“Zinc metal demand (for) battery storage would be 19.8Mt of metal”
A Canadian commodity research firm has said older zinc battery technology could be a more efficient grid-scale energy storage solution than the much-hyped lithium equivalent, possibly boosting demand for a metal already at a 10-year price high.
“Lithium batteries are not that solution, and while we have hope, vanadium redox batteries are not there.
“What is not normally considered by investors is the possibility that a boring base metal might become an exciting technology metal. We believe that this is precisely what may happen in the next few years to zinc, as various firms bring their inexpensive zinc-air stationery batteries to the market as a cost-effective grid-storage technology.
“If we are correct in our assessment that zinc-air batteries can become a serious player in the grid-storage market, then technology investors will also have to begin to look at zinc in the same way that they have begun to look at lithium and cobalt.”
