Do you remember, in 2011, these really catchy stories about “Cambridge crude”?

Cambridge crude was that very thick, syrupy, energy-dense liquid, doped with nanoparticles, that was developed at MIT for use in a flow battery. It was going to revolutionize flow batteries because of its incredible energy density, and was aiming for a total system price point of $100/kWh – the famous DOE price point goal.

The technology was licensed by MIT to a A123 spinoff named 24M, which raised  $10M+ from Charles River Ventures, and got an ARPA-E contract for another $6M. The contract was for 3 years, and came to completion in summer 2013, at which time they were going to have a full working prototype.

24M has been awfully quiet ever since the Cambridge crude stories, and we did not hear a peep at ARPA-E contract completion either. I was always interested in the idea of a high-energy-density flow battery: after all, it’s like having your cake and eating it! I am trying to get more information on 24M progress. I hope no news is good news 🙂

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some more information in a few weeks. So stay tuned!