Bill Gates-Backed Company Pilots Unique Battery to Help Industry (1)

A thermal battery startup backed by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures has launched its first commercial-scale system, a major step toward its goal of weaning heavy industry off fossil fuels.

With its pilot project up and running at a facility in Fresno, California, Antora Energy plans to ship the technology to its first buyers in 2025.

Unlike a lithium-ion battery, which stores electricity as chemical energy, Antora’s thermal battery system keeps it as heat inside carbon blocks at temperatures above 1,800C (3,272F). It can discharge that energy directly as heat or as electricity, which it can do by converting the ...