{"id":644662,"date":"2013-03-01T03:00:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-01T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=615570"},"modified":"2013-03-01T03:00:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-01T08:00:38","slug":"fluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/644662","title":{"rendered":"Fluidic shows a peek of its metal air batteries for off and on the grid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A quiet startup in Scottsdale, Arizona called <a href=\"http:\/\/fluidicenergy.com\/\">Fluidic Energy<\/a> showed off its grid-scale metal air batteries for one of the first times in a video at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arpae-summit.com\/\">ARPA-E Summit<\/a> this week (embedded below). The battery technology was developed at Arizona State University by ASU Materials Science Professor and Fluidic founder Cody Friesen, and spun out several years ago.<\/p>\n<p>The video shows Fluidic&#8217;s batteries installed under what looks like a radio or cell phone tower, and Friesen said that the company&#8217;s batteries are already being tested in the field in developing markets where the grid is unreliable as a replacement for diesel generators or lead acid batteries. Friesen said that using the &#8220;tens of millions of cell hours in the field,&#8221; the company plans to target the grid market in the U.S. <\/p>\n<p><div class='embed-vimeo' style='text-align:center;'><iframe src='http:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/60446135' width='500' height='281' frameborder='0'><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/60446135\">FLUIDIC: Metal Air Recharged<\/a> from <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/arpae\">DOE ARPA-E<\/a> on <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A battery is usually made up of an anode on one side and a cathode on the other, with an electrolyte in between. Fluidic&#8217;s battery uses zinc as the metal for the anode, air as the cathode, which is drawn in from the environment, and a liquid electrolyte. Air batteries have long been attractive to researchers because oxygen is abundant, free, and doesn\u2019t require a heavy casing to keep it inside a battery cell.<\/p>\n<p>Reporter Tyler Hamilton wrote some details about Fluidic&#8217;s technology in an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/news\/416150\/betting-on-a-metal-air-battery-breakthrough\/\">article back in 2009<\/a>. Hamilton wrote that one of the key innovations is that Fluidic&#8217;s battery uses an <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ionic_liquid\">ionic liquid<\/a> (liquid salt) for its electrolyte, instead of an aqueous solution that is made up of water. Water-based electrolytes can evaporate and tend to decompose when the voltage gets too high in metal air batteries. <\/p>\n<p>Fluidic&#8217;s other innovation, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/news\/416150\/betting-on-a-metal-air-battery-breakthrough\/page\/2\/\">reported Hamilton<\/a>, is a metal electrode architecture that uses different sized pores to combat a problem with batteries where sharp needles called dendrites are formed. These needles occur because the metal isn&#8217;t plating across the battery uniformly and can ruin the battery.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?attachment_id=615594\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-615594\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/gigaom2.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/02\/screen-shot-2013-02-28-at-7-53-35-pm.png?w=708&#038;h=354\" alt=\"Fluidic Energy\" width=\"708\" height=\"354\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-615594\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The combo of these innovations are supposed to deliver a metal air battery that can be recharged, has high energy density (amount of energy that can be stored), and is inexpensive. If the battery <a href=\"http:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/news\/416150\/betting-on-a-metal-air-battery-breakthrough\/page\/2\/\">was used in an electric car<\/a>, it could have 400 to 500 mile range for the price of a lead acid battery. The ARPA-E site says the battery is shooting for 5,000 charge and discharge cycles. Friesen says in the video that the battery is the first proven, high-cycle rechargeable metal air battery out there.<\/p>\n<p>Fluidic has a $5.13 million <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/phoenix\/news\/2010\/10\/28\/fluidic-energy-commits-to-facility.html?page=all\">grant from the Department of Energy<\/a>, and a <a href=\"http:\/\/arpa-e.energy.gov\/?q=arpa-e-projects\/high-power-zinc-air-energy-storage\">$3 million grant from ARPA-E<\/a>. A couple weeks ago Fluidic <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1464601\/000146460113000001\/xslFormDX01\/primary_doc.xml\">closed on a round of $13.8 million<\/a>, in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1464601\/000146460111000003\/xslFormDX01\/primary_doc.xml\">2011 raised $33.4 million<\/a> and in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/1464601\/000146460109000001\/xslFormDX01\/primary_doc.xml\">2009 raised $1 million<\/a>. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bizjournals.com\/phoenix\/news\/2010\/10\/28\/fluidic-energy-commits-to-facility.html?page=all\">This article in Phoenix Business Journal<\/a> says inverter manufacturer Satcon and Chevron Energy Solutions are investors.