In the 1800s, aluminum was considered more valuable than gold or silver because it was so expensive to produce the metal in any quantity. Thanks to the Hall-Héroult smelting process, which pioneered the electrochemical reduction of aluminum oxide in 1886, electrochemistry advancements made aluminum more available and affordable, rapidly transforming it into a core material used in the manufacturing of aircraft, power lines, food-storage containers and more.

As society mobilizes against the pressing climate crisis we face today, we find ourselves seeking transformative solutions to tackle environmental challenges. Much as electrochemistry modernized aluminum production, science holds the key to revolutionizing steel and iron manufacturing.

Electrochemistry can help save the planet

As the world embraces clean energy solutions such as wind turbines, electric vehicles, and solar panels to address the climate crisis, changing how we approach manufacturing becomes critical. Traditional steel production—which requires a significant amount of energy to burn fossil fuels at temperatures exceeding 1,600 °C to convert ore into iron—currently accounts for about 10 percent of the planet’s annual CO₂ emissions. Continuing with conventional methods risks undermining progress toward environmental goals.

Scientists already are applying electrochemistry—which provides direct electrical control of oxidation-reduction reactions—to convert ore into iron. The conversion is an essential step in steel production and the most emissions-spewing part. Electrochemical engineers can drive the shift toward a cleaner steel and iron industry by rethinking and reprioritizing optimizations.

When I first studied engineering thermodynamics in 1998, electricity—which was five times the price per joule of heat—was considered a premium form of energy to be used only when absolutely required.

Since then the price of electricity has steadily decreased. But emissions are now known to be much more harmful and costly.

Engineers today need to adjust currently accepted practices to develop new solutions that prioritize mass efficiency over energy efficiency.

In addition to electrochemical engineers working toward a cleaner steel and iron industry, advancements in technology and cheaper renewables have put us in an “electrochemical moment” that promises change across multiple sectors.

The plummeting cost of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines, for example, has led to more affordable renewable electricity. Advances in electrical distribution systems that were designed for electric vehicles can be repurposed for modular electrochemical reactors.

Electrochemistry holds the potential to support the development of clean, green infrastructure beyond batteries, electrolyzers, and fuel cells. Electrochemical processes and methods can be scaled to produce metals, ceramics, composites, and even polymers at scales previously reserved for thermochemical processes. With enough effort and thought, electrochemical production can lead to billions of tons of metal, concrete, and plastic. And because electrochemistry directly accesses the electron transfer fundamental to chemistry, the same materials can be recycled using renewable energy.

As renewables are expected to account for more than 90 percent of global electricity expansion during the next five years, scientists and engineers focused on electrochemistry must figure out how best to utilize low-cost wind and solar energy.

The core components of electrochemical systems, including complex oxides, corrosion-resistant metals, and high-power precision power converters, are now an exciting set of tools for the next evolution of electrochemical engineering.

The scientists who came before have created a stable set of building blocks; the next generation of electrochemical engineers needs to use them to create elegant, reliable reactors and other systems to produce the processes of the future.

Three decades ago, electrochemical engineering courses were, for the most part, electives and graduate-level. Now almost every institutional top-ranked R&D center has full tracks of electrochemical engineering. Students interested in the field should take both electroanalytical chemistry and electrochemical methods classes and electrochemical energy storage and materials processing coursework.

Although scaled electrochemical production is possible, it is not inevitable. It will require the combined efforts of the next generation of engineers to reach its potential scale.

Just as scientists found a way to unlock the potential of the abundant, once-unattainable aluminum, engineers now have the opportunity to shape a cleaner, more sustainable future. Electrochemistry has the power to flip the switch to clean energy, paving the way for a world in which environmental harmony and industrial progress go hand in hand.

NASCAR, the stock car racing sanctioning body known for its high-octane events across the United States, is taking a significant step toward a greener future. In July, during the Chicago Street Race event, NASCAR unveiled a prototype battery-powered race car that marks the beginning of its push to decarbonize motorsports. This move is part of NASCAR’s broader strategy to achieve net-zero emissions by 2035.

The electric prototype represents a collaborative effort between NASCAR and its traditional Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners—Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota—along with ABB, a global technology leader. Built by NASCAR engineers, the car features three 6-Phase motors from Stohl Advanced Research and Development, an Austrian specialist in electric vehicle powertrains. These motors together produce 1,000 kilowatts at peak power, equivalent to approximately 1,300 horsepower. The energy is supplied by a 78-kilowatt-hour liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery, operating at 756 volts, though the specific battery chemistry remains a closely guarded secret.

C.J. Tobin, Senior Engineer of Vehicle Systems at NASCAR and the lead engineer on the EV prototype project, explained the motivation behind the development. He told IEEE Spectrum that “The push for electric vehicles is continuing to grow, and when we started this project one and a half years ago, that growth was rapid. We wanted to showcase our ability to put an electric stock car on the track in collaboration with our OEM partners. Our racing series have always been a platform for OEMs to showcase their stock cars, and this is just another tool for them to demonstrate what they can offer to the public.”

Eleftheria Kontou, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign whose primary research focus is transportation engineering, said in an interview that “It was an excellent introduction of the new technology to NASCAR fans, and I hope that the fans will be open to seeing more innovations in that space.”

John Probst, NASCAR’s SVP of Innovation and Racing Development speaks during the unveiling of the new EV prototype. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

The electric race car is not just about speed; it’s also about sustainability. The car’s body panels are made from ampliTex, a sustainable flax-based composite supplied by Bcomp, a Swiss manufacturer specializing in composites made from natural fibers. AmpliTex is lighter, more moldable, and more durable than traditional materials like steel or aluminum, making the car more efficient and aerodynamic.

Regenerative braking is another key feature of the electric race car. As it slows down, the car can convert some of its kinetic energy into electric charge that feeds back into the battery. This feature most advantageous on road courses like the one in Chicago and on short oval tracks like Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.

“The Chicago Street Race was a great introduction for the EV prototype because it happens in a real-world setup where electric vehicles tend to thrive,” says Kontou, who also serves on the Steering Committee of the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation. “[It was a good venue for the car’s unveiling] because navigating the course requires more braking than is typical at many speedway tracks.”
Though the electric prototype is part of a larger NASCAR sustainability initiative, “There are no plans to use the electric vehicle in competition at this time,” a spokesman said. “The internal combustion engine plays an important role in NASCAR and there are no plans to move away from that.” So, die-hard stock-car racing fans can still anticipate the sounds and smells of V-8 engines burning gasoline as they hurtle around tracks and through street courses.

