Battery start-up Anzode has received $1.7 million to conduct a three-year project developing its secondary zinc-manganese battery technology.
The cash is part of the California Energy Commission (CEC) Grant Funding Opportunity ‘Developing non-Lithium Ion Energy Storage Technologies to Support California’s Clean Energy Goals’.
CEC has awarded almost $11 million to developers of energy storage technologies— other than lithium-ion— to meet California’s 100% clean energy statutory requirement.
Anzode says its batteries can achieve 100Wh/kg, 280Wh/L at a cost of $70kWh as an energy consumer price.
The US firm says its proprietary and patented technology stabilises the zinc anode allowing it to cycle at high current rates and deep discharge levels. It can also be used with unstable cathode materials to allow a zinc-based battery arrangement.
Sebastien Belanger, president and CEO of Anzode, said the grant would enable them to accelerate its design, prototyping and manufacturing tests.
Anzode claims its batteries can be made at 70% ‘cost advantage’ compared to lithium-ion and gas generators.
On paper, zinc is an ideal battery electrode due to its high power and energy density, low cost, global availability, environmental characteristics and ease of recycling.