Jan 6 2023
Why 2023 is a breakout year for batteries

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

If you stop to think about it for long enough, batteries start to sound a little bit like magic.

Seriously, tiny chemical factories that we carry around to store energy and release it when we need it, over and over again? Wild.

Over the time I’ve spent writing about climate, and even before that in my previous life as an engineer, I’ve cultivated a somewhat major obsession with batteries. And it’s not just because the concept is so mind-bending: batteries are set to play a starring role in the renewable energy transition, both in EVs and on the grid. 

So when the new year rolled around and we here at MIT Technology Review started to work on a series called “What’s Next in Tech,” I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. The result went live this morning—check it out for all my predictions on what’s going to be important this year in battery technology. And for the newsletter this week, let’s dive a bit deeper on batteries’ role in climate action, why I think they’re so exciting, and where the technology is going.

The energy puzzle

Stored energy is absolutely key to our way of life. The ability to flick the lights on, cook dinner, or drive to work relies on energy that we can unleash when we need it. Today, the vast majority of this energy storage is in the form of fossil fuels. Coal, natural gas, oil—all forms of fossil fuels contain energy in their chemical bonds, remnants of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. These fuels are burned when we need them at power plants or in vehicles, transforming that energy into a form we can use. 

But now we’re trying to stop burning fossil fuels. We’ve got great candidates for new energy sources, especially solar and wind. But these sources are “intermittent,” a long word to say that the sun doesn’t always shine and the wind doesn’t always blow. 

So we need a way to take the electricity generated by wind turbines and solar panels and store it, and that turns out to be more complicated than it sounds. 

A quick aside here to say that there are other ways to at least help address intermittency. Adding baseload and dispatchable energy sources like nuclear, geothermal, and hydropower can somewhat balance intermittent solar and wind. And better, longer transmission lines to move electricity around can also help.

But back to energy storage. 

There’s a world of ways to store energy, some of which I’ve covered. Take physical energy storage. The most familiar example of this is pumped hydropower, where water is pumped up a hill from one lake into another, or held back by a dam. Pumped hydro actually accounts for about 90% of the world’s energy storage today. 

Pressurized gas can also be used to store energy. Storing heat is another approach, and so-called thermal batteries could play a key role, especially in industrial settings. 

But when it comes down to it, chemistry is an elegant way to store energy, and one that can be replicated pretty much anywhere. Which brings us to batteries. 

A periodic table of possibilities 

When it comes to batteries, the world has widely converged on one element: lithium. Lithium-ion batteries make an appearance in everything from phones and laptops to EVs and even massive installations at data centers or on the grid. 

And fair enough. These batteries can pack a lot of energy into a relatively small space, they charge and discharge pretty quickly, and they’re getting cheap. 

But the dominance of lithium-ion batteries is partly due to their status as the reigning technology. We know how to make lithium-ion batteries really well because they got developed for personal electronic devices decades ago. So now they’re getting incorporated into new applications, like EVs and even grid storage. 

But there’s a whole periodic table out there, and there are some technologies that could really upend things—and might even be a better fit for these new industries we’re setting up to combat the climate crisis.

  • EVs are pretty expensive today, what if they were way cheaper? Sodium-ion batteries might be the answer. 
  • What if size and weight weren’t an issue at all, and I just wanted to store solar power for days or weeks, as cheaply as possible? Say, for grid storage. Iron batteries could answer that call.

Building new types of batteries is hard, and plenty of startups have failed with dreams like these. But I think it’s so interesting to see all these new approaches popping up to this seemingly simple task. The closer you look, the more complicated and interesting it becomes. 

Do check out my story for more on some of the technologies I mentioned here, and for my predictions for 2023—and let me know what you think I missed!

Another thing

In case you missed it over the holidays, my colleague James Temple published a story about a startup that says it’s begun releasing small amounts of tiny particles into the atmosphere, a practice that could be used to tweak the climate. 