“The Chicago Street Race was a great introduction for the EV prototype because it happens in a real-world setup where electric vehicles tend to thrive.” —Eleftheria Kontou, University of Illinois

In its sustainability efforts, NASCAR lags well behind Formula One, its largest rival atop the world’s motorsports hierarchy. Since 2014, Formula One’s parent organization, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has had an all-electric racing spinoff, called Formula E. For the current season, which began in July, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship series boasts 11 teams competing in 17 races. This year’s races feature the league’s third generation of electric race cars, and a fourth generation is planned for introduction in 2026.

Asked how NASCAR plans to follow through on its pledge to make its core operations net-zero emissions by its self-imposed target date, the spokesman pointed to changes that would counterbalance the output of traditional stock cars, which are notorious for their poor fuel efficiency and high carbon emissions. Those include 100 percent renewable electricity at NASCAR-owned racetracks and facilities, and tradeoffs such as recycling and on-site charging stations for use by fans with EVs.

The spokesman also noted that NASCAR and its OEM partners are developing racing fuel that’s more sustainable in light of the fact that stock cars consume, on average, about 47 liters for every 100 km they drive (5 miles per gallon). For comparison, U.S. federal regulators announced in June that they would begin enforcing an industry-wide fleet average of approximately 5.6 liters per 100 kilometers (50.4 miles per gallon) for model year 2031 and beyond. Fortunately for NASCAR, race cars are exempt from fuel-efficiency and tailpipe-emissions rules.

While some may be tempted to compare NASCAR’s prototype racer with the cars featured in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Tobin emphasized that NASCAR’s approach in designing the prototype was distinct. “Outside of us seeing that there was a series out there racing electric vehicles and seeing how things were run with Formula E, we leaned heavily on our OEMs and went with what they wanted to see at that time,” he said.

The apparently slow transition to electric vehicles in NASCAR is seen by some in the organization as both a response to environmental concerns and a proactive move to stay ahead of potential legislation that could threaten the future of motorsports. “NASCAR and our OEM partners want to be in the driver’s seat, no matter where we’re going,” says Tobin. “With the development of [the NextGen EV prototype], we wanted to showcase the modularity of the chassis and what powertrains we can build upon it—whether that be alternative fuels, battery electric power, or something unforeseen in the future…We want to continue to push the envelope.”

According to the International Maritime Organization, shipping was responsible for over 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2018. A significant share of those emissions came from seaport activities, including ship berthing, cargo handling, and transportation within port areas. In response, governments, NGOs, and environmental watchdog groups are sounding alarms and advocating for urgent measures to mitigate pollution at the world’s ports.

One of the most promising solutions for the decarbonization of port operations involves electrifying these facilities. This plan envisions ships plugging into dockside electric power rather than running their diesel-powered auxiliary generators for lighting, cargo handling, heating and cooling, accommodation, and onboard electronics. It would also call for replacing diesel-powered cranes, forklifts, and trucks that move massive shipping containers from ship to shore with battery-powered alternatives.

To delve deeper into this transformative approach, IEEE Spectrum recently spoke with John Prousalidis, a leading advocate for seaport electrification. Prousalidis, a professor of marine electrical engineering at the National Technical University of Athens, has played a pivotal role in developing standards for seaport electrification through his involvement with the IEEE, the International Electrical Commission (IEC), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). As vice-chair of the IEEE Marine Power Systems Coordinating Committee, he has been instrumental in advancing these ideas. Last year, Prousalidis co-authored a key paper titled “Holistic Energy Transformation of Ports: The Proteus Plan” in IEEE Electrification Magazine. In the paper, Prousalidis and his co-authors outlined their comprehensive vision for the future of port operations. The main points of the Proteus plan have been integrated in the policy document on Smart and Sustainable Ports coordinated by Prousalidis within the European Public Policy Committee Working Group on Energy; the policy document was approved in July 2024 by the IEEE Global Policy Committee.

Professor John ProusalidisJohn Prousalidis

What exactly is “cold ironing?”

John Prousalidis: Cold ironing involves shutting down a ship’s propulsion and auxiliary engines while at port, and instead, using electricity from shore to power onboard systems like air conditioning, cargo handling equipment, kitchens, and lighting. This reduces emissions because electricity from the grid, especially from renewable sources, is more environmentally friendly than burning diesel fuel on site. The technical challenges include matching the ship’s voltage and frequency with that of the local grid, which, in general, varies globally, while tackling grounding issues to protect against short circuits.

IEEE, along with IEC and ISO, have developed a joint standard, 80005, which is a series of three different standards for high-voltage and low-voltage connection. It is perhaps (along with Wi-Fi, the standard for wireless communication) the “hottest” standard because all governmental bodies tend to make laws stipulating that this is the standard that all ports need to follow to supply power to ships.

How broad has adoption of this standard been?

Prousalidis: The European Union has mandated full compliance by January 1, 2030. In the United States, California led the way with similar measures in 2010. This aggressive remediation via electrification is now being adopted globally, with support from the International Maritime Organization.

Let’s talk about another interesting idea that’s part of the plan: regenerative braking on cranes. How does that work?

Prousalidis: When lowering shipping containers, cranes in regenerative braking mode convert the kinetic energy into electric charge instead of wasting it as heat. Just like when an electric vehicle is coming to a stop, the energy can be fed back into the crane’s battery, potentially saving up to 50 percent in energy costs—though a conservative estimate would be around 20 percent.

What are the estimated upfront costs for implementing cold ironing at, say, the Port of Los Angeles, which is the largest port in the United States?

Prousalidis: The cost for a turnkey solution is approximately US $1.7 million per megawatt, covering grid upgrades, infrastructure, and equipment. A rough estimate using some established rules of thumb would be about $300 million. The electrification process at that port has already begun. There are, as far as I know, about 60 or more electrical connection points for ships at berths there.

How significant would the carbon reduction from present levels be if there were complete electrification with renewable energy at the world’s 10 biggest and busiest ports?

Prousalidis: If ports fully electrify using renewable energy, the European Union’s policy could achieve a 100-percent reduction in ship emissions in the port areas. According to the IMO’s approach, which considers the energy mix of each country, it could lead to a 60-percent reduction. This significant emission reduction means lower emissions of CO₂, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulate matter, thus reducing shipping’s contribution to global warming and lowering health risks in nearby population centers.

If all goes according to plan, and every country with port operations goes full bore toward electrification, how long do you think it will realistically take to completely decarbonize that aspect of shipping?

