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The future is electric. Electric vehicles (the fastest “production” car in the world is now electric). Electric stoves. Electric heat pumps. Electric robots. And of course all the compute powering the AI revolution. At USV we have long held the belief that all of this adds up to a massively growing demand for electricity along with an ever increasing need to store that electricity. Batteries are improving rapidly with the cost of storage plummeting, making more and more applications feasible. At USV we have invested extensively up and down the battery stack from Molten (graphite for anodes), Anthro (polymer electrolyte), and Unigrid (sodium ion), up to Bolt (EV charging), Shift (EV retrofitting) and Cactos (storage).
The future is electric. Electric vehicles (the fastest “production” car in the world is now electric). Electric stoves. Electric heat pumps. Electric robots. And of course all the compute powering the AI revolution. At USV we have long held the belief that all of this adds up to a massively growing demand for electricity along with an ever increasing need to store that electricity. Batteries are improving rapidly with the cost of storage plummeting, making more and more applications feasible. At USV we have invested extensively up and down the battery stack from Molten (graphite for anodes), Anthro (polymer electrolyte), and Unigrid (sodium ion), up to Bolt (EV charging), Shift (EV retrofitting) and Cactos (storage).
Today we are excited to announce another investment along this thesis. Electroflow has developed a novel way of extracting lithium from brine. One of the concerns around electrification has been the impact of mining some of the necessary materials. Lithium is a key input for several of the most widely used battery chemistries. Ensuring a steady supply is therefore essential to keeping the “electric slide” going. It turns out that the United States has a lot of lithium, with much of it dissolved in brines. Being able to efficiently extract it unlocks a large domestic supply that doesn’t require any new mining activity.
Eric and Evan founded Electroflow after working together as postdocs at Stanford. They developed a novel process that works at low concentrations and results directly in LFP as its output. LFP is the cathode material for so-called LFP batteries (such as those in use in the fastest car in the world). We are joining Fifty Years, Harpoon and Voyager in backing the team in bringing their technology to market.
Today we are excited to announce another investment along this thesis. Electroflow has developed a novel way of extracting lithium from brine. One of the concerns around electrification has been the impact of mining some of the necessary materials. Lithium is a key input for several of the most widely used battery chemistries. Ensuring a steady supply is therefore essential to keeping the “electric slide” going. It turns out that the United States has a lot of lithium, with much of it dissolved in brines. Being able to efficiently extract it unlocks a large domestic supply that doesn’t require any new mining activity.
Eric and Evan founded Electroflow after working together as postdocs at Stanford. They developed a novel process that works at low concentrations and results directly in LFP as its output. LFP is the cathode material for so-called LFP batteries (such as those in use in the fastest car in the world). We are joining Fifty Years, Harpoon and Voyager in backing the team in bringing their technology to market.
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The future is electric which is why we need to get going w nuclear power.