Could this 50-year old NASA technology challenge lithium-ion?

Used to power the Hubble Telescope and International Space Station, NASA has been fine-tuning its nickel-hydrogen battery architecture since the 1980s and ‘90s. NASA has historically excelled at making technological advancements but it hasn’t necessarily been known for doing it cost-effectively.

In comes EnerVenue who has attracted some “A” list investors and some heavy-weight players to their management team. The company has modified NASA’s original approach to make it viable in the real-world by replacing the costly platinum catalyst with an unnamed material.

The next step is to get to scale. To that end they are applying their capital to stand up a factory in Kentucky slated to come online by year’s end. That’s the easy part. The hard part is gaining market acceptance.

There is a laundry list of wannabees trying to supplant lithium-ion, but all newcomers must convince investors that their alternative technology isn’t going to flush investors’ capital down the drain.

EnerVenue claims that its nickel-hydrogen approach can do everything that lithium-ion can do plus can charge and discharge quickly or slowly, multiple times per day, and at any temperature.

It will be interesting to watch the company’s progress. I have no idea if their approach is viable, but what my experience tells me is that the first technology adopted in emerging markets like storage often doesn’t make it to the finish line once a market matures.