Aquion Energy up and coming battery....opinions please

[SunEagle]

I'm still waiting on the commercial version of the liquid metal battery that Gates gave about $5mill toward last year.

Until someone really comes up with a viable energy storage system there will always be snake oil salesman out there looking for your money to fund their design.

[russ]

When they are not on the market they can write most anything they want. So far it is vaporware.

There are a few zillion companies with disruptive technology at the same stage - most looking for funding.

About 99.99% fade away before a product ever hits the market.

[nat1971a]

Energy storage is the holy grail for low cost power. RE use will be a minor customer for efficient type storage - the people most interested will be producers and utilities.

If they can take cheap unused base line power and shift it to peak periods it is a real big deal.

All the big boys like GE & Siemens would jump on something like this. The scamsters realize this plus the public's general lack of knowledge about the topic and presto here come many, many companies of this type.

Hmm well the thing that grabs me about these batteries is this:-

http://www.aquionenergy.com/technology/

Technology
Safe
Aquion’s Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) batteries are non-toxic, non-corrosive, and contain no heavy metals, making them environmentally benign. They can be disposed of as ordinary trash, although recycling is recommended. The electrolyte is sodium sulfate based salt water with a neutral pH. As a result, electrolyte spillage – a common hazard with both acid and alkaline based battery chemistries – is not a concern with AHI batteries. The batteries are also extremely fault tolerant. They can be short circuited without causing an explosion or fire. It has been shown that AHI batteries can operate after short circuit with only a slight degradation in overall capacity.

Reliable
AHI batteries do not use corrosive reactions to store electrical energy as is common for other battery chemistries such as lead-acid. As a result, AHI batteries do not need to be immediately charged once they have been discharged. They can be held at a partial state of charge for very long periods of time without damage. Furthermore, AHI batteries do not require a float charge and can operate to 100% DOD with no significant degradation. High temperatures do not affect the lifetime or performance of the battery.

Affordable
AHI batteries offer an industry leading total cost of ownership. Their long lifetimes, very low maintenance costs, and low system costs result in a battery that delivers more value over its lifetime than other leading solutions. Long lifetimes have been demonstrated: Prototype cells with AHI technology show <10% capacity fade after up to >5,000 cycles at over 50% DOD and >15,000 cycles following the Sandia National Lab “partial state of charge” rapid cycling protocol.

[russ]

Energy storage is the holy grail for low cost power. RE use will be a minor customer for efficient type storage - the people most interested will be producers and utilities.

If they can take cheap unused base line power and shift it to peak periods it is a real big deal.

All the big boys like GE & Siemens would jump on something like this. The scamsters realize this plus the public's general lack of knowledge about the topic and presto here come many, many companies of this type.

[nat1971a]

Don't hold your breath Gates is a complete failure as an energy technology investor. He bought in huge on NanoSolar. Read the article a little closer. They have not even made prototypes and only big plans of maybe building a factory in 2015. $35 million is nothing when it comes to bringing a new technology to market. You cannot even build a test lab for that, let alone a factory.

Prototypes have been built and apparently been tested by third parties.

More info below from another article:-

Initially, Aquion Energy is targeting renewable energy project developers who can use batteries to store energy and deliver it at peak times, when power is more expensive, he says. The batteries should work for up to 10,000 cycles, about a 10 year usable life, which Aquion expects to extend in future versions. In terms of cost, Wiley says the price will be between lead-acid batteries—the cheapest available now—and lithium-ion batteries.

http://www.technologyreview.com/view/513256/bill-gates-spreads-his-battery-bets-on-aquion/

[Sunking]

Don't hold your breath Gates is a complete failure as an energy technology investor. He bought in huge on NanoSolar. Read the article a little closer. They have not even made prototypes and only big plans of maybe building a factory in 2015. $35 million is nothing when it comes to bringing a new technology to market. You cannot even build a test lab for that, let alone a factory.

[nat1971a]

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Aquion-Energys-Disruptive-Battery-Tech-Picks-Up-35M-in-VC

I havent seen much of a discussion on these batteries. I am considering buying these as soon as they start production of them (Q4 2013 apparently). Bill Gates just invested in the company. The technology sounds like it is in the right direction

Anybody got some inside info they can share?

Cheers
Nat