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Now, Form Energy, a Massachusetts-based energy company, thinks it has the solution: iron-air batteries. And the company is willing to put $760 million behind the idea by building a new manufacturing facility in West Virginia.

Each iron-air battery is about the size of a washer/dryer set and holds 50 iron-air cells, which are then surrounded by an electrolyte (similar to the Duracell in your TV remote). Using a principle called “reverse rusting,” the cells “breathe” in air, which transforms the iron into iron oxide (aka rust) and produces energy. To charge it back up, a current reverses the oxidation and turns the cells back into iron.

NASA first started experimenting with iron-air batteries back in the late 1960s, and it’s obvious why this next-gen storage system has engineers excited. For one, iron-air batteries solve a few of lithium’s biggest shortcomings right off the bat. As their name suggests, these batteries use primarily iron, the fourth most abundant element on Earth, and ... well ... air. This tech’s adoption could help curtail the large amounts of water used to mine lithium (not to mention alleviating the potential for groundwater contamination).

Secondly, and most importantly, iron-air batteries would be 10 times cheaper, perform better, and last 17 times longer.