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When designers at Alsym Energy decided to take a fresh look at batteries, they set four standards for whatever they would create: it had to be cheap, recyclable, use materials that were abundant, and avoid getting stuck in supply-chain snarls.
They developed a battery based on water.
Alsym’s new power cell uses no cobalt, lithium, or nickel. The cathode is primarily manganese oxide; manganese is the fifth most common metal on Earth. The anode is made of another common metal that the company has yet to disclose.
The electrolyte—the medium through which electrons flow between a battery’s positive and negative terminals to create an electric current—is primarily water, with a few additives and no organic solvents such as acetone or formaldehyde.
Environmental stewardship is good, but it’s performance that matters—and Alsym claims to deliver it.
When the company tested its new battery architecture, “we started seeing lithium-like performance,” according to Kripa Varanasi, an MIT professor of mechanical engineering who has been working with Alsym since 2017.
Lithium batteries are the standard by which other battery designs’ power density and lifespan are judged.
Also, the company claims that a battery pack of its cells made for an electric vehicle, when manufactured at commercial scale, could cost half as much as today’s lithium-based batteries.
In addition to MIT engineers, the technology’s promise has drawn $32 million from venture investors and a former chair of Harvard’s business school to head its board of business advisors.
An unnamed “leading India-based automaker” has committed to partner with Alsym to make batteries for its EVs if Alsym’s battery technology meets certain performance benchmarks.
The company also is planning a prototype manufacturing facility in Massachusetts.
TRENDPOST: Assuming this new battery technology proves itself, batteries for storage and electric vehicles could be sourced and built almost anywhere.
As a result, the technology would skirt China’s control over key minerals now needed to build lithium batteries.
The batteries also would avoid the fire dangers of lithium, bypass the complexities of recycling toxic materials, and make EVs as cheap as conventional gas buggies.
If the technology performs as advertised, the batteries could be appearing in EVs around the world by 2030.