What with all the excitement over solid-state batteries, it’s easy to forget that other hot new energy storage technologies are also coming to market. The Canadian battery maker Zinc8 Energy Solutions, for one, is determined to keep reminding people. Zinc8’s new rechargeable zinc-air battery has been trialing in New York State, and earlier this month word dropped that the company is also considering the Empire State as home base for its new battery manufacturing plant.
Zinc-air energy storage deploys zinc particles and ambient oxygen to produce electricity on demand. Anyone with a hearing aid may already be familiar with the technology in a single-use form. Here, let’s have top battery-maker Panasonic explain it:
“Zinc Air batteries are especially suitable for hearing aids. They have a high energy density. Equal size batteries can contain twice as much energy as a lithium-ion battery. Zinc is also much lighter (and cheaper) than lithium, which means that hearing aids with Zinc Air batteries are very comfortable to wear.”
