Thanks to a new nonprofit — the Electrochemistry Foundry (ECF) — and construction begun under its auspices, UC Santa Barbara is poised to join a group of collaborating partners in a new era of battery prototyping. The effort is aimed at bridging the gap between innovative technology and commercial availability, thus securing the technological foundations of the modern economy.
The public launch of ECF was announced on April 15, with the goal of accelerating the commercialization of advanced energy technologies in California’s first shared-use battery pilot manufacturing line. A $28 million competitive award from the California Energy Commission (CEC) has enabled the organization to move forward with developing the facility, to be located in Hayward, California, on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay, bringing job opportunities to a designated disadvantaged community.
In addition to UCSB, the network of collaborating entities includes UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, the Volta Foundation, the Catalyst Innovation Group and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Additionally, ECF will onshore world-class manufacturing expertise from South Korea through dedicated operational support from Top Material, an industry leader in operating flexible Li-ion manufacturing lines…