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There is no "recharging" an aluminum-air battery, you add the energy back through recycling (smelting) it.

One of the big synergies is with renewables: With the right industrial process, you can treat this smelting process as a way to dump excess energy in peak production times.

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It's the same idea of green hydrogen. Only hydrogen allows you to use pipelines instead of physically hauling everything. You also don't have to worry about the battery physically gaining weight as you fly.

I remember 20 years back, hydrogen was going to be it. There were prototype cars manufactured, calls for hydrogen fueling stations to be built, everyone scrambling to get on the hydrogen train. Then it all just fizzled out. It was probably one of the promised techs I most wish had lived up to the hype.

It's going to live up to the hype. It just didn't happen in that timeframe.

Doesn't smelting generate a ton of waste heat, though? Sounds like a process that uses far more energy than the aluminum-air battery can hold.

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