Prousalidis: As I said, the European Union is targeting full port electrification by 1 January 2030. However, with around 600 to 700 ports in Europe alone, and the need for grid upgrades, delays are possible. Despite this, we should focus on meeting the 2030 deadline rather than anticipating extensions. This recalls the words of Gemini and Apollo pioneer astronaut, Alan Shepard, when he explained the difference between a test pilot and a normal professional pilot: “Suppose each of them had 10 seconds before crashing. The conventional pilot would think, In 10 seconds I’m going to die. The test pilot would say to himself, I’ve got 10 seconds to save myself and save the craft.” The point is that, in a critical situation like the fight against global warming, we should focus on the time we have to solve the problem, not on what happens after time runs out. But humanity doesn’t have an eject button to press if we don’t make every effort to avoid the detrimental consequences that will come with failure of the “save the planet” projects.

In July, two companies announced a collaboration aimed at helping to decarbonize maritime fuel technology. The companies, Brooklyn-based Amogy and Osaka-based Yanmar, say they plan to combine their respective areas of expertise to develop power plants for ships that use Amogy’s advanced technology for cracking ammonia to produce hydrogen fuel for Yanmar’s hydrogen internal combustion engines.

This partnership responds directly to the maritime industry’s ambitious goals to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set stringent targets. It is calling for a 40 percent reduction in shipping’s carbon emissions from 2008 levels by 2030. But will the companies have a commercially available reformer-engine unit available in time for shipping fleet owners to launch vessels featuring this technology by the IMO’s deadline? The urgency is there, but so are the technical hurdles that come with new technologies.

Shipping accounts for less than 3 percent of global human-caused CO₂ emissions, but decarbonizing the industry would still have a profound impact on global efforts to combat climate change. According to the IMO’s 2020 Fourth Greenhouse Gas Study, shipping produced 1,056 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018.

Amogy and Yanmar did not respond to IEEE Spectrum‘s requests for comment about the specifics of how they plan to synergize their areas of focus. But John Prousalidis, a professor at the National Technical University of Athens’s School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, spoke with Spectrum to help put the announcement in context.

“We have a long way to go. I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but we have to be very cautious.” —John Prousalidis, National Technical University of Athens

Prousalidis is among a group of researchers pushing for electrification of seaport activities as a means of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing the amount of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides being spewed into the air by ships at berth and by the cranes, forklifts, and trucks that handle shipping containers in ports. He acknowledged that he hasn’t seen any information specific to Amogy and Yanmar’s technical ideas for using ammonia as ships’ primary fuel source for propulsion, but he has studied maritime sector trends long enough—and helped create standards for the IEEE, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)—in order to have a strong sense of how things will likely play out.

“We have a long way to go,” Prousalidis says. “I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, but we have to be very cautious.” He points to NASA’s Artemis project, which is using hydrogen as its primary fuel for its rockets.

“The planned missile launch for a flight to the moon was repeatedly postponed because of a hydrogen leak that could not be well traced,” Prousalidis says. “If such a problem took place with one spaceship that is the singular focus of dozens of people who are paying attention to the most minor detail, imagine what could happen on any of the 100,000 ships sailing across the world?”

What’s more, he says, bold but ultimately unsubstantiated announcements from companies are fairly common. Amogy and Yanmar aren’t the first companies to suggest tapping into ammonia for cargo ships—the industry is no stranger to plans to adopt the fuel to move massive ships across the world’s oceans.

“A couple of big pioneering companies have announced that they’re going to have ammonia-fueled ship propulsion pretty soon,” Prousalidis says. “Originally, they announced that it would be available at the end of 2022. Then they said the end of 2023. Now they’re saying something about 2025.”

Shipping produced 1,056 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2018.

Prousalidis adds, “Everybody keeps claiming that ‘in a couple of years’ we’ll have [these alternatives to diesel for marine propulsion] ready. We periodically get these announcements about engines that will be hydrogen-ready or ammonia-ready. But I’m not sure what will happen during real operation. I’m sure that they performed several running tests in their industrial units. But in most cases, according to Murphy’s Law, failures will take place at the worst moment that we can imagine.”

All that notwithstanding, Prousalidis says he believes these technical hurdles will someday be solved, and engines running on alternative fuels will replace their diesel-fueled counterparts eventually. But he says he sees the rollout likely mirroring the introduction of natural gas. At the point when a few machines capable of running on that type of fuel were ready, the rest of the logistics chain was not. “We need to have all these brand-new pieces of equipment, including piping, that must be able to withstand the toxicity and combustibility of these new fuels. This is a big challenge, but it means that all engineers have work to do.”

Spectrum also reached out to researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy with several questions about what Amogy and Yanmar say they are looking to pull off. The DOE’s e-mail response: “Theoretically possible, but we don’t have enough technical details (temperature of coupling engine to cracker, difficulty of manifolding, startup dynamics, controls, etc.) to say for certain and if it is a good idea or not.”

This article was updated on 5 August 2024 to correct global shipping emission data.

Autonomous vehicles have been highly anticipated because of the possibility that they will greatly reduce or perhaps eliminate the collisions that cause more than a million deaths each year. But safety isn’t the only potential benefit self-driving cars can offer: Teams of researchers around the world are showing that autonomous vehicles can also drive more efficiently than humans can. A U.S. Department of Energy program called NEXTCAR (Next-Generation Energy Technologies for Connected and Automated On-Road Vehicles), for example, is betting that a mix of new smart-vehicle technologies can boost fuel efficiency by as much as 30 percent.

As part of the NEXTCAR program, San Antonio, Texas–based Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) showcased advances in autonomous vehicle technology that will improve vehicles’ fuel economy—including the fuel efficiency of nonautonomous automobiles that just so happen to be in traffic with autonomous ones. The demonstration was held at the ARPA-E Energy Inovation Summit in Dallas in late May.

Making an Efficient Autonomous Vehicle

The SwRI team retrofitted a 2021 Honda Clarity hybrid with basic autonomous features such as perception and localization. On the day of the summit, they drove the vehicle along a route encircling the parking lot of the convention center where the summit was held. SWRI’s Ranger localization system, which the researchers installed on the Honda, has a downward-facing camera that captures images of the ground. By initially mapping the driving surface, Ranger can later localize the vehicle with centimeter-level accuracy, using the ground’s unique “fingerprint” combined with GPS data. This precision ensures the vehicle drives with exceptional control.

“It’s almost like riding on rails,” says Stas Gankov, a researcher in SwRI’s power-train engineering group. For this project, his group collaborated with other divisions at the institute, such as the intelligence-systems division, which developed the autonomy software stack added to the Honda Clarity.

Just as important, however, was the addition of an ecodriving module, a key innovation by SwRI. The ecomode determines the most economical driving speed by considering various factors such as traffic lights and surrounding vehicles. This system employs predictive control algorithms to help solve a tricky optimization problem: How can cars minimize energy consumption while maintaining efficient traffic flow? SwRI’s ecomode aims to reduce unnecessary acceleration and deceleration in order to optimize energy usage without impeding other vehicles.

