With beefed-up management workforce, CEO feels Chris Hadfield-backed e-Zinc has reached the manufacturing stage.
Toronto-based e-Zinc has raised $42 million CAD ($31 million USD) in new funding because it gears up for field demonstration initiatives of its long-duration energy storage solution.
The spherical, which e-Zinc labeled as follow-on funding to its 2022 Series A spherical, was led by Evok Innovations, with help from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Crown company Export Development Canada, and Ultratech Capital Partners. Other individuals included present shareholders Toyota Ventures, Eni Next, Anzu Partners, BDC, and Graphite Ventures.
“With this new investment, we are well positioned to transition to a production-oriented stage and focus on our operational excellence.”
James Larsen
e-Zinc has developed a zinc-based energy storage system that it claims might be cheaper in contrast to lithium-ion techniques for long-duration purposes.
The system has three important elements: a top-charging unit, a middle-storage unit, and a bottom-discharging unit. Zinc absorbs energy at the high, strikes to the center for storage, and releases energy at the backside when air is launched. The zinc then recirculates again to the high to be recharged.
e-Zinc claims its batteries provide a number of advantages over conventional lithium-based grid-scale batteries, together with longer energy storage period, recyclability, and immunity to thermal runaway due to their water-based electrolytes, which the startup says make the batteries safer and extra versatile.
The startup was based in 2012 by Xiaoge “Gregory” Zhang, a former senior scientist and analysis and growth (R&D) supervisor at Vancouver mining firm Teck Resources. Zhang retired as CEO in 2018 after handing the reins to James Larsen.
The following 12 months, e-Zinc confronted two vital blows. In August 2021, Zhang, who was serving as a director at the startup at the time, died at the age of 64 following a battle with most cancers. A hearth additionally came about at e-Zinc’s battery testing lab that very same month, forcing the startup to transfer that lab’s capability into its manufacturing facility.
However, the startup shortly rebounded—launching a brand new facility two months later and securing $31 million CAD in Series A funding in 2022. Three years on from its annus horribilis, e-Zinc is trying to use its newest spherical to speed up product growth and transfer into its new 42,000-sq. ft pilot manufacturing facility in Mississauga, Ont.
Larsen informed BetaKit the facility accomplished development in April, and he expects the entire firm to be working out of it in the fall.
In 2022, e-Zinc struck partnerships with Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc. and the California Energy Commission to reveal that its energy storage techniques may ship long-duration energy storage on a business scale.
Part of the latest funding will help these field demonstrations to validate that e-Zinc’s zinc-air batteries can retailer energy for twenty-four hours. For some extent of comparability, in accordance to the United States’ National Renewable Energy Laboratory, lithium-ion batteries can retailer energy for simply 4 hours or fewer.
“With this new investment, we are well positioned to transition to a production-oriented stage and focus on our operational excellence,” Larsen mentioned in an announcement. “Following the upcoming pilot demonstrations and the validation of our manufacturing processes, we will have proven the advantages of our innovative energy storage solution and the infrastructure needed to bring our proprietary technology to market at commercial scale.”
The new funding additionally follows quite a few modifications at the high for e-Zinc. The firm not too long ago appointed Rhonda Landers as CFO, Zakiul (Zaki) Kabir as CTO, Rob Howard as COO and Balakrishnan (Balki) Iyer as chief business officer. Larsen informed BetaKit all hires had been made in 2023.
In an announcement, the startup mentioned every rent “brings a deep understanding of the energy technology industry and experience developing and scaling operations for innovation-led organizations,” and can permit e-Zinc to develop and advance from its product growth section to commercialization.
Feature picture courtesy of e-Zinc.