"Electric jerry can:" Arena backs Australian portable energy storage innovation that's not quite a plug

Plans to mass-produce portable batteries at a purpose-built factory in Melbourne have become the latest recipient of federal government funding – a technology that is not quite a plug-in battery, but more like a very big power bank or, as the manufacturer likes to call it, an “electric jerry can.”

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced late last week that it is backing local battery manufacturing with a $6.77 million grant to Melbourne-based Clutch Industries to make modular, semi-solid-state battery systems that “can be used at home or taken on the road.”

The money will help fund a $19.35 million bid to design, construct and commission a scalable manufacturing line in Coburg North, to produce Clutch Industries’ PowerNet – a 20kg portable 4kWh battery pack that can operate independently or be stacked to create a home battery system.

ARENA describes the PowerNet as “a modular mobile energy asset designed to store electrical energy and move it between applications.”

“Unlike batteries that are permanently tied to a single vehicle, building, or appliance, PowerNet is designed to provide flexible energy storage that can be used across residential, commercial, mobile, and off-grid settings,” the agency states.

“Potential uses include household energy storage, mobile power, marine and recreational vehicles, industrial and mining equipment, off-grid power, and light electric mobility.”

If this sounds a bit like a plug-in home battery, it is not. At least, not at its most basic level.

“So we’ve developed a battery that has quite a lot of functionality,” says Brad Davis, the CEO of Clutch Industries.

“It’s got a lot of functionality built in that is forward-thinking as to what applications in the future we can apply it to, including defense and … other applications that would value, effectively, what we call an electric jerry can.”

This “electric jerry can” – so named because it is roughly the same size and weight as a petrol jerry can, but minus the fossil fuel – can be used to power a home, but in that case multiples of the 4kWh PowerNet cells would be integrated with an inverter and within a cabinet, and effectively converted into a home battery.

“Let’s say I want to go caravanning, because Australians spend …. 15 million nights a year out caravanning and camping. …I take [a removable cell] out and I put it in my caravan and off I go,” says Davis.

“I might want to get an electric motor for my boat because I want to decarbonise the waterways. Oh, now I need to buy a battery to power the motor on my boat. Ah, I already have PowerNet.

“And so, our vision for Powernet, and together with the investment from Arena, is we are going to assemble this highly featured electric jerry can and build an ecosystem that you can use it in lots of different things in home, work, business, etc, in the future.”

Arena said the new facility would incorporate automated assembly, testing, quality assurance and traceable supply chains, helping to establish advanced manufacturing capability in Australia – and bringing a locally-made product to the emerging and potentially huge portable battery market.

“More Australians are choosing batteries to make the most of their solar and cut their power bills. We want Australian manufacturers and workers to share in that opportunity,” Bowen said in a statement on Friday.

“This project is about making batteries here that people can use in their everyday lives, whether that’s storing energy at home or taking power with them on a camping trip, or their workplace.”

Tim Ayers, who as federal minister for industry and innovation has worked closely on the Albanese government’s 4500 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative (BBI) says the Arena funding is about capturing more of the economic opportunities created by the global energy transition.

“Australia has a growing demand for home batteries and off-grid power solutions. This project can demonstrate how the next generation of modular battery technology can meet this requirement,” the minister said on Friday.

“This investment will help grow Australian manufacturing capability, support skilled jobs in Victoria and strengthen our ability to produce advanced battery technologies here in Australia.”

Arena says the Clutch Industries project should create at least 16 ongoing skilled jobs, while also helping to strengthen Australia’s battery-manufacturing skills, technical capability and supply-chain resilience.

To this end, Clutch Industries will work with universities, regulatory and testing bodies, technology suppliers and commercial partners “to validate and advance solid-state battery architectures and their use in next-generation energy products.”

“This collaborative approach will connect emerging solid-state cell technology with practical product engineering, manufacturing, regulatory compliance and real-world deployment,” Arena says.

Not a plug-in battery… until it is

So could the PowerNet also function as a plug-in home battery? Davis says yes it could – but only once that application of batteries becomes legal in Australia, of course.

Plug-in solar – or balcony solar – and batteries have become hugely popular in parts of Europe and the US as an affordable and easy way for people living in apartments or in rental properties to get in on the bill savings offered by PV self-generation and storage.

The emerging technology – which was most recently legalised in the UK – literally allows households to plug portable PV panels and battery units into a standard wall outlet.

In Australia, it is not yet legal to do this – although a meeting of federal and state energy ministers last month agreed to “explore pathways” to support the safe deployment of plug-in consumer energy resource (CER) in Australia, promising to report back later this year on next steps.

And last week, however, Western Australia revealed that it had launched consultation on safety standards for plug-in solar and batteries, and declared its intention to become the first Australian state or territory to legalise them.

For PowerNet, this application is definitely a part of the product’s future, but there’s plenty it can do in the meantime.

“It’s a DC battery. It’s of a safe voltage. It doesn’t contravene any standards,” Davis tells Renew Economy.

“One of the cool things … is it actually has two voltages. It has 48 volts as a native voltage, which is really good to then plug into an inverter to go into your house or plug into an electric motor in your boat.

“But because a lot of applications want 12 volts, like cars, caravans, things like that, it also has a 12 volt power output on it. So it’s actually a dual voltage battery.

“Again, when we’ve designed it, we’ve thought about what are all the potential applications and how do we create the most applicability of the product. …It’s also got built-in solar charging, so you can plug a solar panel directly into PowerNet and you can recharge it anywhere, which is kind of cool as well.

“It’s got a 500 watt (W) MPPT. So yeah, you can plug in your typical 400 W one by one meter square Bunnings panel into it, and yeah, you can go from there.”

Another of the potential add-ons that Clutch Industries can provide for the PowerNet is a mobile inverter, which Davis says turns the product into something more like a mini power station – or a plug-in solar and battery system.

“So when you put the battery into this little inverter case, …as well as it [adding] power points and stuff like that, …like a typical portable power station, it could then used – if it was legalised – for balcony solar, because at that point … with that inverter add-on … the battery will then give you 240 volts.

“The inverter case also lets you AC-charge the battery,” Davis adds, “so you can then plug the battery itself into a power point and charge it, and it also has [the capability] to add an additional 2.4 kilowatts of solar.”

The add-on inverter also makes the PowerNet useful in an off-grid or emergency setting, where it becomes a replacement for a petrol or diesel generator.

**This article has been amended to reflect that Clutch Industries’ PowerNet is not technically a plug-in battery – such as is used in rental homes and apartments alongside plug-in solar – but a portable battery that can be used to supply stored power in a broad range of applications.