD at Stockholm College. Later that yr, he teamed up along with his former colleague Dr. Samir Nameer and the duo based Enerpoly. The companions noticed a gaping hollow available in the market the place lithium-ion wasn’t aggressive — providing 2 to ten hour power garage. They believed zinc-ion batteries may fill the space.
Making zinc-ion batteries paintings
The usage of zinc in batteries isn’t the rest new. The AA batteries that energy your most valuable (learn, junk) toys and devices are created from zinc and manganese oxide. This chemistry has made firms like Energizer and Duracell a tonne of cash.
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Then again, zinc-ion batteries have traditionally, for lack of a higher phrase, sucked at recharging. It is because zinc-ion chemistries are plagued by way of dendrites — crystals that reason quick circuits. In addition they lose capability speedy.
“Enerpoly has innovated throughout all of the zinc-ion battery gadget — together with anode, cathode, electrolyte, and separator design — to unravel those inherent issues,” the corporate’s CEO, MIT-educated aerospace engineer Eloisa da Castro, instructed TNW in an interview previous this yr.
Enerpoly makes use of zinc steel for the battery’s anode, manganese dioxide for the cathode, and a water-based electrolyte to hold charged debris between the 2 aspects.
Not like lithium, zinc is globally plentiful. Additionally, Sweden is house to the biggest zinc reserves in Europe — about 2% of the sector’s overall. Enerpoly hopes to ascertain a fully Ecu provide chain for its batteries and make the continent a “zinc-ion powerhouse.”
Zinc-ion for power garage
Other from lithium-ion battery builders, Enerpoly is focused on the power garage marketplace —now not EVs and smartphones. Use instances come with renewable power garage, moving power rather a lot at the grid, and extending energy resiliency — throughout the 2-10 hour garage mark.
The batteries are modular — a couple of packs can also be positioned in parallel to make higher techniques. The corporate claims the packs are non-toxic, non-flammable, and non-explosive.
Since the fabrics they use are a lot more plentiful, Enerpoly believes it may be cost-competitive with myriad different short-to-mid time period power garage applied sciences beneath construction. Those come with lithium-ion batteries, thermal warmth garage gadgets, liquid air batteries, iron float batteries, gravity batteries, or even this CO2 dome.
And traders appear to agree. To this point, the corporate has raised simply shy of €15mn. Over €8mn of that got here from the Swedish Power Company to build the EPIC manufacturing facility.
CEO Da Castro instructed TNW the corporate may be making plans to near its Sequence A this yr, as they appear to scale up against the 2026 goal of 100MWh. In July, Enerpoly obtained state of the art dry electrode production apparatus from bankrupt startup Nilar that it is going to use in its new plant. Past 2026, the startup is eyeing its first gigafactory.