“Autonomous vehicles operating in ecomode influence the driving behavior of all the cars behind them.” —Stas Gankov, Southwest Research Institute

To illustrate how the technology works, the team installed a traffic signal along the demonstration pathway. Gankov says an actual traffic-light timer from a traffic-signal cabinet was connected to a TV screen, providing a visual for attendees. A dedicated short range communications (DRSC) radio was also attached, broadcasting the signal’s phase and timing information to the vehicle. This setup enabled the vehicle to anticipate the traffic light’s actions far more accurately than a human driver could.

For instance, Gankov says, if the Honda Clarity was approaching a red light that was about to turn green, it would know the light was due to change and so avoid wasting energy by braking and then accelerating again. Conversely, if the car was approaching the signal as it was about to turn from green to yellow to red, the vehicle would release the accelerator and let friction slow it to a crawl, avoiding unnecessary acceleration in an attempt to beat the light.

These autonomous driving strategies can lead to significant energy savings, benefiting not just the autonomous vehicles themselves, but also the entire traffic ecosystem.

“In a regular traffic situation, autonomous vehicles operating in ecomode influence the driving behavior of all the cars behind them,” says Gankov. “The result is that even vehicles with Level 0 autonomy use fuel more sparingly.”

The Grand Vehicle Energy Plan

SwRI has been a participant in the NEXTCAR initiative since 2017. The program’s initial phase involved 11 teams, including SwRI, Michigan Technological University, Ohio State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. SwRI, in collaboration with the University of Michigan, focused on optimizing a Toyota Prius Prime, already known for its fuel efficiency, to achieve a 20 percent improvement in energy usage through optimization algorithms and wireless communicating with its surroundings. This was accomplished without modifying the Toyota’s power train or compromising its emissions. The team utilized power split optimization, balancing the use of the gas engine and battery-propulsion system for maximum efficiency.

Building on the success of NEXTCAR’s first phase, the program entered its second phase in 2021, with just SwRI, Michigan Tech, Ohio State, and UC Berkeley remaining. The focus of NEXTCAR 2 has been determining how much automation could further enhance energy efficiency. Gankov explains that while the first phase demonstrated a 20 percent energy-efficiency improvement over a baseline 2016 or 2017 model-year vehicle with no autonomous driving capabilities, through the addition of vehicle-to-everything connectivity alone, the second phase is exploring the potential for an additional 10 percent improvement by incorporating autonomous features.

Gankov says SwRI initially intended to partner with Honda for NEXTCAR’s second phase, but when contracting issues arose, the nonprofit proceeded independently. Utilizing an autonomy platform developed by SwRI’s intelligence-systems division, the NEXTCAR team equipped the Honda Clarity with what amounted to Level 4 autonomy in a box. This autonomy system features a drive-by-wire system, allowing the vehicle to automatically adjust its speed and steering based on inputs from the autonomy software stack and the ecodriving module. This ensures the vehicle prioritizes safety while optimizing for energy efficiency.

Employing techniques like efficient highway merging were key strategies in their approach to making the most of each tank of fuel or battery charge. “For example, in heavy traffic on the highway, calculating the most optimal way to merge onto the highway without negatively affecting the energy efficiency of the vehicles already on the highway is crucial,” Gankov noted.

As NEXTCAR 2 enters its final year, the demonstration at the ARPA-E Summit served as a testament to the progress made in autonomous-vehicle technology and its potential to dramatically improve energy efficiency in transportation.

When it comes to motorsports, the need for speed isn’t only on the racetrack. Engineers who support race teams also need to work at a breakneck pace to fix problems, and that’s something Aakhilesh Singhania relishes.

Singhania is a senior applications engineer at Bosch Engineering, in Novi, Mich. He develops and supports electronic control systems for hybrid race cars, which feature combustion engines and battery-powered electric motors.

Aakhilesh Singhania

Employer:

Bosch Engineering

Occupation:

Senior applications engineer

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, India; master’s degree in automotive engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

His vehicles compete in two iconic endurance races: the Rolex 24 at Daytona in Daytona Beach, Fla., and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. He splits his time between refining the underlying technology and providing trackside support on competition day. Given the relentless pace of the racing calendar and the intense time pressure when cars are on the track, the job is high octane. But Singhania says he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve done jobs where the work gets repetitive and mundane,” he says. “Here, I’m constantly challenged. Every second counts, and you have to be very quick at making decisions.”

An Early Interest in Motorsports

Growing up in Kolkata, India, Singhania picked up a fascination with automobiles from his father, a car enthusiast.

In 2010, when Singhania began his mechanical engineering studies at India’s Manipal Institute of Technology, he got involved in the Formula Student program, an international engineering competition that challenges teams of university students to design, build, and drive a small race car. The cars typically weigh less than 250 kilograms and can have an engine no larger than 710 cubic centimeters.

“It really hooked me,” he says. “I devoted a lot of my spare time to the program, and the experience really motivated me to dive further into motorsports.”

One incident in particular shaped Singhania’s career trajectory. In 2013, he was leading Manipal’s Formula Student team and was one of the drivers for a competition in Germany. When he tried to start the vehicle, smoke poured out of the battery, and the team had to pull out of the race.

“I asked myself what I could have done differently,” he says. “It was my lack of knowledge of the electrical system of the car that was the problem.” So, he decided to get more experience and education.

Learning About Automotive Electronics

After graduating in 2014, Singhania began working on engine development for Indian car manufacturer Tata Motors in Pune. In 2016, determined to fill the gaps in his knowledge about automotive electronics, he left India to begin a master’s degree program in automotive engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He took courses in battery management, hybrid controls, and control-system theory, parlaying this background into an internship with Bosch in 2017. After graduation in 2018, he joined Bosch full-time as a calibration engineer, developing technology for hybrid and electric vehicles.

Transitioning into motorsports required perseverance, Singhania says. He became friendly with the Bosch team that worked on electronics for race cars. Then in 2020 he got his big break.

That year, the U.S.-based International Motor Sports Association and the France-based Automobile Club de l’Ouest created standardized rules to allow the same hybrid race cars to compete in both the Sportscar Championship in North America, host of the famous Daytona race, and the global World Endurance Championship, host of Le Mans.

The Bosch motorsports team began preparing a proposal to provide the standardized hybrid system. Singhania, whose job already included creating simulations of how vehicles could be electrified, volunteered to help.

“I’m constantly challenged. Every second counts, and you have to be very quick at making decisions.”

