Ion Storage Systems (ION), the battery technology company founded by ECS President Eric Wachsman, announced the initial closing of its $30 million Series A financing round. Clear Creek Investments, VoLO Earth Ventures, and Alsop Louie Partners led the investment. With the funding, ION will commission and qualify a battery cell manufacturing line capable of producing 10MWh/yr of safe, energy dense and versatile solid state batteries.

Ion Storage Systems

ION started in Dr. Wachsman’s University of Maryland chemistry lab with a $574,275 federal grant. The company’s high-energy dense, nonflammable solid state lithium metal batteries are safer, lighter, pack tighter density, tolerate greater abuse, and have reduced volume and weight. The new financing enables the company to launch a factory near Washington, D.C., and begin commercial production of the batteries. Aerospace and defense customers will receive the first commercial cells followed by development projects with multiple electric vehicle manufacturers, defense contractors, and consumer electronics companies. (more…)

StorageX International Symposium

An Online Series on Energy Storage

Sponsored by Stanford’s StorageX Initiative

Join Stanford StorageX for an interactive symposium series on the latest advances and breakthrough research in energy storage. (more…)

StorageX International Symposium

A New Online Series on Energy Storage
Sponsored by Stanford’s StorageX Initiative

Join Stanford StorageX for an interactive symposium series on the latest advances and breakthrough research in energy storage. (more…)

For months, Impact Canada has been working hard on narrowing down five finalists to work on the Charging the Future Challenge, a $4.5-million project aimed at accelerating made-in-Canada clean battery innovations with the potential to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The five selected finalists will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas for battery breakthroughs to a jury for a chance to win up to $700,000 each to develop battery prototypes over the course of 18-months, with the winner receiving a $1 million grand prize. (more…)

On June 17, 2020, Dr. Arumugam Manthiram, winner of the 2020 Henry B. Linford Award for Distinguished Teaching, presented his talk on “Intricacies of High-Energy Cathodes for Lithium-Ion Batteries” via a live webinar presentation.

Dr. Manthiram’s talk covered the fundamental science behind the development of high-energy density cathodes for lithium-ion batteries in the 1980s, the richness and complexity of layered oxide cathodes for lithium-ion batteries, and exposure to a perspective on high-energy, long-life, safe lithium-ion batteries.

View Dr. Manthiram’s webinar presentation, here.

Following the talk, attendees were given the opportunity to ask Dr. Manthiram questions in a Q&A session, available below. (more…)

New, low-cost batteries designed to last for a million miles of use in electric vehicles? Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk says the public can expect just that from the Model 3 sedan, expected to debut in China late this year or early next. 

According to Reuters, the new “million mile” battery—which relies on low-cobalt and cobalt-free battery chemistries, among others—was jointly developed with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL). Reuter’s sources say CATL plan on supplying Tesla with an improved long-life nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery whose cathode is 50% nickel and only 20% cobalt sometime next year. (more…)

The Electrochemical Society honors 2019 Nobel Chemistry Prize laureates, John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino, by the launch of a new collection highlighting their scientific contributions published by ECS. In addition, ECS recognizes their contributions in the winter 2019 issue of Interface, now available online.

Goodenough, Whittingham, and Yoshino have been deeply involved with The Electrochemical Society—as members, authors, editors, fellows, meeting participants and organizers, awardees, and more. Their publications with ECS, to varying degrees, trace the history of the development of the Lithium-ion battery, the revolutionary invention for which they shared the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. (more…)

Robb Cohen Photography & Video

John W. Weidner of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Cincinnati received the 2019 Carl Wagner Memorial Award at the 236th Electrochemical Society (ECS) Meeting. The award recognizes mid-career achievement, excellence in research areas of interest of the Society, and significant contributions in the teaching or guidance of students or colleagues in education, industry, or government.

Weidner delivers “Mathematical Modeling of Electrochemical Systems” on Tuesday, 15 October, at 1140-1200 in Room 311.

John W. Weidner

John W. Weidner is an ECS Fellow and dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. He published 113 refereed journal articles and contributed to over 200 technical presentations in the field of electrochemical engineering. His research group created novel synthesis routines… (more…)