Negative? How did a naval veteran refuse to accept a "no" to his battery invention – TechCrunch

[ad_1]

Decades ago, a young Naval engineer on a British nuclear submarine began to be interested in electric batteries helping to operate his ship. Running silently beneath the polar ice pack frozen during the Cold War, this submariner had no idea that in the twenty-first century, batteries would become one of the largest sectors of technology. Even the planet. But his curiosity stayed with him and almost 20 years ago, he decided to pursue this dream, born many years under the waves.

Trevor Jackson's journey began, like many things in technology, with research. He was fascinated by experiments not with lithium batteries, which dominated the battery industry, but with so-called "aluminum-air" batteries.

Technically described as "(Al) / air" batteries, these are the story – almost – unknown to the world of batteries. For starters, an aluminum-air battery system can generate enough energy and power to allow a range and acceleration similar to that of petrol cars.

Sometimes called "Metal-Air" batteries, they have been used successfully in "off-grid" applications for many years, as are the batteries that power the army radios. The most attractive metal in this type of battery is aluminum, as it is the most common metal on Earth and has one of the highest energy densities.

Think of an air breathing battery that uses aluminum as "fuel". This means that it can provide the energy of the vehicle with energy from clean sources (hydroelectric, geothermal, nuclear, etc.). These are the sources of energy for most aluminum smelters worldwide. Aluminum hydroxide is the only waste that can be returned to the foundry as a raw material for – guess what? – make more aluminum! This cycle is therefore highly sustainable and distinct from the oil industry. You can even recycle aluminum cans and use them to make batteries.

Imagine – a source of energy distinct from the highly polluting oil industry.

But hardly anyone used them in mainstream applications. Why?

Aluminum-air batteries have been around for a while. But the problem with a battery generating electricity by "eating" aluminum was that it was just not effective. The electrolyte used just does not work well.

It was important. An electrolyte is a chemical medium contained in a battery that allows the flow of electrical charge between the cathode and the anode. When a device is connected to a battery – a light bulb or an electrical circuit – chemical reactions occur on the electrodes, creating a flow of electrical energy to the device.

When an aluminum-air battery begins to operate, a chemical reaction produces a by-product "gel" that can gradually block the airways in the cell. This seemed to be an insoluble problem for the researchers.

But after many experiments in 2001, Jackson developed what he saw as a revolutionary type of electrolyte for aluminum-air batteries that could remove barriers to commercialization. Its specially developed electrolyte did not produce the hated gel that would destroy the effectiveness of an aluminum-air battery. It seemed to change the game.

The breakthrough – if proven – had enormous potential. The energy density of his battery was about eight times that of a lithium-ion battery. He was incredibly excited. Then he tried to tell the politicians …

Despite a detailed demonstration of Lord "Jim" Knight's work battery in 2001, followed by an email correspondence and a promise to "pass it on to Tony (Blair)," the British government does not showed no interest.

And Jackson faced bureaucratic hurdles. Innovate UK, the UK government's official innovation agency, focused on lithium battery technology, not on air-aluminum batteries.

He had trouble convincing public and private investors to support him, this was the position of the "lithium battery lobby" on the sector.

With a focus on lithium batteries, the UK government was actually putting technology on the table that could revolutionize electrical storage and mobility and even help fight carbon emissions and help the UK achieve its goals. pollution reduction objectives.

Disappointed in the UK, Jackson raised the baton and found better support in France, where he transferred his R & D in 2005.

Finally, in 2007, the potential of Jackson's invention was independently confirmed in France by the institution Polytech Nantes. Its advantages over lithium-ion batteries have been (and still are) increased cell voltage. They used ordinary aluminum, created very little pollution and had a constant output power and long life.

As a result, in 2007, the French government officially approved the technology as "strategic and in the national interest of France".

At this point, the UK Foreign Office suddenly woke up and became aware.

He promised Jackson that the UKTI would provide "300%" of efforts to launch technology in the UK if it were "repatriated" to the country.

However, in 2009, the UK Technology Strategy Board refused to support the technology, citing the fact that the Automotive Manufacturers Council's technology roadmap "excludes this type of battery". Even though the Carbon Trust acknowledged that this was a reduction technology, "he refused to help Jackson further.

Meanwhile, other governments were more excited to explore metal-air batteries.

The Israeli government, for example, has directly invested in Phinergy, a start-up working on a very similar aluminum-air technology. Here is a video, certainly of company, which shows the advantages of metal-air batteries in electric cars:

The Russian aluminum company RUSAL has developed a CO2-free melting process, which means that it could, in theory, manufacture an aluminum-air battery with a CO2-free process.

Jackson tried to tell the British government that they were making a mistake. Before the special parliamentary committee on enterprise-energy strategy and industry, he explained how the United Kingdom had created a bias towards lithium-ion technology, which had led to the creation of an ecosystem of battery technologies, which funded research on lithium to billions of dollars. pound sterling. In 2017, Premier Theresa May further supported the lithium-ion industry.

Jackson (below) refused to take no for an answer.

He applied to the British Defense Science and Technology Laboratory. But in 2017, they responded with a "no funds" decision that rejected the technology, even though DSTL had its own program on aluminum-air technology, dedicated to finding a better electrolyte, at the same time. University of Southampton.

Jackson is rather turned to the auto industry. He established his MAL company (under the "Metalic" brand) in 2013 and used seed funding to successfully test a long-term design of the power pack at its labs in Tavistock, UK.

Here he is on a BBC regional channel explaining the drums:

He has worked closely with Lotus Engineering to design and develop long-term replacement power packs for Nissan Leaf and Mahindra Reva "G-Wiz" electric cars. At the time, Nissan had expressed a keen interest in this "Beyond Lithium Technology" (their words), but they were already committed to installing LiON batteries on the Leaf. Undeterred, Jackson focused on the G-Wiz and continued to produce normal-size battery cells for testing purposes. He showed that aluminum-air technology was superior to any other existing technology.

And now, this insistence on lithium-ion still slows the industry.

The fact is that lithium batteries are now facing considerable challenges. The development of technology has culminated; Unlike aluminum, lithium is not recyclable and lithium batteries are not guaranteed.

The advantages of aluminum-air technology are numerous. Without having to charge the battery, a car can simply replace the battery in seconds, thus completely eliminating the "charging time". Most current charging points have a nominal capacity of 50 kW, which is about one-hundredth of that required to charge one in five lithium batteries. minutes. At the same time, hydrogen fuel cells would require a huge and expensive hydrogen distribution infrastructure as well as a new system for generating hydrogen.

But Jackson continued to push, convinced that his technology could meet both the energy needs of the future and the climate crisis.

Last May, he began to be recognized.

The UK Advanced Propulsion Center has included the Metal Battery as part of its subsidy investment in 15 UK startups to get their technology to the next level as part of its accelerator program Technology Developer (TDAP). TDAP is part of a 10-year program to make the UK a world leader in low-carbon propulsion technology.

The catch? These 15 companies must share a pittance of £ 1.1 million.

And what about Jackson? He continues to raise funds for Metalectrique and to make known the potential of aluminum-air batteries to save the planet.

God knows he could use it now.

[ad_2]

Source link