Aquion Energy was a
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
and
Washington, D.C.
)
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, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
-based company that manufactured
sodium ion batteries (
salt water batteries) and
electricity storage systems.
The company claimed to provide a low-cost way to store large amounts of energy (e.g. for an electricity grid) through thousands of battery cycles, and a non-toxic end product made from widely available material inputs and which operates safely and reliably across a wide range of temperatures and operating environments.
History
The company was founded in 2008 by Jay F. Whitacre, a professor at
Carnegie Mellon University, and Ted Wiley. They set up research and development offices in
Lawrenceville, where it produced pilot-stage batteries. The company raised funding from
Kleiner Perkins,
Foundation Capital
Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. The firm was founded in 1995, and in 2012 managed more than $2.4 billion in investment capital.
History
Foundation Capital was founded in 1995.
The firm raised its sevent ...
,
Bill Gates
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions ...
, Nick and Jobey Pritzker, Bright Capital and
Advanced Technology Ventures, among others.
In 2011, an individual battery stack was promoted to store 1.5 kWh, a shipping container-sized unit 180 kWh.
The battery cannot overheat.
The company expected its products to last many charge/discharge cycles, twice as long as a
lead-acid battery. Costs were claimed to be about the same as with lead-acid.
In October 2014, they announced a new generation with a single stack reaching 2.4
kWh and a multi-stack module holding 25.5