The possibility of reflecting sunlight back into space in this way, called solar geoengineering, is controversial. Some experts say the technology could save lives by lowering temperatures while we work on addressing climate change, but the side effects could be difficult to untangle and are, at this point, impossible to predict. 

There’s a world of debate on solar geoengineering, with some arguing we shouldn’t even go near the concept. But up to this point, even proponents of research in the field had agreed on the need for careful experimentation and public engagement. That is, until a startup decided to just start dabbling with the practice, and selling cooling credits to monetize it. 

The company’s experiments are tiny: they’re releasing just a few grams of sulfur in weather balloons. Partly because of their small scale, they’re probably not illegal, as Ted Parson wrote in Legal Planet in response to the story. 

But the launches, which the company’s founder acknowledges are partly about stirring the pot, show how easy it would be for companies, nations, or individuals to jump into geoengineering, despite a lack of understanding about its effects. There’s no real regulations in the space right now. 

For more on the startup’s efforts, check out James’s story. He also recently wrote about a US government effort to develop a research plan for geoengineering. 

Keeping up with climate

In a dramatic start to 2023, a winter heat wave smashed January records across Europe. (Washington Post)

Researchers are experimenting with installing solar panels over crops and grazing land. The panels can generate electricity while keeping plants and livestock cool. (MIT Technology Review)

Iron-air battery maker Form Energy is building a factory in Weirton, West Virginia. The site represents a $760 million total investment. (Canary Media)

→ Iron-based batteries could help stabilize the electricity grid. (MIT Technology Review)

One chart shows how China dominates the solar supply chain, from raw materials through solar module production. (Canary Media)

The biodiversity crisis is linked to climate change. But it’s also a distinct issue that’s largely taken a back seat. David Wallace-Wells explains why that’s a problem. (New York Times)

California’s wildfire season was relatively mild in 2022. While a similar number of fires started, much less area burned than in previous seasons, partially because of favorable weather. (The Guardian)

→ What complex fire models can tell us about the future of California’s forests. (MIT Technology Review)

Making aluminum can generate harmful greenhouse gases called PFCs, and facilities in China make way more than anywhere else in the world. There’s an easy fix: automation. (Grid News)

Last year was a breakout year for US battery production. In 2022, companies collectively announced plans for over $73 billion in battery and EV production and battery recycling. (NPR)

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Jan 5 2023
What’s next for batteries

Every year the world runs more and more on batteries. Electric vehicles passed 10% of global vehicle sales in 2022, and they’re on track to reach 30% by the end of this decade. 

Policies around the world are only going to accelerate this growth: recent climate legislation in the US is pumping billions into battery manufacturing and incentives for EV purchases. The European Union, and several states in the US, passed bans on gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035. 

The transition will require lots of batteries—and better and cheaper ones. 

Most EVs today are powered by lithium-ion batteries, a decades-old technology that’s also used in laptops and cell phones. All those years of development have helped push prices down and improve performance, so today’s EVs are approaching the price of gas-powered cars and can go for hundreds of miles between charges. Lithium-ion batteries are also finding new applications, including electricity storage on the grid that can help balance out intermittent renewable power sources like wind and solar. 

But there is still lots of room for improvement. Academic labs and companies alike are hunting for ways to improve the technology—boosting capacity, speeding charging time, and cutting costs. The goal is even cheaper batteries that will provide cheap storage for the grid and allow EVs to travel far greater distances on a charge.

At the same time, concerns about supplies of key battery materials like cobalt and lithium are pushing a search for alternatives to the standard lithium-ion chemistry. 

In the midst of the soaring demand for EVs and renewable power and an explosion in battery development, one thing is certain: batteries will play a key role in the transition to renewable energy. Here’s what to expect in 2023.

A radical rethink

Some dramatically different approaches to EV batteries could see progress in 2023, though they will likely take longer to make a commercial impact.

One advance to keep an eye on this year is in so-called solid-state batteries. Lithium-ion batteries and related chemistries use a liquid electrolyte that shuttles charge around; solid-state batteries replace this liquid with ceramics or other solid materials. 

