Holland, MI, Dec. 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jolt Energy Storage Technologies today announced its graduation from the Shell GameChanger AcceleratorTM Powered by NREL (GCxN). The program provides cleantech start-ups with access to NREL’s world-class research and facilities, along with the incubation expertise of the Shell GameChanger program. Jolt, which is developing organic energy storage materials for grid-storage applications, partnered with NREL’s testing support to make major advancements in the long-term stability and performance of its materials. In addition, the program helped lay the groundwork for identifying key economic drivers and market feasibility of the organic solution over existing technology.
Jolt’s all-organic materials have achieved life cycle test exceeding 6,000 cycles and energy densities approaching 30 Wh/l. For context, this level of energy density is comparable to vanadium energy storage, a leading technology for grid-storage.
“GCxN allowed Jolt to improve and legitimize our technology during the critical stage of a start-up when limitations in funding and access to talent are major barriers to advancements in fundamental technology,” said Jack Johnson co-founder and COO of Jolt. “Our nation and world are going to need reliable, affordable energy storage at a massive scale to support the expansion of renewable generation. Our technology will enable that without reliance on rare earth metals or overseas mining and supply.”
In an August report, McKinsey forecasted nearly 500% growth in the need for battery energy storage system capacity through 2030, which demonstrates a need for diversified and rapidly-scalable technology solutions. As Jolt graduates the GCxN program, it’s now turning toward a strategy to prepare a product for commercialization.
“The support NREL and Shell provided helps to solve technological and economical challenges with new technologies that exemplify a game changer,” said Jolt’s co-founder and chief technology officer Dr. Tom Guarr. “The effort from this program could result in low cost, long life, recyclable, and safe technology coming from existing American chemical manufacturing infrastructure using American sources of materials.“
Jolt has already attracted several successful funding rounds and currently anticipates conducting Series A fundraising by early 2024 to help bring this technology to market. The company will then focus on preparing the material products for implementation in a large-scale redox flow application.
About Jolt Energy Storage Technologies
Jolt is unlocking the power of organic materials as a clean and secure alternative for large-scale energy storage. The company is committed to utilizing easily accessible, carbon-based materials to achieve the clean energy solution the US needs for both ecological and economic sustainability. More at www.jolt-energy.com.
About GCxN
The Shell GameChanger Accelerator™ powered by NREL (GCxN) is a multi-million dollar, multi year program developed in collaboration between Shell GameChanger and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to discover and advance emerging clean technologies with the potential to dramatically alter the future global energy landscape. GCxN identifies promising startup companies through an ecosystem of more than 60 cleantech business incubators, accelerators and universities, providing access to up to $250,000 in non-dilutive funding in the form of technical expertise to develop and demonstrate new energy technologies. GCxN is made possible by funding through Shell GameChanger. GCxN is administered by NREL, located in Golden, Colo. More at https://gcxnrel.com/.
- Dr. Thomas Guarr collaborates with his research team