The competition organizers selected Bosch as lead developer of the hybrid system that would be provided to all teams. Bosch engineers would also be required to test the hardware they supplied to each team to ensure none had an advantage.

“The performance of all our parts in all the cars has to fall within 1 percent of each other,” Singhania says.

After Bosch won the contract, Singhania officially became a motorsports calibration engineer, responsible for tweaking the software to fit the idiosyncrasies of each vehicle.

In 2022 he stepped up to his current role: developing software for the hybrid control unit (HCU), which is essentially the brains of the vehicle. The HCU helps coordinate all of the different subsystems such as the engine, battery, and electric motor and is responsible for balancing power requirements among these different components to maximize performance and lifetime.

Bosch’s engineers also designed software known as an equity model, which runs on the HCU. It is based on historical data collected from the operation of the hybrid systems’ various components, and controls their performance in real time to ensure all the teams’ hardware operates at the same level.

In addition, Singhania creates simulations of the race cars, which are used to better understand how the different components interact and how altering their configuration would affect performance.

Troubleshooting Problems on Race Day

Technology development is only part of Singhania’s job. On race days, he works as a support engineer, helping troubleshoot problems with the hybrid system as they crop up. Singhania and his colleagues monitor each team’s hardware using computers on Bosch’s race-day trailer, a mobile nerve center hardwired to the organizers’ control center on the race track.

“We are continuously looking at all the telemetry data coming from the hybrid system and analyzing [the system’s] health and performance,” he says.

If the Bosch engineers spot an issue or a team notifies them of a problem, they rush to the pit stall to retrieve a USB stick from the vehicle, which contains detailed data to help them diagnose and fix the issue.

After the race, the Bosch engineers analyze the telemetry data to identify ways to boost the standardized hybrid system’s performance for all the teams. In motorsports, where the difference between winning and losing can come down to fractions of a second, that kind of continual improvement is crucial.

Customers “put lots of money into this program, and they are there to win,” Singhania says.

Breaking Into Motorsports Engineering

Many engineers dream about working in the fast-paced and exciting world of motorsports, but it’s not easy breaking in. The biggest lesson Singhania learned is that if you don’t ask, you don’t get invited.

“Keep pursuing them because nobody’s going to come to you with an offer,” he says. “You have to keep talking to people and be ready when the opportunity presents itself.”

Demonstrating that you have experience contributing to challenging projects is a big help. Many of the engineers Bosch hires have been involved in Formula Student or similar automotive-engineering programs, such as the EcoCAR EV Challenge, says Singhania.

The job isn’t for everyone, though, he says. It’s demanding and requires a lot of travel and working on weekends during race season. But if you thrive under pressure and have a knack for problem solving, there are few more exciting careers.

This article appears in the July 2024 print issue as “Aakhilesh Singhania.”

When it comes to addressing climate change, the “in unity there’s strength” adage certainly applies.

To support IEEE’s climate change initiative, which highlights innovative solutions and approaches to the climate crisis, IEEE’s TryEngineering program has created a collection of lesson plans, activities, and events that cover electric vehicles, solar and wind power systems, and more.

TryEngineering, a program within IEEE Educational Activities, aims to foster the next generation of technology innovators by providing preuniversity educators and students with resources.

To help bring the climate collection to more students, TryEngineering has partnered with the Museum of Science in Boston. The museum, one of the world’s largest science centers, reaches nearly 5 million people annually through its physical location, nearby classrooms, and online platforms.

TryEngineering worked with the museum to distribute a nearly four-minute educational video created by Moment Factory, a multimedia studio specializing in immersive experiences. Using age-appropriate language, the video, which is posted on TryEngineering’s climate change page, explores the issue through visual models and scientific explanations.

“Since the industrial revolution, humans have been digging up fossil fuels and burning them, which releases CO2 into the atmosphere in unprecedented quantities,” the video says. It notes that in the past 60 years, atmospheric carbon dioxide increased at a rate 100 times faster than previous natural changes.

“We are committed to energizing students around important issues like climate change and helping them understand how engineering can make a difference.”

The video explains the impact of pollutants such as lead and ash, and it adds that “when we work together, we can change the global environment.” The video encourages students to contribute to a global solution by making small, personal changes.

“We’re thrilled to contribute to the IEEE climate change initiative by providing IEEE volunteers and educators access to TryEngineering’s collection, so they have resources to use with students,” says Debra Gulick, director of IEEE student and academic education programs.

“We are excited to partner with the Museum of Science to bring even more awareness and exposure of this important issue to the school setting,” Gulick says. “Working with prominent partners like the museum, we are committed to energizing students around important issues like climate change and helping them understand how engineering can make a difference.”

Earlier this month, China announced that it is pouring 6 billion yuan (about US $826 million) into a fund meant to spur the development of solid-state batteries by the nation’s leading battery manufacturers. Solid-state batteries use electrolytes of either glass, ceramic, or solid polymer material instead of the liquid lithium salts that are in the vast majority of today’s electric vehicle (EV) batteries. They’re greatly anticipated because they will have three or four times as much energy density as batteries with liquid electrolytes, offer more charge-discharge cycles over their lifetimes, and be far less susceptible to the thermal runaway reaction that occasionally causes lithium batteries to catch fire.

But China’s investment in the future of batteries won’t likely speed up the timetable for mass production and use in production vehicles. As IEEE Spectrum pointed out in January, it’s not realistic to look for solid-state batteries in production vehicles anytime soon. Experts Spectrum consulted at the time “noted a pointed skepticism toward the technical merits of these announcements. None could isolate anything on the horizon indicating that solid-state technology can escape the engineering and ‘production hell’ that lies ahead.”

“To state at this point that any one battery and any one country’s investments in battery R&D will dominate in the future is simply incorrect.” —Steve W. Martin, Iowa State University

Reaching scale production of solid-state batteries for EVs will first require validating existing solid-state battery technologies—now being used for other, less demanding applications—in terms of performance, life-span, and relative cost for vehicle propulsion. Researchers must still determine how those batteries take and hold a charge and deliver power as they age. They’ll also need to provide proof that a glass or ceramic battery can stand up to the jarring that comes with driving on bumpy roads and certify that it can withstand the occasional fender bender.

Here Come Semi-Solid-State Batteries

Meanwhile, as the world waits for solid electrolytes to shove liquids aside, Chinese EV manufacturer Nio and battery maker WeLion New Energy Technology Co. have partnered to stake a claim on the market for a third option that splits the difference: semi-solid-state batteries, with gel electrolytes.

