Zach Dell

And I think that over the next decade, you'll see utilities across the country start to embrace that.

The building blocks here are the cell, the module, and then the pack.

When we talk about batteries, really what we're talking about is the pack.

The pack is a collection of modules.

The module is a collection of cells.

When it comes to cells, there are a bunch of different cell chemistries that have been commercialized over the last couple of decades.

The growth in the EV industry, for the most part, has been driven by NMC chemistry.

So this is a lithium ion chemistry that's nickel-based.

NMC stands for nickel manganese cobalt.

That chemistry is very energy dense and has a very high C rate, which means you can charge and discharge it very quickly.

Super important for a car when you need to go zero to 60 in three seconds.

It's also quite light relative to its energy density, which is also very important for a car.

The dominant chemistry and really what we've seen over the last couple of years take over in energy storage is also lithium-based, but it's lithium iron phosphate, LFP.

This chemistry is much heavier.

It has a way lower C-rate, so you can't charge and discharge it as quickly, which is not as important if you're not in a car, but it's a lot safer.

It has lower energy density, and it's way less prone to a thermal runaway, which is a fancy way of saying fire.

You're seeing interesting R&D happening in sodium ion chemistries and iron-air chemistries for long-duration energy storage and in things like thermal batteries.

There are pros and cons to all of these different chemistries and their relative applications, but I think we're going to see continued innovation on this front.

I'm very excited for what's happening with regard to cell chemistry.

I think sodium ion is super promising, and there are a number of startups that are working on novel sodium-based chemistries that we're keeping a close eye on.