This swap unlocks possibilities that pack more energy into a smaller space, potentially improving the range of electric vehicles. Solid-state batteries could also move charge around faster, meaning shorter charging times. And because some solvents used in electrolytes can be flammable, proponents of solid-state batteries say they improve safety by cutting fire risk. 

Solid-state batteries can use a wide range of chemistries, but a leading candidate for commercialization uses lithium metal. Quantumscape, for one, is focused on that technology and raised hundreds of millions in funding before going public in 2020. The company has a deal with Volkswagen that could put its batteries in cars by 2025.  

But completely reinventing batteries has proved difficult, and lithium-metal batteries have seen concerns about degradation over time, as well as manufacturing challenges. Quantumscape announced in late December it had delivered samples to automotive partners for testing, a significant milestone on the road to getting solid-state batteries into cars. Other solid-state-battery players, like Solid Power, are also working to build and test their batteries. But while they could reach major milestones this year as well, their batteries won’t make it into vehicles on the road in 2023. 

Solid-state batteries aren’t the only new technology to watch out for. Sodium-ion batteries also swerve sharply from lithium-ion chemistries common today. These batteries have a design similar to that of lithium-ion batteries, including a liquid electrolyte, but instead of relying on lithium, they use sodium as the main chemical ingredient. Chinese battery giant CATL reportedly plans to begin mass-producing them in 2023. 

Sodium-ion batteries may not improve performance, but they could cut costs because they rely on cheaper, more widely available materials than lithium-ion chemistries do. But it’s not clear whether these batteries will be able to meet needs for EV range and charging time, which is why several companies going after the technology, like US-based Natron, are targeting less demanding applications to start, like stationary storage or micromobility devices such as e-bikes and scooters. 

Today, the market for batteries aimed at stationary grid storage is small—about one-tenth the size of the market for EV batteries, according to Yayoi Sekine, head of energy storage at energy research firm BloombergNEF. But demand for electricity storage is growing as more renewable power is installed, since major renewable power sources like wind and solar are variable, and batteries can help store energy for when it’s needed. 

Lithium-ion batteries aren’t ideal for stationary storage, even though they’re commonly used for it today. While batteries for EVs are getting smaller, lighter, and faster, the primary goal for stationary storage is to cut costs. Size and weight don’t matter as much for grid storage, which means different chemistries will likely win out. 

One rising star in stationary storage is iron, and two players could see progress in the coming year. Form Energy is developing an iron-air battery that uses a water-based electrolyte and basically stores energy using reversible rusting. The company recently announced a $760 million manufacturing facility in Weirton, West Virginia, scheduled to begin construction in 2023. Another company, ESS, is building a different type of iron battery that employs similar chemistry; it has begun manufacturing at its headquarters in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Shifts within the standard

Lithium-ion batteries keep getting better and cheaper, but researchers are tweaking the technology further to eke out greater performance and lower costs.

Some of the motivation comes from the price volatility of battery materials, which could drive companies to change chemistries. “It’s a cost game,” Sekine says.

Cathodes are typically one of the most expensive parts of a battery, and a type of cathode called NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) is the dominant variety in EV batteries today. But those three elements, in addition to lithium, are expensive, so cutting some or all of them could help decrease costs. 

This year could be a breakout year for one alternative: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), a low-cost cathode material sometimes used for lithium-ion batteries. 

Recent improvements in LFP chemistry and manufacturing have helped boost the performance of these batteries, and companies are moving to adopt the technology: LFP market share is growing quickly, from about 10% of the global EV market in 2018 to about 40% in 2022. Tesla is already using LFP batteries in some vehicles, and automakers like Ford and Volkswagen announced that they plan to start offering some EV models with the chemistry too.

Though battery research tends to focus on cathode chemistries, anodes are also in line to get a makeover.

