????超越鋰離子電池

????眾所周知，電池領域的創新難度很大，而且創新所需要的時間要遠遠超過人們的預期。不過電池制造商們仍會圍繞新的化學物質鍥而不舍地研發。GELI公司聯合創始人兼CEO賴安?沃特納表示：“目前我們仍然處在電池商品化的早期階段。在未來幾年里，我們將見證電池技術的不斷發展，最終會誕生所謂的超循環電池，而它也將打開越來越多的市場。”

????創業公司使用新型化學物質研發的電池，也正在緩慢地進入市場。電池創業公司Ambri的CEO菲爾?吉迪斯也認為，電網蓄電池市場仍然“處于早期階段”。Ambri公司也正在研發一種新型的低成本電網蓄電池，它將熔鹽夾在兩層液態金屬之中，作為電池的主要材料。

????該公司的首批原型產品預計將于今年夏秋兩季正式問世，商用電池則要等到2016年年底才能出貨。吉迪斯表示：“我們不擔心有人行動得比我們早，因為比起‘做得早’，更重要的是‘做得對’。”3年前剛剛加盟Ambri公司時，吉迪斯覺得電網蓄電池更多是一種概念上的產品，但現在這個領域的很多項目已經成為現實。

????因此，鋰離子電池或許有助于為下一代的電池產品鋪平道路。不過正如幾年前很多太陽能公司想利用新材料制做太陽能電池板，最終卻以失敗告終一樣，新型電池大概也不會一帆風順，難免會遭遇很多風風雨雨。

????在這個問題上，大多數電池集成商和軟件商其實是“電池不可知論者”，不管是哪種化學物質，只要能做出低價、高效、安全的電池，他們都統統歡迎。不過Stem公司的CEO卡靈頓指出，對于一般需要金融方案的大型電網項目來說，鋰離子電池要比新型化學物質電池更容易通過銀行那一關。特斯拉CEO穆斯克在公司最近的財報電話會議上表示，如果新型電池和電池材料方面有了超越鋰離子電池的任何突破，特斯拉公司都將迅速跟進。

????對于GELI這樣的公司來說，他們將來的夢想，是要推動所謂“能源互聯網”的出現。沃特納表示：

????“我認為未來幾年，最初由互聯網構建的業務模式會出現在能源領域，使能源軟件、能源計算機、微電網、微電網網絡、能源設施、能源應用以及網絡化的能源服務整合起來，構成一張‘能源互聯網’。”

????等到電池像電腦的芯片、手機的無線電裝置、互聯網的網絡一樣低價、可靠和普及時，這一切都可能變成現實。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文

????Beyond lithium ion

????Battery innovation is notoriously tough, and always seems to take far longer than expected. But battery makers will continue to innovate around new chemistries. GELI CEO and co-founder Ryan Wartena says “we are still in the early days of battery commodification. We will see continued advances in technology over the coming years that lead to hyper-cycle batteries that will open more and more markets.”

????New battery chemistries from startups have been slowly making their way to market. The CEO of battery startup Ambri, Phil Giudice, likewise says the market for grid storage is still “at an early stage.” Ambri is making a low cost grid battery using molten salt sandwiched between two layers of liquid metal.

????The company expects to ship their first battery prototypes this summer and fall, and commercial batteries by the end of 2016. He says “We’re not so worried about the first movers. It’s more important to get it right.” When Giudice joined Ambri three years ago, he says the grid storage market was far more conceptual, but now there are many more projects being done in reality.

????In that way, lithium-ion batteries could help pave the way for the next generation of batteries that some day will make it to market. Though, like what occurred with the solar manufacturing startups that tried to make solar panels from new materials years ago and struggled, there could be a lot of market ups and downs along the way.

????Most of the battery integrator and software makers are actually “battery agnostic,” and welcome any new battery chemistry that is low-cost, effective, and safe enough. However, for large grid projects that need project financing, lithium-ion batteries are more easily “bankable” right now than a new chemistry, explained Stem’s Carrington. Tesla’s Musk noted in the company’s latest earnings call that if there’s any breakthroughs in battery chemistry and new batteries beyond lithium-ion batteries, Tesla would be quick to implement these, too.

????Down the road, the dream for companies like GELI are to help the “Internet of Energy” emerge. Wartena says:

????“Over the coming years I expect to see similar business models that happened in the original build of the Internet, for energy software, energy computers, microgrids, networks of microgrids, energy operations, energy applications, networked energy services, and the list goes on.”

????When batteries become as low cost, reliable and widely available as chips for computers, radios for cell phones, and networks for the Internet, some day all that could become true.