CarNewsChina.com reported in April that the WeLion cells have an energy density of 360 watt-hours per kilogram. Fully packaged, the battery’s density rating is 260 Wh/kg. That’s still a significant improvement over lithium iron phosphate batteries, whose density tops out at 160 Wh/kg. In tests conducted last month with Nio’s EVs in Shanghai, Chengdu, and several other cities, the WeLion battery packs delivered more than 1,000 kilometers of driving range on a single charge. Nio says it plans to roll out the new battery type across its vehicle lineup beginning this month.

But the Beijing government’s largesse and the Nio-WeLion partnership’s attempt to be first to get semi-solid-state batteries into production vehicles shouldn’t be a temptation to call the EV propulsion game prematurely in China’s favor.

So says Steve W. Martin, a professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University, in Ames. Martin, whose research areas include glassy solid electrolytes for solid-state lithium batteries and high-capacity reversible anodes for lithium batteries, believes that solid-state batteries are the future and that hybrid semi-solid batteries will likely be a transition between liquid and solid-state batteries. However, he says, “to state at this point that any one battery and any one country’s investments in battery R&D will dominate in the future is simply incorrect.” Martin explains that “there are too many different kinds of solid-state batteries being developed right now and no one of these has a clear technological lead.”

The Advantages of Semi-Solid-State Batteries

The main innovation that gives semi-solid-state batteries an advantage over conventional batteries is the semisolid electrolyte from which they get their name. The gel electrolyte contains ionic conductors such as lithium salts just as liquid electrolytes do, but the way they are suspended in the gel matrix supports much more efficient ion conductivity. Enhanced transport of ions from one side of the battery to the other boosts the flow of current in the opposite direction that makes a complete circuit. This is important during the charging phase because the process happens more rapidly than it can in a battery with a liquid electrolyte. The gel’s structure also resists the formation of dendrites, the needlelike structures that can form on the anode during charging and cause short circuits. Additionally, gels are less volatile than liquid electrolytes and are therefore less prone to catching fire.

Though semi-solid-state batteries won’t reach the energy densities and life-spans that are expected from those with solid electrolytes, they’re at an advantage in the short term because they can be made on conventional lithium-ion battery production lines. Just as important, they have been tested and are available now rather than at some as yet unknown date.

Semi-solid-state batteries can be made on conventional lithium-ion battery production lines.

Several companies besides WeLion are actively developing semi-solid-state batteries. China’s prominent battery manufacturers, including CATL, BYD, and the state-owned automakers FAW Group and SAIC Group are, like WeLion, beneficiaries of Beijing’s plans to advance next-generation battery technology domestically. Separately, the startup Farasis Energy, founded in Ganzhou, China, in 2009, is collaborating with Mercedes-Benz to commercialize advanced batteries.

The Road Forward to Solid-State Batteries

U.S. startup QuantumScape says the solid-state lithium metal batteries it’s developing will offer energy density of around 400 Wh/kg. The company notes that its cells eliminate the charging bottleneck that occurs in conventional lithium-ion cells, where lithium must diffuse into the carbon particles. QuantumScape’s advanced batteries will therefore allow fast charging from 10 to 80 percent in 15 minutes. That’s a ways off, but the Silicon Valley–based company announced in March that it had begun shipping its prototype Alpha-2 semi-solid-state cells to manufacturers for testing.

Toyota is among a group of companies not looking to hedge their bets. The automaker, ignoring naysayers, aims to commercialize solid-state batteries by 2027 that it says will give an EV a range of 1,200 km on a single charge and allow 10-minute fast charging. It attributes its optimism to breakthroughs addressing durability issues. And for companies like Solid Power, it’s also solid-state or bust. Solid Power, which aims to commercialize a lithium battery with a proprietary sulfide-based solid electrolyte, has partnered with major automakers Ford and BMW. ProLogium Technology, which is also forging ahead with preparations for a solid-state battery rollout, claims that it will start delivering batteries this year that combine a ceramic oxide electrolyte with a lithium-free soft cathode (for energy density exceeding 500 Wh/kg). The company, which has teamed up with Mercedes-Benz, demonstrated confidence in its timetable by opening the world’s first giga-level solid-state lithium ceramic battery factory earlier this year in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

When Yifeng Chen was a teenager in Shantou, China, in the early 2000s, he saw a TV program that amazed him. The show highlighted rooftop solar panels in Germany, explaining that the panels generated electricity to power the buildings and even earned the owners money by letting them sell extra energy back to the electricity company.

Yifeng Chen

Employer

Trina Solar

Title

Assistant vice president of technology

Member Grade

Member

Alma Maters

Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, China, and Leibniz University Hannover, in Germany

An incredulous Chen marveled at not only the technology but also the economics. A power authority would pay its customers?

It sounded like magic: useful and valuable electricity extracted from simple sunlight. The wonder of it all has fueled his dreams ever since.

In 2013 Chen earned a Ph.D. in photovoltaic sciences and technologies, and today he’s assistant vice president of technology at China’s Trina Solar, a Changzhou-based company that is one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world. He leads the company’s R&D group, whose efforts have set more than two dozen world records for solar power efficiency and output.

For Chen’s contributions to the science and technology of photovoltaic energy conversion, the IEEE member received the 2023 IEEE Stuart R. Wenham Young Professional Award from the IEEE Electron Devices Society.

“I was quite surprised and so grateful” to receive the Wenham Award, Chen says. “It’s a very high-level recognition, and there are so many deserving experts from around the world.”

Trina Solar’s push for more efficient hardware

Today’s commercial solar panels typically achieve about 20 percent efficiency: They can turn one-fifth of captured sunlight into electricity. Chen’s group is trying to make the panels more efficient.

The group is focusing on optimizing solar cell designs, including the passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC), which is the industry standard for commodity solar panels.

Invented in 1983, PERCs are used today in nearly 90 percent of solar panels on the market. They incorporate coatings on the front and back to capture sunlight more effectively and to avoid losing energy, both at the surfaces and as the sunlight travels through the cell. The coatings, known as passivation layers, are made from materials such as silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, and aluminum oxide. The layers keep negatively charged free electrons and positively charged electron holes apart, preventing them from combining at the surface of the solar cell and wasting energy.

Chen and his team have developed several ways to boost the performance of PERC panels, hitting a record of 24.5 percent efficiency in 2022. One of the technologies is a multilayer antireflective coating that helps solar panels trap more light. They also created extremely fine metallization fingers—narrow lines on solar cells’ surfaces—to collect and transport the electric current and help capture more sunlight. And they developed an advanced method for laying the strips of conductive metal that run across the solar cell, known as bus bars.

Experts predict the maximum efficiency of PERC technology will be reached soon, topping out at about 25 percent.

