What would you say when next generation electric car could refuel the battery the same way you would fill up usual car now in a gas station?
It seems possible? To provide such a scenario a startup called Eos Energy Storage started the research to a next generation hybrid flow battery made from zinc and air.
The president of Eos Energy Storage explained in an interview how hybrid flow battery works, saying that such as an application is possible because the company uses air for its cathode and zinc as its anode and a liquid electrolyte between them.
Chemical reaction allows electrons to be harvested along the way. The company will create a system that replace the used electrolyte having zinc dissolved in it with new electrolyte with new zinc to create newly charged battery.
The idea is at the beginning of research but Eos Energy Storage says that an electric car which utilizes its flow technology could theoretically cost only $25,000 and take 3 minutes to charge for a range of 400 miles.
A product will come on the market late in 2013 or early 2014 and could potentially be a game changer for the power grid, providing low cost, long lasting energy storage, and delivering a battery cell that costs $160 per kWh, lasts 30 years and is made up of everyday benign materials.
Scientists have been working on using air (and water) as the cathode for batteries for half a century. But Eos Energy’s founder and inventor Steven Amendola discovered a breakthrough with his original design of the bi-directional air cathode that could last for 10,000 cycles (or around three decades).
The company has largely been funded by its management team, but is in the process of closing a funding round from strategic investors for scaling up its first grid zinc air battery.
Via: Gigaom
