Electricity Whenever You Want It: Mateo Jaramillo, Form Energy Co-Founder & CEO | Betting on America

Why It Matters

Domestic, low‑cost long‑duration storage can decarbonize the grid, protect energy security, and create a new manufacturing sector worth trillions of dollars.

Key Takeaways

• Form Energy targets multi‑day grid storage with iron‑air batteries.
• Goal: $20/kWh capex to compete with natural‑gas plants.
• Iron‑air tech leverages cheap, abundant iron, suited for stationary use.
• CEO’s Tesla experience shaped aggressive risk‑taking and talent recruitment.
• U.S. manufacturing aims to reduce reliance on China’s lithium‑ion supply chain.

Summary

The Betting on America podcast features Mateo Jaramillo, co‑founder and CEO of Form Energy, as he outlines the company’s mission to deliver "electricity whenever you want it" through long‑duration, grid‑scale storage. Jaramillo explains how a surge in electricity demand—driven by AI data centers and the shift to renewables—has exposed the need for multi‑day storage solutions that can bridge multi‑day weather events and replace retiring baseload plants.

Form Energy’s answer is an iron‑air battery system designed to hit a $20 per kilowatt‑hour capex target, roughly $2,000 per kilowatt for a 100‑hour discharge, making it cost‑competitive with natural‑gas peaker plants. The technology leverages iron’s abundance and well‑understood corrosion chemistry, offering a cheap, heavy‑metal alternative to lithium‑ion batteries that is ideal for stationary, long‑duration applications despite lower energy density.

Jaramillo draws heavily on his seven‑year stint at Tesla, crediting the “hard‑problem” mindset and talent magnetism he observed there. He cites the adage that a well‑stated problem is half solved, emphasizing that clearly defining the multi‑day storage challenge attracted top engineers. He also references the 1960s‑70s Westinghouse study funded by the DOE, which proved iron‑air’s high energy per gram, and notes the company’s recent pilot plant in West Virginia aimed at scaling production domestically.

If Form Energy succeeds, the United States could build a domestic supply chain for cheap, long‑duration storage, reducing dependence on China’s lithium‑ion dominance and unlocking a multi‑trillion‑dollar market. The technology would enable deeper renewable penetration, lower electricity costs, and improve grid reliability, reshaping the nation’s energy landscape.

Original Description

Co-founder and CEO of Form Energy, Mateo Jaramillo, joins Navin Girishankar to discuss the challenge of building long-duration energy storage from the ground up. He explores iron-air batteries as a scalable and bankable innovation, the precision manufacturing process required to bring this technology to market, and why West Virginia was the right place to build. He also reflects on the evolving role of government, the investor base backing the effort, and the lessons learned at the frontier of U.S. reindustrialization.

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.

---------------------------------------------

A nonpartisan institution, CSIS is the top national security think tank in the world.

Visit https://www.csis.org to find more of our work as we bring bipartisan solutions to the world's greatest challenges.

Want to see more videos and virtual events? Subscribe to this channel and turn on notifications: https://cs.is/2dCfTve

Follow CSIS on:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/csis

• Facebook: https://facebook.com/CSIS.org

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/csis/