Batteries & Energy Storage news and discussions

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UK’s first rapid-charging battery train ready for boarding this weekend

Fri 30 Jan 2026 05.00 GMT

The UK’s first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend – operating a five-mile return route in west London.

Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the West Ealing to Greenford branch line, four stops and 12 minutes each way, and now carrying up to 273 passengers, should its celebrity stoke up the demand.

The battery will recharge in just three and a half minutes back at West Ealing station between trips, using a 2,000kW charger connected to a few metres of rail that only becomes live when the train stops directly overhead.

There are hopes within government and industry that this technology could one day replace diesel trains on routes that have proved difficult or expensive to electrify with overhead wires, as the decarbonisation of rail continues.

The train has proved itself capable of going more than 200 miles on a single charge – last year setting a world record for the farthest travelled by a battery-electric train, smashing a German record set in 2021.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... tery-train



Credit: James Manning/PA

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[firestar464]

Mf be touting this while denying climate change lmao

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Breakthrough in blocking killer 'spike' growth that destroys lithium batteries
By Bronwyn Thompson
March 13, 2026

https://newatlas.com/energy/lithium-ion ... dendrites/
Researchers have uncovered the mechanical properties of the nanoscale "thorns" that develop inside lithium-ion batteries, which can cause them to short circuit and die – or worse, such as spontaneously catch on fire. These thorns, known as dendrites, have been difficult to study and understand – until now.

While scientists have studied dendrites within cells for some time, researchers in Singapore and several US universities, including the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), have uncovered some key mechanical properties that contribute to their formation and expansion, which opens the door to finding ways to inhibit their growth.

"Despite decades of study, the fundamental nanomechanical properties of lithium dendrites remained a mystery – until now," said co-lead author Qing Ai, a former research scientist at Rice University.

Lithium dendrites – around 100 times thinner than a single human hair – can form inside a battery during charging, growing out from the anode, or the negative terminal. Normally, lithium should spread smoothly across the surface of the negative terminal when charging, but it can instead build up as metallic needle-like structures that slowly penetrate the battery. Inside the cell, the thin separator between the negative and positive electrodes is then at risk of being breached by these dendrites, leaving the positive side of the battery exposed.

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World’s ‘largest’ grid battery part of Google-Xcel Energy agreement

Published March 4, 2026

– Google and Xcel Energy said last week that they intend to build what Xcel calls “the largest battery project by gigawatt-hour energy capacity announced to date in the world” to support a data center in Minnesota powered by 1.6 GW of renewable energy.

– The 300 MW/30 GWh battery, built by Form Energy, will use iron-air chemistry to deliver multiday discharge during periods of high power demand, Xcel said. Form says its technology can deliver cost-effective discharge for up to 100 hours.

– Mateo Jaramillo, Form Energy’s CEO, said in an interview this week that his company expects to ship the first modules by the end of 2028 and pursue projects of similar scale as its West Virginia factory ramps up production later this decade. “This is really the scale of project that we expect to bid and participate in going forward,” he said.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/worlds ... nt/813793/



Credit: Form Energy

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