The last week has seen some interesting stories from the energy storage sector. Here’s a look at a few of them.
Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk announced last week the company would be unveiling the Tesla home battery system soon. According to Bloomberg, Musk said the unveiling would occur within the next month or two – and as for commercial rollout:
“We have the design done, and it should start going into production in about six months or so,” Musk said.
Also last week was news of a development to improve the safety of lithium based batteries.
While generally safe, there are circumstances where a reaction within a lithium battery can create heat to the point that “thermal runaway” occurs and the battery vents, catches fire or explodes.
Flammable electrolyte could become a a thing of the past thanks to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientist Nitash Balsara and Joseph DeSimone of the University of North Carolina.
The pair have developed a fluorinated electrolyte called perfluoropolyether, or PFPE. “Things that contain fluorine don’t burn very easily,” said Professor Balsara.. “They’ll evaporate, but they won’t catch fire.”
PFPE has traditionally been used as a lubricant in particularly harsh chemical, high temperature environments or where wide working-temperature ranges are involved.
The invention isn’t quite ready for prime-time yet for high discharge applications as the conductivity of the PFPE electrolyte needs to be improved. “Because the fluorinated compound is not as conductive, you can’t charge these batteries very quickly, and you can’t draw current very quickly,” Balsara said. “The company’s research goal is to hasten the ions’ motion through the electrolyte.”
With refinement, the Professor sees the development as being particularly useful in home energy storage where he says safety is not a luxury, but a necessity.
The team are further developing the electrolyte via their startup company, Blue Current.
Last week also saw the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program showcase. The event featured a flow battery fuel for electric forklifts, new membranes for flow batteries and sodium-ion cathode structures as a cheaper alternative to lithium.
ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy) supports the development of high-potential, high-impact energy technologies that are too early for private-sector investment.
Finally, at a U.S. Senate hearing last week relating to the Department Of Energy’s budget, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said the agency has requested increases in funding for energy storage research and development.
Battery lamp image : Andy Armstrong