<\/p>\n<p>At one point in 2011 former First Solar President Bruce Sohn had joined Fluidic as CEO, but he only <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/profile\/view?id=120884595&#38;authType=OUT_OF_NETWORK&#038;%2338;authToken=_vuR&#038;%2338;trk=hb_upphoto\">stayed on for about 8 months<\/a>. Former WalMart CEO Lee Scott was sitting on the company board as of last year, and <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/02\/29\/battery-innovation-is-alive-and-well-in-the-u-s\/\">raved about Fluidic<\/a> at the ARPA-E Summit in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Other companies developing metal air batteries <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/04\/19\/introducing-an-air-breathing-battery-that-could-power-a-breakout-electric-car\/\">include IBM<\/a>, working with Japanese chemical companies Asahi Kasei and Central Glass, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.eosenergystorage.com\/\">Eos Energy Storage<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2011\/03\/01\/polyplus-water-batteries-could-be-comin-soon\/\">PolyPlus<\/a>. Metal air batteries have been under development for decades, and some think the <a href=\"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/2012\/06\/06\/why-the-lithium-air-battery-is-over-hyped\/\">technology is overhyped<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=gigaom.com&#038;blog=14960843&#038;%23038;post=615570&#038;%23038;subd=gigaom2&#038;%23038;ref=&#038;%23038;feed=1\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/jump?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=22582\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pubads.g.doubleclick.net\/gampad\/ad?iu=\/1008864\/GigaOM_RSS_300x250&#038;sz=300x250&#038;%23038;c=22582\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:<\/strong><br \/>Subscriber content. <a href=\"http:\/\/pro.gigaom.com\/?utm_source=cleantech&#038;utm_medium=editorial&#038;utm_campaign=auto3&#038;utm_term=615570+fluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid&#038;utm_content=katiefehren\">Sign up for a free trial<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pro.gigaom.com\/2012\/02\/after-solyndra-finding-opportunity-in-the-shifting-solar-industry\/?utm_source=cleantech&#038;utm_medium=editorial&#038;utm_campaign=auto3&#038;utm_term=615570+fluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid&#038;utm_content=katiefehren\">After Solyndra: analyzing the solar industry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pro.gigaom.com\/2010\/10\/report-cleantechs-third-quarter-growing-pains\/?utm_source=cleantech&#038;utm_medium=editorial&#038;utm_campaign=auto3&#038;utm_term=615570+fluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid&#038;utm_content=katiefehren\">Report: Cleantech&#8217;s Third-Quarter Growing Pains<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/pro.gigaom.com\/2013\/01\/cleantech-fourth-quarter-2012-analysis\/?utm_source=cleantech&#038;utm_medium=editorial&#038;utm_campaign=auto3&#038;utm_term=615570+fluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid&#038;utm_content=katiefehren\">The fourth quarter of 2012 in cleantech<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img width='1' height='1' src='http:\/\/gigaom.feedsportal.com\/c\/34996\/f\/646446\/s\/29156894\/mf.gif' border='0'\/><\/p>\n<div class='mf-viral'>\n<table border='0'>\n<tr>\n<td valign='middle'><a href=\"http:\/\/share.feedsportal.com\/viral\/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&#038;title=Fluidic+shows+a+peek+of+its+metal+air+batteries+for+off+and+on+the+grid&#038;link=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2013%2F03%2F01%2Ffluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid%2F\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/res3.feedsportal.com\/images\/emailthis2.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<td valign='middle'><a href=\"http:\/\/res.feedsportal.com\/viral\/bookmark.cfm?title=Fluidic+shows+a+peek+of+its+metal+air+batteries+for+off+and+on+the+grid&#038;link=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2013%2F03%2F01%2Ffluidic-shows-a-peek-of-its-metal-air-batteries-for-off-and-on-the-grid%2F\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/res3.feedsportal.com\/images\/bookmark.gif\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/da.feedsportal.com\/r\/159490028914\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/29156894\/a2.htm\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/da.feedsportal.com\/r\/159490028914\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/29156894\/a2.img\" border=\"0\"\/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" src=\"http:\/\/pi.feedsportal.com\/r\/159490028914\/u\/49\/f\/646446\/c\/34996\/s\/29156894\/a2t.img\" border=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/OmMalik?a=gX2LPU3cMSM:1R0tpW2CoXQ:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/OmMalik?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/OmMalik\/~4\/gX2LPU3cMSM\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A quiet startup in Scottsdale, Arizona called Fluidic Energy showed off its grid-scale metal air batteries for one of the first times in a video at the ARPA-E Summit this week (embedded below). The battery technology was developed at Arizona State University by ASU Materials Science Professor and Fluidic founder Cody Friesen, and spun out [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-644662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644662\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}