The Emergence of Alternatives to Lithium in the Battery Industry
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Vishal Katariya, Deeptech Contributor (Deep Science and Technology Investments, Ankur Capital)
🎧Find the podcast link down here…
… and the article transcript below 🔽
What is going on?
Exciting battery technologies are being developed across the board and around the world for the global climate change mitigation effort. Lithium-ion batteries are unparalleled at the moment for a number of use cases because of their high energy density. However, they also come with a few faults. Zinc, iron and sodium-based batteries, e.g. outcompete lithium for utility-scale storage due to their lower upfront cost, longer life and the fact they don’t need sophisticated thermal management. These alternate batteries also consist of more abundant and less geopolitically sensitive materials.
What does it mean?
The heterogeneity of use cases for battery storage is a big factor for different chemistries having a role to play, i.e. mobility, power backup, microgrid solutions, and utility-scale storage. The plethora of use cases and geographic conditions of operation mean that there is no winner-takes-all chemistry across the board. A sodium-ion battery could compete with lithium in the mobility space, zinc-based batteries offer a better value proposition for stationary storage at utility and microgrid-scales, and an iron-based battery would win if the requirement is to store electricity for a week.
Why does it matter?
💸For markets:
Upwards of 2TWh of batteries are projected to be deployed by 2030, translating to a market size north of $200B. Both established players as well as startups around the world are rapidly developing alternative battery chemistries. CATL, the world’s largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries, has been actively developing a sodium-ion chemistry and claiming energy density on par with the lithium it would eventually displace. In the US alone, startups Form Energy, ESS and Eos have raised over $300M each and are rapidly moving towards large-scale deployment.
India is a rapidly emerging market in the space, and cutting-edge research has translated to the rise and growth of startups like OffGrid Energy Labs (zinc), Rechargion, Indi Energy (sodium), Gegadyne and Delectrik across the country, as well as the 2021 acquisition of UK-based Faradion by Reliance New Energy Solar for £100M. The government too is providing support via programs such as the production-linked incentive (PLI). Another significant advantage that India has as a testbed and incubator for these technologies is the variety of conditions that these batteries can be tested in, making them globally competitive right from the outset.
🧑🏿🤝🧑🏻For society:
The larger the pool of battery chemistries available for commercial deployment, the more efficient our decarbonization solutions can be. Further, the constant drive towards using more abundant and environmentally friendly materials in new battery chemistries also translates to an improvement in the carbon footprint, environmental impact and geopolitical sensitivity of the world’s energy systems.
🔮What’s next?
Some of the leading lithium competitors are fast approaching large-scale deployment. Sodium-ion battery manufacturer Natron is already deploying its batteries for data centers, and many other companies have acquired large project pipelines. As these companies and chemistries approach gigawatt-hours of deployment, they will become formidable competitors to lithium-ion, and will be in a good position to become technological behemoths themselves.
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