According to an article published on the 03/08/2016 on Fortune, the Chief Technical Officer at Tesla Motors Inc has invested in a promising clean tech start-up. JB Straubel, the Tesla CTO who is behind the use of lithium-ion batteries in Tesla’s EVs, has invested in Axiom Energy.
Axiom Energy is developing innovative technology, and could experience sharp growth soon. An article posted on Fortune provides more info on the firm. It reads “The young company sells technology that plugs into super market refrigeration units and uses tanks of frozen salt water as a way to store energy and lower supermarket energy bills. During peak times of energy use, like hot summer afternoons, Axiom Energy’s technology switches a supermarket’s refrigeration units over to use frozen salt water tanks to keep cool. When the refrigerators are being cooled by the ice tanks, they don’t need to use their own power-hungry cooling systems.”
The article also added “The tanks freeze the ice at night, when grid rates tend to be low because less electricity is being used. The company’s software and data system continuously detects when grid rates fluctuate and manages the process.”
The firm has raised $2.5 million from a consortium of investors, including JB Straubel and the MIT Angels. It is unclear if Tesla Motors Inc could potentially use this technology in the future, but Straubel’s investment suggests that the company is promising.
Tesla is building a Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, to manufacture lithium-ion batteries, required for their electric vehicles. The batteries store electrical energy as chemical energy. The facility was opened just a few days ago, on the 31/07/2016. The factory will need to produce large quantities of batteries, especially with the introduction of Tesla’s new, mass produced EV, the Model 3.
As of 16:26 GMT (on the 04/08/2016), a share in Tesla Motors Inc is down by 0.50% ($1.14), trading at $224.65 per share. The company currently has a market capitalization of $32.57 billion.