Now is the time to buy gold, according to one of the world’s leading wealth managers, which flagged bullion’s prospects after the haven lost out to the dollar in recent weeks as the pandemic roils markets. “When I think about what would I buy in the right here and now, I would be buying gold,” […]
Battery Metals
Want Electric Ships? Build a Better Battery
LATER THIS YEAR, the world’s largest all-electric container ship is expected to take its maiden voyage, setting sail from a port in Norway and traveling down the Scandanavian coast. Known as the Yara Birkeland, the ship was commissioned by Yara, a Norwegian fertilizer company, to move its product around the country. The company expects the […]
Diamonds could be forever in nuclear-powered battery project
Scientists at the UK Atomic Energy Authority are working with academics at the University of Bristol on world-leading technology in order to make diamond batteries, which could provide decades or thousands of years’ worth of energy without a recharge. Items such as computer chips, smoke alarms, pacemakers, or small satellites could all be operated by […]
Avalon and redT unite in $70 million merger of vanadium redox flow battery startups
California’s Avalon and the U.K.’s redT are merging their vanadium redox flow battery firms, subject to shareholder approval, to form Invinity Energy Systems. The new firm is valued at $70 million in a deal that the companies have been threatening for months. The merger was structured as a reverse takeover of listed company Avalon by private company redT on a share-for-share […]
Semiconductors can behave like metals and even like superconductors
The crystal structure at the surface of semiconductor materials can make them behave like metals and even like superconductors, a joint Swansea/Rostock research team has shown. The discovery potentially opens the door to advances like more energy-efficient electronic devices. Semiconductors are the active parts of transistors, integrated circuits, sensors, and LEDs. These materials, mostly based […]
EnerSys Aims for Maintenance Free with New Battery Solutions
EnerSys featured its virtually maintenance-free NexSys battery solutions at this year’s MODEX 2020. The NexSys battery portfolio, including NexSys PURE and NexSys iON batteries, offer warehouse and distribution centers varying technologies, enabling a hybrid power approach to material handling operations. Engineered with the latest generation of proprietary Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) and advanced Lithium-ion […]
Precious metals: Short on all cylinders – TDS
Precious metals with more exposure to industrial demand, and with a smaller beta to monetary policy and safe-haven flow, feel the most pain during the current market environment, economists at TD Securities apprise. Key quotes “A recessionary demand environment could still force palladium down another $500-600 to around $1,200/oz as supply-demand balances loosen from previous […]
UK Powervault expands home battery scheme in London
Powervault, a UK-based maker of smart energy storage systems, is expanding a programme to use home batteries across London as a virtual power plant to support the power grid. The roll-out in St Helier is part of a second commercial contract. It comes after a successful trial as part of which 45 households were paid […]
New UNIST catalyst boosts metal-air battery performance
Metal-Air Batteries (MABs), which use oxygen from ambient air as recourses to store and convert energy, have received considerable attention for their potential use in electric vehicles (EVs) owing to their large storage capacity, lightweight, and affordability. Researchers at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in S. Korea have developed a new catalyst […]
Not investing in electric car battery production could cost UK 105,000 jobs – study
The UK car industry risks losing out to Europe in the race to build major battery factories that are crucial to the sector’s future, putting jobs at risk across the country, a government-backed research body has warned. A failure to attract so-called gigafactories to make batteries for electric cars could cost the UK 105,000 jobs […]