Most anodes in lithium-ion batteries today, whatever their cathode makeup, use graphite to hold the lithium ions. But alternatives like silicon could help increase energy density and speed up charging.

Silicon anodes have been the subject of research for years, but historically they haven’t had a long enough lifetime to last in products. Now though, companies are starting to expand production of the materials.

In 2021, startup Sila began producing silicon anodes for batteries in a wearable fitness device. The company was recently awarded a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy to help build a manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington. The factory will serve Sila’s partnership with Mercedes-Benz and is expected to produce materials for EV batteries starting in 2025.

Other startups are working to blend silicon and graphite together for anodes. OneD Battery Sciences, which has partnered with GM, and Sionic Energy could take additional steps toward commercialization this year.  

Policies shaping products

The Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in late 2022, sets aside nearly $370 billion in funding for climate and clean energy, including billions for EV and battery manufacturing. “Everybody’s got their mind on the IRA,” says Yet-Ming Chiang, a materials researcher at MIT and founder of multiple battery companies.

The IRA will provide loans and grants to battery makers in the US, boosting capacity. In addition, EV tax credits in the law incentivize automakers to source battery materials in the US or from its free-trade partners and manufacture batteries in North America. Because of both the IRA’s funding and the EV tax credit restrictions, automakers will continue announcing new manufacturing capacity in the US and finding new ways to source materials.

All that means there will be more and more demand for the key ingredients in lithium-ion batteries, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel. One possible outcome from the IRA incentives is an increase in already growing interest around battery recycling. While there won’t be enough EVs coming off the road anytime soon to meet the demand for some crucial materials, recycling is starting to heat up.

CATL and other Chinese companies have led in battery recycling, but the industry could see significant growth in other major EV markets like North America and Europe this year. Nevada-based Redwood Materials and Li-Cycle, which is headquartered in Toronto, are building facilities and working to separate and purify key battery metals like lithium and nickel to be reused in batteries. 

Li-Cycle is set to begin commissioning its main recycling facility in 2023. Redwood Materials has started producing its first product, a copper foil, from its facility outside Reno, Nevada, and recently announced plans to build its second facility beginning this year in Charleston, South Carolina.

With the flood of money from the IRA and other policies around the world fueling demand for EVs and their batteries, 2023 is going to be a year to watch.

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Nov 18 2022
Super-hot salt could be coming to a battery near you

There’s a lot going on in the climate world. Election workers are still counting and recounting votes in the US to determine control of Congress, and at the UN climate conference, delegates are heads-down in negotiations, battling over climate targets and finance agreements. 

We’re still waiting for more information about what these critical moments will mean for the future of climate policy and technology. While I keep my ears out for more definitive insights into what it all means, let’s take a break from the speculation and dive deep on something I think we should all be talking about more: batteries. 

I’m obsessed with batteries, and I’m always watching the wave of alternative chemistries that’s slowly percolating into the growing energy storage market. Some of these new players could eventually be cheaper (and in various ways, better) than the industry-standard lithium-ion batteries, but they often face real barriers to adoption. So let’s take a look at one startup’s journey to store energy using super-hot salt. 

Why we need new batteries

The world is building more capacity for renewables, especially solar and wind power that come and go with the weather. So, long story short, we need to be able to store energy. (I went more into this a couple weeks ago in the newsletter, check that out here if you missed it.)

Pumped hydropower accounted for over 90% of worldwide energy storage as of 2020. While hydro is a cheap, effective way to store power, it comes with environmental concerns and major constraints on where it can be installed, since it requires large bodies of water.  

Batteries make up most of the rest of today’s energy storage capacity, and will likely account for the bulk of energy storage market growth as well in the coming decades. Today, lithium-ion batteries are most common, similar to the ones in your phone or electric vehicle. 

Over decades of development and scaling, lithium-ion batteries have gotten cheaper, and production capacity has exploded, with new battery Gigafactories popping up all around the world seemingly every other week. 

But there are a few mismatches between lithium-ion’s strengths and what’s needed in batteries used for stationary energy storage.

