Ambri, an American energy storage tech startup founded in 2010, produces liquid metal batteries to store renewable energy from wind and solar power systems for a long time. The company’s battery is made from antimony (Sb) and calcium (Ca), and it doesn’t need to be cooled or use expensive materials like lithium. This battery is cheaper, safer, and lasts longer than lithium-ion batteries. The liquid metal batteries have minimal degradation and can last for more than 20 years. Ambri aims to speed up the decarbonization of grids and let consumers get all the energy they need from renewable resources.
Challenges: energy storage
More and more solar cells and wind turbines are being utilized to generate clean electricity. Ideally, the electricity they intermittently generate is fully used. The excess electricity should be stored. The ability to store their electrical energy would significantly increase the efficiency and reliability of these intermittent renewable energy technologies as base load supply.
Batteries are strong candidate solutions owing to their small spatial footprint, mechanical simplicity and flexibility in siting. Lithium-ion batteries are a mature technology. They have been used to store energy on the grid that is integrated with intermittent solar and wind energy. However, the high cost of lithium-ion batteries prevents their widespread use to store energy on the grid. Low-cost technologies, such as pumped hydroelectric, are preferred despite their low energy and power densities and geographical limitations. Additionally, grid energy store batteries must be safe. It is reported that several dozens of lithium-ion energy storage systems have resulted in explosions or fires.
Therefore, there is a need for low-cost and safe battery technology for grid-scale energy storage.
Ambri Technology
Ambri provides low-cost and safe grid-scale energy storage systems based on the technology of UL 1973-certificated liquid metal batteries. The certification indicates that the battery is not only high performance but also safe. In addition, Ambri’s batteries are competitive because they use earth-abundant raw materials of calcium and  antimony.
Ambri liquid metal battery
The following diagram illustrates the composition of the Ambri liquid metal battery (Ca‖Sb).
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