Jorg Heinemann learned firsthand how hard it is to bring a new battery technology to market. So far, up-and-comers have struggled to beat lithium ion on levelized cost of energy, a metric that tabulates upfront cost, operating expenses and energy throughput, said Jeff Chamberlain, who invests in battery technologies at Volta after years leading commercialization of battery IP from Argonne National Lab. Its Series A brought in more money than other grid-storage startups raised in a decade