IEEE Member Yifeng Chen displays an i-TOPCon solar module, which has a production efficiency of more than 23 percent and a power output of up to 720 watts.Trina Solar

“So the question is: How do we get solar cells even more efficient?” Chen says.

During the past few years he and his group have been working on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology. A TOPCon cell uses a thin layer of “tunneling oxide” insulating material—typically silicon dioxide—which is applied to the solar cell’s surface. Similar to the passivation layers on PERC cells, the tunnel oxide stops free electrons and electron holes from combining and wasting energy.

In 2022 Trina created a TOPCon-type panel with a record 25.5 percent efficiency, and two months ago the company announced it had achieved a record 740.6 watts for a mass-produced TOPCon solar module. The latter was the 26th record Trina set for solar power–related efficiencies and outputs.

To achieve that record-breaking performance for their TOPCon panels, Chen and his team optimized the company’s manufacturing processes including laser-induced firing, in which a laser heats part of the solar cell and creates bonds between the metal contacts and the silicon wafer. The resulting connections are stronger and better aligned, enhancing efficiency.

“We’re trying to keep improving things to trap just a little bit more sunlight,” Chen says. “Gaining 1 or 2 percent more efficiency is huge. These may sound like very tiny increases, but at scale these small improvements create a lot of value in terms of economics, sustainability, and value to society.”

As the efficiency of solar cells rises and prices drop, Chen says, he expects solar power to continue to grow around the world. China currently leads the world in installed solar power capacity, accounting for about 40 percent of global capacity. The United States is a distant second, with 12 percent, according to a 2023 Rystad Energy report. The report predicts that China’s 500 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2023 is likely to exceed 1 terawatt by 2026.

“I’m inspired by using science to create something useful for human beings, and then driven by the pursuit for excellence,” Chen says. “We can always learn something new to make that change, improve that piece of technology, and get just that little bit better.”

Trained by solar-power pioneers

Chen attended Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, earning a bachelor’s degree in optics sciences and technologies in 2008. He stayed on to pursue a Ph.D. in photovoltaics sciences and technologies. His research was on high-efficiency solar cells made from wafer-based crystalline silicon. His adviser was Hui Shen, a leading PV professor and founder of the university’s Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Chen calls him “the first of three very important figures in my scientific career.”

In 2011 Chen spent a year as a Ph.D. student at Leibniz University Hannover, in Germany. There he studied under Pietro P. Altermatt, the second influential figure in his career.

Altermatt—a prominent silicon solar-cell expert who would later become principal scientist at Trina—advised Chen on his computational techniques for modeling and analyzing the behavior of 2D and 3D solar cells. The models play a key role in designing solar cells to optimize their output.

“Gaining 1 or 2 percent more efficiency is huge. These may sound like very tiny increases, but at scale, these small improvements create a lot of value in terms of economics, sustainability, and value to society.”

“Dr. Altermatt changed how I look at things,” Chen says. “In Germany, they really focus on device physics.”

After completing his Ph.D., Chen became a technical assistant at Trina, where he met the third highly influential person in his career: Pierre Verlinden, a pioneering photovoltaic researcher who was the company’s chief scientist.

At Trina, Chen quickly ascended through R&D roles. He has been the company’s assistant vice president of technology since 2023.

IEEE’s “treasure” trove of research

Chen joined IEEE as a student because he wanted to attend the IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, the longest-running event dedicated to photovoltaics, solar cells, and solar power.

The membership was particularly beneficial during his Ph.D. studies, he says, because he used the IEEE Xplore Digital Library to access archival papers.

“My work has certainly been inspired by papers I found via IEEE,” Chen says. “Plus, you end up clicking around and reading other work that isn’t related to your field but is so interesting.

“The publication repository is a treasure. It’s eye-opening to see what’s going on inside and outside of your industry, with new discoveries happening all the time.”

Nearly 400 exhibitors representing the boldest energy innovations in the United States came together last week at the annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. The conference, hosted in Dallas by the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), showcased the agency’s bets on early-stage energy technologies that can disrupt the status quo. U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm spoke at the summit. “The people in this room are America’s best hope” in the race to unleash the power of clean energy, she said. “The technologies you create will decide whether we win that race. But no pressure,” she quipped. IEEE Spectrum spent three days meandering the aisles of the showcase. Here are five of our favorite demonstrations.

Gas Li-ion batteries thwart extreme cold

South 8 Technologies demonstrates the cold tolerance of its Li-ion battery by burying it in ice at the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. Emily Waltz

Made with a liquified gas electrolyte instead of the standard liquid solvent, a new kind of lithium-ion battery that stands up to extreme cold, made by South 8 Technologies in San Diego, won’t freeze until temps drop below –80 °C. That’s a big improvement on conventional Li-ion batteries, which start to degrade when temps reach 0 °C and shut down at about –20 °C. “You lose about half of your range in an electric vehicle if you drive it in the middle of winter in Michigan,” says Cyrus Rustomji, cofounder of South 8. To prove the company’s point, Rustomji and his team set out a bucket of dry ice at nearly –80 °C at their booth at the ARPA-E summit and put flashlights in it—one powered by a South 8 battery and one powered by a conventional Li-ion cell. The latter flashlight went out after about 10 minutes, and South 8’s kept going for the next 15 hours. Rustomji says he expects EV batteries made with South 8’s technology to maintain nearly full range at –40 °C, and gradually degrade in temperatures lower than that.

South 8 Technologies

Conventional Li-ion batteries use liquid solvents, such as ethylene and dimethyl carbonate, as the electrolyte. The electrolyte serves as a medium through which lithium salt moves from one electrode to the other in the battery, shuttling electricity. When it’s cold, the carbonates thicken, which lowers the power of the battery. They can also freeze, which shuts down all conductivity. South 8 swapped out the carbonate for some industrial liquified gases with low freezing points (a recipe the company won’t disclose).

Using liquified gases also reduces fire risk because the gas very quickly evaporates from a damaged battery cell, removing fuel that could burn and cause the battery to catch fire. If a conventional Li-ion battery gets damaged, it can short-circuit and quickly become hot—like over 800 °C hot. This causes the liquid electrolyte to heat adjacent cells and potentially start a fire.

There’s another benefit to this battery, and this one will make EV drivers very happy: It will take only 10 minutes to reach an 80 percent charge in EVs powered by these batteries, Rustomji estimates. That’s because liquified gas has a lower viscosity than carbonate-based electrolytes, which allows the lithium salt to move from one electrode to the other at a faster rate, shortening the time it takes to recharge the battery.