  • Price: Grid-scale storage needs to be dirt-cheap to help renewables be affordable. Last year, the US Department of Energy set a goal of reducing costs by 90% by 2030. Lithium-ion batteries have gotten cheaper over the years, but gains may be plateauing, especially with possible material shortages expected. 
  • Size: Lithium-ion batteries pack a lot of power into a small space. But while battery size is important for things like phones and cars, it’s not so crucial for grid-scale energy storage. Compromising on energy density for stationary applications could mean lower cost. 
  • Lifetime: Industrial plants often put in equipment that, when maintained, lasts for decades. Lithium-ion batteries typically need to be replaced every 5-10 years, which can be pricey.

How hot salt can help

With the mismatch between lithium-ion batteries and our future energy storage needs, it seems like everybody is working on an alternative way to store energy. In just the last year, I’ve covered iron air and iron flow batteries, plastic ones, and even one startup using compressed carbon dioxide to store energy. 

Now, another technology is making the jump from the lab to the commercial world: molten salt. 

Ambri is a Boston-area startup that’s building molten-salt batteries from calcium and antimony. The company recently announced a demonstration project deploying energy storage for Microsoft data centers, and last year it raised over $140 million to build its manufacturing capacity. 

The company says its technology could be 30-50% cheaper over its lifetime than an equivalent lithium-ion system. Molten salt batteries can also exceed 80% efficiency, meaning that a relatively low amount of energy that’s used to charge the battery is lost to heat.  

Ambri was founded in 2010 based on research from Donald Sadoway’s lab at MIT. The goal was to develop a low-cost product for the stationary storage market, says David Bradwell, the company’s founder and CTO. 

The inspiration came from an unlikely place: aluminum production. Using similar chemical reactions to what’s used for aluminum smelting, the team built a lab-scale, low-cost energy storage system. But turning this concept into a real product hasn’t been so straightforward.

The magnesium and antimony-based chemistry the company started out with proved difficult to manufacture. In 2015, after continuing issues with the batteries’ seals, Ambri laid off a quarter of its staff and went back to the drawing board. 

In 2017, the company pivoted to a new approach for its batteries, using calcium and antimony. The new chemistry relies on cheaper materials, and should prove simpler to manufacture, Bradwell says. Since the pivot, the company has worked out technical glitches and made progress on commercialization, going through third-party safety testing and signing its first commercial deals, including the Microsoft one. 

The Microsoft energy storage system. Image courtesy of Ambri.

There are still major challenges ahead for the startup. The batteries operate at high temperatures, over 500°C (about 900°F), which limits what materials can be used to make them. And moving from single battery cells, which are about the size of a lunchbox, to huge container-sized systems can present challenges in system controls and logistics. 

That’s not to mention deploying a product to the real world means “dealing with real world things that happen,” as Bradwell puts it. Everything from lightning strikes to rodents can throw a wrench in a new battery system. 

At least one thing has changed over the last decade though: the market. Investors and even casual observers used to push back on whether anybody would want energy storage, Bradwell says. Now, the only question seems to be how quickly the industry can grow.

It will take time for Ambri and other new battery outfits to scale manufacturing and prove that they’ll be a viable, affordable alternative to existing batteries. As Bradwell says, “the journey continues.” 

Keeping up with Climate 

Disagreements about climate goals are hanging over COP27, the UN climate conference. Some leaders want to reaffirm the need to keep warming to 1.5°C, even as the target seems to be slipping out of reach. (New York Times)

Delegates at COP27 are still deep in talks over loss and damage funding for climate change impacts. (Bloomberg)

→ If you missed it, check out last week’s newsletter for more on why this funding is at the center of the talks.

