Zinc Battery Initiative (ZBI), the voice of the zinc battery industry, announces plans to welcome German battery developer HILABS. ZBI’s rapidly growing membership is comprised of leading zinc battery manufacturers, including HILABS, which has developed a scalable, safe, and affordable zinc-air battery designed as an alternative to lead-acid, and lithium-ion batteries in a variety of applications.

ZBI was created by the International Zinc Association in 2020 to promote the adoption of high-performance, rechargeable zinc battery products. Its members produce zinc batteries for a variety of applications from powering naval submarines and electric vehicles to providing backup power for microgrids, homes, traffic signals, and data centers.

Launched in 2016, HILABS has created both a novel zinc air battery as well as a game-changing replaceable electric liquid designed to maintain battery life for 25 years. HILABS has entered the demonstration phase with its Air Breathing Battery (ABBy), targeted for home residential energy storage and EV charging systems. Once in full-scale production, HILABS manufacturing will create an estimated 400 to 600 jobs in Germany.

“HILABS has developed an incredibly unique zinc battery and we are excited to welcome the HILABS team to our membership. HILABS’s novel electric liquid enables its ABBy zinc air to be a fully sustainable battery system,” said Dr. Josef Daniel-Ivad, manager of the Zinc Battery Initiative. “With its recyclability and affordability, we predict ABBy will have a lasting presence in energy storage.”

“We are thrilled to team up with the Zinc Battery Initiative at this important time for zinc batteries and energy storage. We see it as our mission to revolutionize the energy storage market by making batteries available to private households and industry that are inexpensive, safe, clean, and environmentally friendly,” said HILABS CEO Dr. Manan Haq.