Everything is battery
Batteries are dominating the energy discussion. Here’s how to capitalize on it
In defense, energy, industry, and mobility, batteries dominate the conversation.
From their supply chains, to their chemistries, to their capabilities, and their markets, investors, economists, politicians, and pundits are all thinking about building better batteries.
Over at Packy McCormick’s “NotBoring” there’s a 40,000-word opus on the “Electric Slide”, and Noah Smith can’t stop writing about batteries as one of the essential energy technologies for modern economies.
Beyond the thoughterati™, the battery bug has once again bitten venture capital investors. Base Power raised $1 billion earlier this month, and that announcement was quickly followed by Redwood Materials claiming a $6 billion valuation after its own $350 million funding, which included new strategic investment from newly minted $5T company NVIDIA. The mega-investor a16z even puts batteries at the heart of the new “electro-industrial stack”.
However, while batteries are being used to build data centers more quickly; are seen as essential technology for the future of defense; and will power the robots in factories and (creepily) homes; new battery innovations are still struggling to get to market.
From community concerns about thermal runaway and fires; the blockbuster bankruptcies of Northvolt (with over $5 billion in debt) and Natron (leaving North Carolina holding the bag on a billion-dollar battery factory), there’s a lot of negative energy surrounding next-generation battery businesses.
For emerging technology companies playing in the battery market, now’s the time to de-emphasize the novel chemistries and speak in terms that markets (and investors) tend to understand.
Investing beyond chemistries
“We’re not looking at everything,” when it comes to the battery technologies, says Josh Posamentier, a co-founder and managing partner at the climate-focused investment firm Congruent Ventures. “What we’re looking for is big markets, good unit economics, and a competitive moat … and a time scale that makes sense for the sector.”
Posamentier’s wish list is exactly what battery companies need to communicate if they’re going to break through the noise. If a battery company is selling a chemistry and not a company, it’s not going to be able to make it.
His thinking echoes Charles Welch, the founder and chief executive officer of Proper Voltage, who argued in a recent opinion piece that it’s a “kink in the way battery technologies meet the messy, sprawling world of actual products” that causes problems. His startup is working to solve these problems with a universal adapter that enables any battery chemistry to plug into existing product platforms.
“For decades, the battery industry has been asking one misleading question: What chemistry will win?” Welch wrote. “In labs and companies around the world, researchers are answering that question. New chemistries are unlocking power, speed, longevity, and sustainability that once belonged to science fiction… But walk outside the lab, and the story changes. These marvels are useless if they can’t integrate into the drones, robots, vehicles, and consumer devices of the real world.”
Posamentier advises companies across the battery supply chain, from materials producers and refiners to anode and cathode producers, to think about more than the cost advantages they can achieve now, but what the prices for their goods will be in the years it will take to get to commercialization. Because a 20% or 30% cost advantage over current technologies won’t matter if the cost of those current technologies continues to decline by 7% to 8% per year.
Where the longtime venture investor sees real value is in the mining and refining of rare earths and critical minerals that the battery industry needs.
That echoes the thoughts of Shaun Abrahamson, the co-founder of Third Sphere. The fund, which backs startups focused on sustainability, circularity, energy, industry and the built environment, is not looking for new chemistries, according to Abrahamson.
“We’re spending most time looking at probably things that would be considered battery-adjacent or very specific parts of the stack,” says Abrahamson. “So not new chemistries but things that help in either production or operation or reuse.”
“People are tired of the future dream of battery technologies.”
After 15 years in the solar industry, Jungwoo Lee, the CEO and co-founder of South 8 Technologies, has seen how the boom and bust cycle can play out in the race between U.S. innovation and Chinese industrialization.
Now, heading up a company that’s hoping to go toe-to-toe with large manufacturers and proven technologies, she’s more confident that the history that played out in solar won’t repeat itself in energy storage.
“I still think there’s a path forward for next-generation batteries,” Lee said during an online panel hosted by the Volta Foundation.
For her company, whose batteries boast better performance in low temperatures, she’s focused on finding the largest markets where that innovation is a significant differentiator and where she can quickly go-to-market – because there’s not much competition.
