Yet Another Energy Storage Company Takes On Tesla
OXIS Energy certainly isn’t letting any grass grow under its feet. In June, the UK energy storage innovator announced that it will be ready next year to market its super efficient lithium-sulfur battery, and barely a month later, the company has just launched a partnership with Anesco, a leading commercial and home energy storage installer.
Powerwall Who?
Yes, that’s lithium-sulfur, and OXIS aims to leverage the low, low cost of sulfur to undercut the market for lithium-ion batteries.
Here’s the explainer from the company:
Sulfur represents a natural cathode partner for metallic Li and, in contrast with conventional lithium-ion cells, the chemicals processes include dissolution from the anode surface during discharge and reverse lithium plating to the anode while charging. As a consequence, Lithium-Sulfur allows for a theoretical specific energy in excess of 2700Wh/kg, which is nearly 5 times higher than that of Li-ion.
The announcement earlier this month set a price goal of $250 per kilowatt-hour by 2020. That compares favorably with current Li-ion (lithium-ion) batteries such as the Tesla Powerwall. According to OXIS, typically, Li-ion batteries cost in the $400 to $500 per kilowatt-hour range. Though, Tesla’s Powerpack is supposedly at $250/kWh (according to Elon Musk), while its Powerwall is closer to the typical Li-ion battery cost range. Though, $/kWh of capacity isn’t everything. Click that link above for much more context and math on that.