The US is working to cut the influence of China in climate tech manufacturing. But the move could make some technologies more expensive and slow progress on climate goals (Grid News)

→ Meanwhile, the US and China are restarting climate talks. (Washington Post)

Republican gains in the US midterms were limited, quelling some renewable energy advocates’ concerns that Congress would dismantle recent climate action. (Inside Climate News)

The electric revolution has two wheels. About 40% of motorcycles and other smaller vehicles sold last year were electric, a much higher fraction than larger passenger vehicles. (Protocol)

We’re getting a better idea of AI’s climate impacts. Researchers developed a new approach to understand emissions from large language models, which require a huge amount of energy to train and run. (MIT Technology Review)

Organic solar cells are getting better. The technology could open up new applications for solar, since organic cells are light and flexible, but they’ll need to also be durable and easily-manufactured to break into the market. (Science) 

Electric trucks are coming, bringing with them wild requirements for the grid. By 2035, a truckstop could require as much power as a small town. (Bloomberg)

→ Grids may be able to handle fleets of short-haul delivery trucks, but long-range trucking poses a greater challenge. (MIT Technology Review)

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Oct 29 2022
What new federal funding will mean for making batteries

This article is from The Spark, MIT Technology Review’s weekly climate newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here.

Welcome back to The Spark! 

The US is on a climate tech spending spree. Over the past year, federal action has set aside hundreds of billions of dollars for energy and climate. Now, we’re starting to see some of that money actually get handed out. 

The Department of Energy just announced about $2.8 billion in grants to companies working to make battery materials and components in the US. I wrote about the funding last week when it was announced—for this week’s newsletter, let’s dig deeper into why this money is important and hear from one of the winners about what it will mean for their work. 

The Context

Over the past several months, there’s been what seems like an endless stream of announcements from companies building EV and battery manufacturing in the US. 

The announcements are an exciting first step to getting more batteries built in the US. But so far, these planned facilities are in a deceptively small part of the battery supply chain. 

A quick refresher on what it takes to make a battery:   

  • Get raw materials like lithium out of the ground
  • Process and refine the raw materials to get them into a form that can go into batteries
  • Make the pieces of a battery (especially the electrodes)
  • Put the electrodes together with other components to make a battery cell
  • Assemble the cells into packs and put batteries into EVs

Most of the investment so far has been biased towards the last few steps of the battery supply chain: building cells, assembling battery packs, and putting batteries into EVs. 

But many experts see a need to build earlier parts of the supply chain in the US, too. Recent policy is aimed at driving that: in the new EV tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, there’s not only a requirement for batteries and EVs to be made in North America—there’s also requirements about where the minerals and metals are sourced from and processed. (For more on those tax credits check out this story.) 

The Funding

This round of grants, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November 2021, is an attempt to help earlier parts of the battery supply chain catch up. The spending is targeted at the middle of the process: refining raw materials and building battery components.

In total, there’s $2.8 billion for 20 projects across 19 companies. (Ascend Elements, a recycling and refining company, won two grants for two different steps in their process, totaling nearly half a billion dollars.) 

Here’s what stuck out to me about the awards: 

  • The funding is largely for commercialization, not research, so there’s a lot here that could quickly affect markets. 
  • There seems to be a focus on lithium processing, with four companies winning grants in this area. Nickel and graphite processing also made the list. 
  • Companies making lithium iron phosphate batteries got a couple of grants. This chemistry is a lower-cost, slightly lower-performance version of lithium-ion batteries. These are a growing part of the market and could become even more important since they don’t contain cobalt, one of the metals that experts are most worried about. 
  • Silicon anodes won a couple of grants—these aren’t used widely today in EVs but could be coming soon, and will likely help push range higher. (More on that tech here.)

One winner

After the announcement, I spoke with Ryan Melsert, CEO of American Battery Technology Company (ABTC). ABTC is a battery materials company working both on battery recycling and on a new method of lithium extraction and refining. 

The company received about $58 million to build a commercial-sized lithium processing facility in Nevada. The project was already in progress, but the influx of federal cash really helped speed up the timeline, Melsert says. “We’re happy with the tailwinds we have and the support we’ve received,” he says. 