South 8’s latest improvement is a high-voltage cathode that reduces material costs and could enable fast charging down to 5 minutes for a full charge. “We have the world record for a high-voltage, low-temperature cathode,” says Rustomji.

Liquid cooling won’t leak on servers

Chilldyne guarantees that its liquid-cooling system won’t leak even if tubes get hacked in half, as IEEE Spectrum editor Emily Waltz demonstrates at the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. Emily Waltz

Data centers need serious cooling technologies to keep servers from overheating, and sometimes air-conditioning just isn’t enough. In fact, the latest Blackwell chips from Nvidia require liquid cooling, which is more energy efficient than air. But liquid cooling tends to make data-center operators nervous. “A bomb won’t do as much damage as a leaky liquid-cooling system,” says Steve Harrington, CEO of Chilldyne. His company, based in Carlsbad, Calif., offers liquid cooling that’s guaranteed not to leak, even if the coolant lines get chopped in half. (They aren’t kidding: Chilldyne brought an axe to its demonstration at ARPA-E and let Spectrum try it out. Watch the blue cooling liquid immediately disappear from the tube after it’s chopped.)

Chilldyne

The system is leakproof because Chilldyne’s negative-pressure system pulls rather than pushes liquid coolant through tubes, like a vacuum. The tubes wind through servers, absorbing heat through cold plates, and return the warmed liquid to tanks in a cooling distribution unit. This unit transfers the heat outside and supplies cooled liquid back to the servers. If a component anywhere in the cooling loop breaks, the liquid is immediately sucked back into the tanks before it can leak. Key to the technology: low-thermal-resistance cold plates attached to each server’s processors, such as the CPUs or GPUs. The cold plates absorb heat by convection, transferring the heat to the coolant tube that runs through it. Chilldyne optimized the cold plate using corkscrew-shaped metal channels, called turbulators, that force water around them “like little tornadoes,” maximizing the heat absorbed, says Harrington. The company developed the cold plate under an ARPA-E grant and is now measuring the energy savings of liquid cooling through an ARPA-E program.

Salvaged mining waste also sequesters CO₂

Phoenix Tailings’ senior research scientist Rita Silbernagel explains how mining waste contains useful metals and rare earth elements and can also be used as a place to store carbon dioxide.Emily Waltz

Mining leaves behind piles of waste after the commercially viable material is extracted. This waste, known as tailings, can contain rare earth elements and valuable metals that are too difficult to extract with conventional mining techniques. Phoenix Tailings—a startup based in Woburn, Mass.—extracts metals and rare earth elements from tailings in a process that leaves behind no waste and creates no direct carbon dioxide emissions. The company’s process starts with a hydrometallurgical treatment that separates rare earth elements from the tailings, which contain iron, aluminum, and other common elements. Next the company uses a novel solvent extraction method to separate the rare earth elements from one another and purify the desired element in the form of an oxide. The rare earth oxide then undergoes a molten-salt electrolysis process that converts it into a solid metal form. Phoenix Tailings focuses on extracting neodymium, neodymium-praseodymium alloy, dysprosium, and ferro dysprosium alloy, which are rare earth metals used in permanent magnets for EVs, wind turbines, jet engines, and other applications. The company is evaluating several tailings sites in the United States, including in upstate New York.

The company has also developed a process to extract metals such as nickel, copper, and cobalt from mining tailings while simultaneously sequestering carbon dioxide. The approach involves injecting CO₂ into the tailings, where it reacts with minerals, transforming them into carbonates—compounds that contain the carbonate ion, which contains three oxygen atoms and one carbon atom. After the mineral carbonation process, the nickel or other metals are selectively leached from the mixture, yielding high-quality nickel that can be used by EV-battery and stainless-steel industries.

Better still, this whole process, says Rita Silbernagel, senior research scientist at Phoenix Tailings, absorbs more CO₂ than it emits.

Hydrokinetic turbines: a new business model

Emrgy adjusts the height of its hydrokinetic turbines at the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit. The company plans to install them in old irrigation channels to generate renewable energy and new revenue streams for rural communities. Emily Waltz

These hydrokinetic turbines run in irrigation channels, generating electricity and revenue for rural communities. Developed by Emrgy in Atlanta, the turbines can change in height and blade pitch based on the flow of the water. The company plans to put them in irrigation channels that were built to bring water from snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains to agricultural areas in the western United States. Emrgy estimates that there are more than 160,000 kilometers of these waterways in the country. The system is aging and losing water, but it’s hard for water districts to justify the cost of repairing them, says Tom Cuthbert, chief technology officer at Emrgy. The company’s solution is to place its hydrokinetic turbines throughout these waterways as a way to generate renewable electricity and pay for upgrades to the irrigation channels.

The concept of placing hydrokinetic turbines in waterways isn’t new, but until recent years, connecting them to the grid wasn’t practical. Emrgy’s timing takes advantage of the groundwork laid by the solar power industry. The company has five pilot projects in the works in the United States and New Zealand. “We found that existing water infrastructure is a massive overlooked real estate segment that is ripe for renewable energy development,” says Emily Morris, CEO and founder of Emrgy.

Pressurized water stores energy deep underground

Quidnet Energy brought a wellhead to the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit to demonstrate its geoengineered energy-storage system.Emily Waltz

Quidnet Energy brought a whole wellhead to the ARPA-E summit to demonstrate its underground pumped hydro storage technique. The Houston-based company’s geoengineered system stores energy as pressurized water deep underground. It consists of a surface-level pond, a deep well, an underground reservoir at the end of the well, and a pump system that moves pressurized water from the pond to the underground reservoir and back. The design doesn’t require an elevation change like traditional pumped storage hydropower.

Quidnet’s system consists of a surface-level pond, a deep well, an underground reservoir at the end of the well, and a pump system that moves pressurized water from the pond to the underground reservoir and back.Quidnet Energy

It works like this: Electricity from renewable sources powers a pump that sends water from the surface pond into a wellhead and down a well that’s about 300 meters deep. At the end of the well, the pressure from the pumped water flows into a previously engineered fracture in the rock, creating a reservoir that’s hundreds of meters wide and sits beneath the weight of the whole column of rock above it, says Bunker Hill, vice president of engineering at Quidnet. The wellhead then closes and the water remains under high pressure, keeping energy stored in the reservoir for days if necessary. When electricity is needed, the well is opened, letting the pressurized water run up the same well. Above ground, the water passes through a hydroelectric turbine, generating 2 to 8 megawatts of electricity. The spent water then returns to the surface pond, ready for the next cycle. “The hard part is making sure the underground reservoir doesn’t lose water,” says Hill. To that end, the company developed customized sealing solutions that get injected into the fracture, sealing in the water.