Inside GE’s New Battery Factory
High-tech ceramics are the key to making a new energy storage technology.Photographs by Kevin Bullis | Technology Review
About 60 percent of the factory is devoted to making a ceramic electrolyte. The process begins with large sacks of starting materials, shown here, which are mixed, chemically modified, milled, and dried to convert flourlike materials into materials that flow as easily as water and have the properties needed to consistently make a high-performance ceramic.
To manufacture its new sodium-nickel batteries, which could be used to store power from wind turbines or help power remote cell-phone towers (see “GE’s Novel Battery to Bolster the Grid”), GE has opened a large factory in Schenectady, New York. Here’s a look inside it at some key steps in the manufacturing process.
10 comments. Share your thoughts » 0 comments about this story. Start the discussion »