Altech salt battery prototype launches with ‘flying colours’

October 1

Altech Batteries has clocked up a key milestone with the successful launch of its first 60kWh “Cerenergy” sodium-chloride battery prototype in Germany.

The company says the battery unit, which has been installed at the Fraunhofer IKTS lab in Dresden, has passed all physical tests with “flying colours” and has smashed through forecast performance and efficiency expectations in the rigorous daily assessments.

Management says the results demonstrated that its batteries have remarkable thermal stability and efficiency and maintain safe operating temperatures without overheating – a crucial factor for high-capacity energy storage systems.

Tests on 497 cells at an operational temperature of 300°C confirmed their durability, delivering consistent performance across 500 cycles with a stable discharge capacity of 80 Ah and 91 per cent efficiency. No signs of degradation were observed, highlighting the battery’s strong potential for long-term use, especially in demanding environments.

Using common table salt, management says the Cerenergy technology is a more sustainable and cost-effective solution to the traditional lithium-ion batteries as it uses no lithium, cobalt, graphite, copper or manganese. Additionally, it has shown to have an effective life of 15 years, or double that of its counterpart.

The battery pack consists of 240 Cerenergy cells, each rated at 2.58 volts, arranged in four rows of 12 cells and stacked in five modules. Each pack measures 2.6m high, 400cm long and 1m wide and is dust and weatherproof, ensuring the design is sealed for electrical protection.

We are extremely pleased that the first CERENERGY® 60kWh battery prototype is now up and running and operating better than expected, reconfirming our confidence in the sodium-chloride solid-state battery technology developed by the world-leading Fraunhofer Institute in Germany.

According to management, the early results not only confirm the battery’s design integrity, but also reinforce its commercial potential, giving Altech a significant boost as it moves toward scaling up commercial production.

Having a working prototype that is already beating expectations is a huge win for Altech, especially after it recently landed a letter of intent (LOI) with Schwarze Pumpe in Lusatia to supply 30 of its 1MWh Cerenergy GridPack sodium chloride batteries to the region’s Industrial Park every year for five years, starting in 2027. The deal will also help to underpin the cost of constructing Altech’s planned 120MWh factory.

The LOI also includes a broader scope of work aimed at converting the coal-reliant Industrial Park into a renewable energy hub, with Altech’s batteries expected to play a key role in storing and managing wind and solar power generated in the wider area.

Alongside its Cerenergy mission, Altech is also working on its Silumina Anodes project, aimed at boosting lithium-ion battery performance by adding silicon. It believes that strategy could increase electric vehicle (EV) battery capacity by up to 30 per cent, thereby easing the “range anxiety” that often holds people back from buying EVs.

The lack of large-scale, affordable battery storage has been a major hurdle for speeding up the green-energy transition. However, armed with the data from an operational prototype that is exceeding its design specifications, Altech has moved one step closer to positioning itself as a key player in the potentially lucrative space.

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