Sodium-ion batteries can get ahead in the power game

Hiya,

Here is a link to a good recent article in The Engineer on Faradion and its Na-ion battery technology.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/sodium-ion-battery-manufacturing-faradion/#comment-337869

Dr Chris Wright, who was one of the pioneers of commercialising lithium-ion technology, saw potential in sodium-ion in 2011, and co-founded Faradion with Jerry Barker to develop sodium-ion technology and bring it to market. After announcing our first major orders from ICM Australia, then for heavy-goods vehicles in India with Infraprime Logistics Technologies in June, we’ve had nearly 120 requests for partnership in the period of just four weeks.

Cheers!

Jerry

JB: Career Commercial Highlights

Hi Everyone,

Here is a summary graphic of my career commercial highlights - starting with the electrodeposition of II-IV compound semiconductors for BP Solar in the early 1990's up until the present-day Na-ion Battery Technology at Faradion. I decided to include the Tiamat highlight as this company is using my NVPF cathode material - discovered and patented during my time at Valence Technology in the early 2000's.

It has been quite an eventful ride - but that is 6 commercial successes so far. There must be one or two more still to go!

Cheers, Jerry

ACS C&EN article: Can Europe be a contender in electric-vehicle batteries?

Hi everyone,

Nice article in ACS Chemical and Engineering News (July 13, 2020) by my friend Alex Scott on the current status of Li-ion manufacturing in Europe:

https://cen.acs.org/energy/energy-storage-/Europe-contender-electric-vehicle-batteries/98/i27

Today, Europe’s share of that market is a mere 3%. But with the battery making up about 40% of the value of an electric vehicle, Europe is waking up to the notion that whoever controls a region’s lithium-ion battery supply chain also wields much control over its lucrative car industry and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that go with it.

Some nice quotes, later in the article (where does Alex get these from?):

The challenge for the UK, as with other European countries, is that it has to put together a battery supply chain that Asian producers already have in place.

“We rely on supplies of some of the critical cell components and precursors from the Far East,” says Jerry Barker, chief technology officer for the UK sodium-ion battery firm Faradion. “It would be far better if we had a reliable, local, UK-based supply chain for cathode, anode, and electrolyte as well as the cell hardware such as separator and current collectors.”

Jerry

Australia's StorEnergy training centre - Leading the way in renewable battery technology

Hi Everyone,

Led by my good friend and colleague, Professor Maria Forsyth, the StorEnergy training centre aims to challenge existing thinking and expand Australia’s capacity in energy storage and production. The centre will create new knowledge and intellectual property in advanced energy materials, batteries and battery-control systems for integration into end user industries.

Working with 14 organisations across government and industry, and four other Australian universities, researchers at the centre will facilitate small to medium-sized enterprises to take a global leadership role in advancing and producing new age storage technologies. By harnessing the expertise of researchers and industry partners, the StorEnergy centre aims to deliver benefit to our economy, the community and the environment.

I am on the advisory board - but looking very serious:

https://www.storenergy.com.au/about-us/people/