Putting business first was also the message from Chirranjeevi Gopal, the CTO and co-founder of Mitra Chem, which bills itself as “building the American critical materials champion”. He advises that battery companies focus on “less capital funding gigafactories and more business models focused on revenue generation.”
The market, at this point, needs to see real traction and a line of sight to products in customers’ devices as soon as possible, emphasized Coreshell’s co-founder and chief executive, Jonathan Tan.
“A crucial part that the market needs to see is that people are tired of the future dream of battery technologies,” Tan said during the Volta Foundation panel. “Now it’s important to show that you’re making something and people are going to put it into a commercial product that they’re going to use… It’s not just the revenue but the full signal of what that revenue actually means.”
Charging up a battery storyline
As the head of communications for National Grid Partners, Peter Delevett has seen a lot of pitches and sent a lot of pitches over the years. His advice to startups pitching new energy storage technologies sounds deceptively simple, but it takes planning, coordination, and an understanding of how stories resonate with different audiences.
First, companies need to make the business case and focus on their customer and end-market beyond the technological specifications of their innovation. “VC’s always ask: who’s buying this?” Delevett said.
Once a company establishes beachheads in markets large enough to support investment interest (think $1 billion or more), then it needs to create meaningful case studies that illustrate the depth and breadth of the opportunity. Ideally, a company should identify customers in multiple segments of its initial market, demonstrating its scalability and value across the category.
Finally, ensure that the story is easy to understand for non-technical audiences of reporters and investors and that there are multiple ways to sell the story. Even reporters with deep tech experience may get lost in the intricacies of anodes, cathodes, electrolytes, not to mention Volts, Watts, and Amps.
The chemistry alone is not enough. Delevett recommends crafting a story around what the innovation can do to create new jobs and opportunities in the communities where a company operates. Or emphasizing its impacts on energy independence (or dominance). Think about anchor customers whose stories are more relatable than a discussion of arcane artifacts of the periodic table.
“Look for every opportunity to generate interest beyond core technology focus,” says Delevett.
Finally…. Some (Water) Cooler Talk:
Bill Gates made waves with his latest memo, “Three Tough Truths About Climate”. His argument sparked reactions from all corners of climate and business, with some cheering his emphasis on human welfare over emissions reductions and others worried that the framing risks pitting action on climate against the fight against poverty. From a comms perspective, Katharine Hayhoe summed it up well by telling Axios that “the content was mostly really great” but the framing of climate change as a separate bucket is flawed because climate change is “the hole in every bucket.”
… and here are some of the stories we’ve been telling:
🔥Methane credits are heating up
Trellis covers Vaulted Deep’s work with Google and Isometric to better measure methane from buried waste, highlighting the boom in methane credits as buyers like Google and Netflix back projects tackling this potent greenhouse gas.
⚡Energy efficiency gets a reboot
Utility Dive features ICF’s Justin Mackovyak on why energy efficiency should be treated as a foundational grid resource. With demand surging, he argues that smarter, AI-driven efficiency and demand-side management programs can ease strain, cut bills and strengthen customer trust.
🔋The integration gap in the battery revolution
In The Robot Report, Proper Voltage CEO Charles Welch explains why the next leap in battery tech depends on smarter system integration. Without solutions like adaptive voltage control and advanced battery management, cutting-edge chemistry alone won’t unlock its full potential.
📢Why evacuation alerts still fail in the world of wildfires
Former FEMA official and Vice President of Disaster Management at ICF, John Rabin, tells Heatmap News that confusing jargon, local-only messaging systems and neglected audiences are undermining wildfire evacuation orders. With stakes this high, he says, emergency messages must adapt to fully resonate.
🤖AI rewiring the grid
Utility Dive spotlights how Avista, PG&E and Ameren are piloting AI/ML to tackle grid complexity, from load spikes to nuclear power plant optimization using tools from Atomic Canyon. For full-scale impact, data access, infrastructure readiness, and cybersecurity must catch up.
🌍TIME100 Climate spotlight
TIME has recognized Michael Walker, CEO of STAX Engineering, for his pioneering work transforming maritime emissions management, advancing practical carbon capture solutions, and setting a new standard for measurable climate action across one of the world’s toughest industries.
This article comes at the perfect time. "Still struggling" resonated, classic tech.