Eos Energy Storage May Change Our World

Before my day in New York City comes to a close, let me mention a highlight: my meeting with Steve Hellman, president of Eos, energy storage giant of the not-too-distant future.  I won’t bore you with the details of his company’s breakthrough in zinc-air battery chemistry; I’ll only point out what I think it will mean in the sexiest aspect of the storage business: enabling electric vehicles in a very big way. 

Steve and I had a very interesting and engaging talk, during which we realized that we share a common viewpoint:

Have you ever noticed that the great consulting companies like Deloitte and Accenture have ridiculously smooth projections for the adoption of cleantech over the coming decades?  These graphs, like all attempts to project the future from the past, are a complete crock. And in no case is this more evident than in automobiles – the place at which we will choose between one great infrastructure and another.  Once the right combination of factors falls into place (an acceptable range, an acceptable price), the change will happen very suddenly – and drive the loser out of business in a very short period of time. 

As I’m about to tell my audience at the upcoming electric vehicle show in Los Angeles at which I’ve been asked to speak next week: once this starts to happen, you will have the same trouble buying a gasoline-powered car that you do now shopping for a turntable for LPs. 

Hey, did the Internet happen slowly?  Or did it come to dominate the way we live in just a few years.  Something to think about – as is Eos.