e-Zinc, Toyota Tsusho to develop pilot zinc-air battery project

e-Zinc has announced that it has entered into a collaboration for a pilot project with Toyota Tsusho Canada Inc. (TTCI) to further test and validate how commercial scale e-Zinc energy storage systems can reliably provide long-duration energy storage.

e-Zinc claims to be enabling sustainable, long-duration energy storage with its zinc-air battery. The new project by e-Zinc is meant to store 24 hours of energy which is about ten times that of traditional batteries.

The formal statement by e-Zinc mentions that the Toyota Tsusho project is slated for spring 2023. There are several upcoming e-Zinc field demonstration projects that includes e-Zinc $1.3 million project with the California Energy Commission.

The project will be hosted at Eurus Energy America Corporation’s (EEAC) Bull Creek wind facility in Borden County, Texas (Bull Creek) where excess wind energy will be stored in the e-Zinc battery system. EEAC can then use the stored energy to power buildings at the local facility. e-Zinc said that the system is expected to store power for 24 hours which is better suited to the intermittency of wind generation than typical batteries.

The statement also said that the battery pilot project is expected to lead to future manufacturing, supply chain and commercial opportunities between Toyota Tsusho and e-Zinc. Additionally, Toyota Tsusho will apply its capabilities to support installation, integration, and system O&M.

James Larsen, CEO, e-Zinc, held, “The most important aspect of this relationship is that TTCI’s interest extends far beyond this initial project – TTCI has identified e-Zinc as a high potential company with strategic alignment to its business. This project sets the stage for TTCI to support e-Zinc with manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, sales, and distribution support, as well as project deployment and service for a variety of market applications (e.g., remote mines, off-grid car dealerships, hospitals on weak grid, etc.).”