But ABTC is still on the lookout for even more funding opportunities, especially to support their mining activities, Melsert says. He has his eyes on the Defense Production Act, which President Biden enacted earlier this year to support battery supply in the US and will be focused largely on mining.

It’s not all about the money though. “I think there are still more hurdles to go through,” Melsert says. The permitting process in particular could be a barrier to its and other new mining projects. 

What’s next

There’s plenty more money where this funding came from. Expect to see billions more in grants from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law handed out to battery companies in the coming months. 

There’s also funding from the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Defense Production Act coming. It’s like climate tech Christmas! 

Keeping up with climate

Bill Gates is expanding his climate fund. Historically focused on projects that cut emissions, Breakthrough Energy Ventures will start funding adaptation projects that aim to protect against the damages of climate change. (MIT Technology Review) 

→ My colleague James Temple reported on this story live from the Breakthrough Energy Summit in Seattle. Check out his other story from the event to hear what Gates, John Kerry, and Jennifer Granholm had to say about the state of climate change. 

We’re coming up on the UN climate talks, or COP27, in Egypt. 

→ After a year of deadly disasters, expect to see countries pushing for more action, especially from wealthier, higher-emitting countries like the US. (Inside Climate News) 

→ The UN released a report today that found that if countries stick to current pledges, we’ll see between 2.1 and 2.9 °C of warming, much more than the 1.5 °C target that could prevent some of the most catastrophic climate damages. (New York Times)

→ If history is any indicator, this meeting probably won’t spark blockbuster changes. Read James’s preview of last year’s COP here, where he talks about the role of the UN talks and where we should look for meaningful change. (MIT Technology Review)

Flooding from Hurricane Ian in Florida caused several EVs to catch fire after saltwater damaged their batteries. The fires raised safety concerns and put a political target on EVs, though experts point out the incidents are relatively rare. (E&E News)

A cobalt mine, which opened earlier this month in Idaho, could be a preview of the future of mining in the US: more mines across the West and more conflicts over them. (High Country News)

→ While researchers and companies are working to build batteries without cobalt, a new paper published this week argues that the metal won’t be going away anytime soon (Nature Energy)

Once known as a pioneer in green vehicles, Toyota has lagged on EVs. Now, the company is scrambling to decide on a strategy in an effort to catch up with Tesla and other carmakers. (Reuters)

Just for fun

Researchers are using a “Ring doorbell for rats” to watch out for invasive rodents at an island nature preserve off the coast of California. 

Once rats get established, it’s really tough to get them out. So researchers are keeping watch with cameras rigged with AI-based rat detection to see if any rat explorers make landfall.

This may be the only example of expanded surveillance technology that I’ll enthusiastically support. 

That’s all for this week – thanks for reading! If you have feedback or ideas for what you’d like to see in future newsletters, you can drop me a line or find me on Twitter. See you next week! 

Casey

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Oct 7 2022
Inside a battery recycling facility

Hello and welcome to the first-ever edition of The Spark!

Thanks so much for joining me for this weekly climate newsletter, where we’ll explore tech that could help combat the climate crisis. I’m so glad you’re here!

This week, we’re kicking things off with a special travel edition of the newsletter. So buckle up, because we’re headed to the mountains just outside Reno, Nevada to take a look inside a battery recycling facility.

Arriving in Reno felt like stepping into an old Western movie. Tumbleweeds blew across the road, and as I turned off the highway I spotted some of the area’s famous wild horses. But western Nevada is also home to tech powerhouses. The original Tesla Gigafactory is here, and less than ten miles away, my destination: a massive new battery recycling facility from Redwood Materials.

The startup is a hot topic in the electric vehicle world. Founded by ex-Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel, Redwood has raised over $700 million dollars to recycle old batteries and produce materials for new ones. It’s signed deals with car manufacturers, battery giants, and even consumer retailers like Amazon.

Battery recycling could be more than just a landfill alternative for dead batteries. Some experts say that old batteries could be a significant source for some of the critical minerals that will be in short supply as demand for batteries skyrockets.

