Aluminum, oxygen, and water – thanks to new Israeli technology that’s all that is needed to generate, store, and transport clean energy. Phinergy, a company launched in 2009 by co-founder and chairman Aviv Tzidon and based in Lod, Israel, has become a leading pioneer in this new metal-air technology that was initially conceived at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan. This company’s aluminum-air and zinc-air systems are making waves throughout the energy industry because they tick all the right boxes. They are light (highly dense in energy), clean (zero emission and fully recyclable), and safe (non-flammable and non-explosive).i
The process is based on oxygen’s ability to release energy from metal. While metal-air energy technology is not new, Phinergy has found a way to streamline it and make it renewable. Using an air-electrode technology, Phinergy has been able to master the metal-air reaction. Traditional processes have had to supply the oxygen or bring it along during transportation, making it bulky, cumbersome, and wasteful. Phinergy’s technology allows the metal to breathe oxygen from the ambient air, integrating it into its environment and allowing it to use the resources that are readily available. “Simply put, it’s like the difference between a scuba diver and a fish,” says Tzidon. “While the diver carries oxygen tanks in order to breathe, the fish simply breathes through its gills.”ii
Because of its ground-breaking advancements, the World Economic Forum recently placed Phinergy on its Technology Pioneers list, which honors those who are striving to solve global challenges with cutting-edge technology.iii Evidence of Phinergy’s desire to provide global solutions is seen in its partnership with Indian Oil Corporation to form IOP, a company that will test Phinergy’s cutting edge aluminum-air battery in electric vehicles.iv These metal-air vehicle batteries have the range of non-electric cars, reload completely in five minutes, are zero-emission, and are much more affordable than lithium versions.v A technology like this could revolutionize India’s mass transit dependence through much cheaper electric buses and trains.
We live in a world of game-changing technologies. It seems every week there is some new, brilliant invention that will transform the way things are done. Phinergy’s work certainly belongs on that list. “Our clean energy systems have been tested and deployed for various applications – telecommunications, data centers, electric vehicles and renewable energy storage – and we believe metal-air technology will play a key role in the global energy transition and in shaping the future of energy,” says CEO David Mayer.vi Once again, Israel is found on the leading edge of technological innovation.
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i “Home.” PHINERGY, 14 Feb. 2021, phinergy.com/.
ii Ibid.
iii “Phinergy Awarded as Technology Pioneer by World Economic Forum.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 15 June 2021, finance.yahoo.com/news/phinergy-awarded-technology-pioneer-world-113300294.html.
iv Phinergy. IOP, the Company Jointly Owned by Phinergy and Indian Energy Major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Will Collaborate with Two Leading Automakers in India – Ashok Leyland and Maruti Suzuki to Test Phinergy’s Aluminium-Air Battery in Electric Vehicles, 24 Mar. 2021, www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iop-the-company-jointly-owned-by-phinergy-and-indian-energy-major-indian-oil-corporation-ioc-will-collaborate-with-two-leading-automakers-in-india–ashok-leyland-and-maruti-suzuki-to-test-phinergys-aluminium-air-battery-in-e-301255114.html.
v “Home.”
vi Phinergy.
