Aquion Energy, the Pennsylvania based start-up working to commercialise an aqueous hybrid-ion battery, has secured $55m of capital investment for manufacturing its grid-scale product.
The investment includes $35m from a funding round closed in April 2013 and a subsequent $20m, which brings the total investment to over $100m.
Aquion’s battery is composed of an aqueous water-based sodium sulphate electrolyte, a cathode of manganese oxide, an anode of activated carbon and a cotton separator.
Investors, including Bill Gates, have enabled the company to develop its product to a stage that it claims can deliver 85% energy efficiency, 5000 cycle lifetime and a charge-discharge capacity suited to grid cycle usage, all for $250 per kWh.
Aquion will use the investment money to ramp up production at its plant in Pennsylvania ready for its first commercial delivery later in the year.
Aquion’s batteries are scaleable based on a 1.5-kWh S10 battery stack that are already in use in off-grid and grid-tied systems around the world.
The company has a deal with Siemens to supply batteries for grid-scale testing to the German company.
