Solid-state battery company Solid Power named “Emerging Cleantech Company of the Year” by CCIA
07 November 2014
Solid Power Inc. has been named “Emerging Cleantech Company of the Year” by the Colorado Cleantech Industries Association (CCIA). Solid Power, founded in 2012 based on research conducted at the University of Colorado at Boulder under funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is developing solid-state rechargeable battery products for government and commercial markets, including aerospace and electric vehicles, where high energy, safe operation and long life are required. (Earlier post.)
Solid Power’s technology combines an exceptionally high capacity cathode, a high conductivity solid-state electrolyte and a lithium-metal anode. The company says that its principal innovation lies in the cathode chemistry that, when combined with conductive additive and small amounts of solid-state electrolyte, forms a composite cathode the capacity of which is nearly triple that of the cathode capacity used in lithium-ion batteries.
In its proposal for NASA Phase I SBIR funding, Solid Power said that its work in the Phase I project would demonstrate the feasibility of surpassing 600 Wh/kg and 1000 Wh/L at the cell level—a 3-5X improvement over the best battery technologies planned for NASA missions today.
The composite cathode is chemically stable vs. lithium-metal and is compatible with a variety of exceptionally high conductivity solid-state electrolytes (0.01 - 0.001 S/cm). Further, the solid-state cells utilize materials that are environmentally stable and fully non-volatile/non-flammable. The cathode is made up of exceptionally cost-effective, Earth-abundant precursor materials.
The result is ultra-high-energy, safe and low-cost solid-state rechargeable batteries.
Since 2013, the company has also received funding from the ARPA-E (earlier post), State of Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the US Air Force, the National Science Foundation, and US Missile Defense Agency.
In October, Solid Power became an Affiliate Member of the US Department of Energy’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR). (Earlier post.) JCESR’s goal is to create new breakthrough energy storage technologies. JCESR’s approach is to bring together high-powered scientists and engineers from academia, national laboratories and private industry in order to enable discovery of new material, accelerate technology development, and commercialize revolutionary new energy storage technologies.
Maybe a miracle but only maybe as it's not on the market now. Anyway if ever they market a powerful compact battery then it will be impeded from success because there will be a big problem for recharging electric cars if it become mainstream. I calculated that half the peoples do not have a house and park in the street or in a big spreaded parking lot for apartment dwellers. Also there is no sufficient electricity in the grid. Also it's impossible to put chargers everywhere because there is insufficient space for that and it take long to recharge a car in a fast chargers. Look at gasoline infrastructure, it's always busy and it take 5 minutes to fill-up once a week so don't even think to fast recharge once a day for 30 minutes and anyway gas price is declining and people won't like to wait 30 minutes to fast recharge.
Posted by: gorr | 07 November 2014 at 02:24 PM
For fast charges, future cars buyers may select FCEVs, but both initial and operation cost may be higher than BEVs with 1000 Wh/L solid states batteries.
Most industrial countries can afford to have Extended range BEVs and FCEVs together with associated fuel distribution networks.
Poor countries may have to use second hand older ICEVs and/or lower cost small BEVs for an additional generation or two. Cuba is a good example.
Posted by: HarveyD | 07 November 2014 at 04:54 PM
These companies have to get funding from SBIR, ARPA and/or where ever they can because the private sector investors want huge profits immediately, they are not interested in research.
I looked into Solid Power and they have something very interesting and potentially hugely profitable. If we want companies like Solid Power to continue helping the world, we need to form much better avenues for capital.
Posted by: SJC | 09 November 2014 at 09:07 AM