Recycling facilities could also be key in shifting the global power dynamics around battery supply chains. New EV tax credits in the US come with restrictions on material sourcing, so using materials recycled in the US could be a way for carmakers to ensure their vehicles qualify. For more on those tax credits, take a look at this piece I wrote on the topic.

Earlier this year, Redwood Materials announced that they were building a $3.5 billion battery recycling facility in Nevada. The company says that by 2025, the site will produce enough material each year to make about 100 gigawatt-hours worth of new batteries, the equivalent of about a million EVs. 

When I visited last week, construction was well underway, and the company plans to be up and running with some operations at the new facility by the end of the year. 

We walked around the site in safety vests and hard hats, first taking a look at the foundations and frame for the hydrometallurgical building, where sorted and crushed battery materials will go through a chemical process to isolate the most valuable metals: lithium, nickel, cobalt, and copper.

I also got to take a look inside a production building that’s the furthest along on the site. Machines housed there will take recycled copper and produce copper foil, which Redwood will sell to battery makers. The machine, which should come online by the end of the year, was tucked away in a small corner of the building—there’s plenty of room for later expansion. 

We wrapped up our tour in a sprawling parking lot where Redwood is banking some of the batteries they’ve collected while they finish up construction. In total, it’s over 10 acres of boxes filled with laptops, EV modules, and even old toys. 

I’ve been fascinated by the stuff that makes up the energy transition—where we get it from, and where it goes. That issue is apparently front of mind for many of you too: every story I publish on a new type of battery (like this plastic battery, or this solid one) draws at least a question or two about the recycling prospects for that particular makeup. 

Stay tuned for much more about battery materials and recycling in an upcoming story, and let me know what questions you have about the topic in the meantime.

Climate Tech

I’ve got great news for you…Climate Tech starts one week from today! This is MIT Technology Review’s first ever climate event, and there’s still time to join us if you haven’t already signed up. 

Over the course of two days, Tech Review staff will be sitting down with all sorts of climate experts, from startup founders to policy wizards. It’s a great opportunity to learn about a huge range of climate technology and meet some of the people making change. 

There’s so much I’m looking forward to, but one session in particular that I have my eyes on is my colleague James Temple’s interview with Impossible Foods founder Patrick Brown. Food and agriculture represent one of those giant pieces of the climate puzzle where we still need to see plenty of innovation, and I can’t wait to hear what those two get into. For a preview, check out this 2020 Q&A from the pair. 

So register to join us, either live in Cambridge or online! Hope to see you there! 

Keeping up with climate

AI and robots are helping researchers build better batteries. Researchers used a machine learning model called Dragonfly and a robot called Clio to help them design new electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries. (Electrolyte is the liquid that helps move charge around in a battery.) Better electrolytes could mean faster charging for EVs. (MIT Technology Review)

The Nord Stream pipeline methane leaks are a climate disaster, but fossil fuels production emits more. The Russian pipelines have leaked about 300,000 metric tons of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Global oil and gas production emits that amount every 1.5 days. (Bloomberg $)

Another electric plane company is running test flights. Eviation’s prototype, Alice, took to the skies over Washington state last week. (Seattle Times) But batteries are still a long way from powering the planes of the future—for more on why, check out my article from August on the topic. 

Here’s how communities should rebuild after Hurricane Ian. Climate change is making hurricanes more intense and more common—hurricane-prone areas can help limit future damage by building more shore defense, following smarter building codes, and in some cases, moving on. (New York Times $)

Just for fun

It’s officially fat bear week!! Each year, Katmai National Park in Alaska invites us all to judge which of their brown bears is plumpest. So make your voice heard—vote here, and enjoy this delightful data visualization from the Washington Post on just how fat these bears really are. 

That’s all folks! Thanks so much for reading, and if you have ideas or suggestions for this newsletter, feel free to drop me a line. Until next time!

Casey

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