The investment arm of oil and gas group Chevron is investing in the ‘Prussian Blue electrode sodium-ion’ technology under development by Californian energy storage provider Natron Energy.
Investment leader Jesse Teichman said the “high-power density and fast charging time of Natron’s unique battery technology make it an attractive storage solution for the EV stations of the future”.
Natron’s technology involves using Prussian blue dye pigments in both the positive and negative electrode. The dye itself has “a unique structure and composition that allow it to store energy much more rapidly and reversibly than other types of battery electrodes”, meaning that the battery tech “can be fully charged and discharged tens of thousands of times at very high power”.
Natron said batteries using the technology have, under testing, proved to be non-flammable during overcharge, hard short circuit, nail penetration, and external heating of more than 200˚C.
Natron CEO Colin Wessells said the investment “provides a terrific boost to us as we develop and demonstrate energy storage products that will make fact charging stations a reality”.
In 2018, Natron began testing its Prussian Blue technology for use in grid-scale storage, under an agreement with France’s EDF.
