Bill Gates is working on batteries that last longer.
Resolved true The record shows it happened or was so.
Factual: Statements about the present or the past, checked against the record: did they hold up?
Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.
What would count as true or false
Judged as of May 2024. True: evidence shows Bill Gates, personally or through Breakthrough Energy Ventures or his other vehicles, was funding or backing development of longer-lasting or longer-duration batteries (e.g., investments in Form Energy, QuantumScape or similar) at the time. Mostly true: Gates was backing battery or energy-storage technology, but the aim was not mainly longer battery life (e.g., cost or grid storage) and the link is loose. Mixed: his involvement was minor or indirect, such as a fund he chairs making one small investment. Mostly false: he backed energy technology but not batteries in any meaningful way. False: evidence shows no involvement in battery development.
Set before the research began.
Evidence (4)
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E1 World’s super rich do battle in energy storage sector Tamarindo · 8 May 2024
“The fund’s portfolio includes iron flow battery company ESS Inc, iron-air battery company Form Energy, and thermo-electric energy storage system business Malta Inc.”
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E2 World’s super rich do battle in energy storage sector Tamarindo · 8 May 2024
“But results are mixed, with Bill Gates-backed long-duration battery company Ambri recently filing for bankruptcy”
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E3 QuantumScape pursues ‘breakthrough’ in lithium batteries — with tips from Bill Gates GeekWire · 8 December 2020
“Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment fund spearheaded by Gates, is among QuantumScape’s backers”
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E4 QuantumScape pursues ‘breakthrough’ in lithium batteries — with tips from Bill Gates GeekWire · 8 December 2020
“The company says such an arrangement allows for higher energy density and longer battery life under safe conditions.”
Reasoning
E3 reports that Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the fund led by Gates, backed QuantumScape, and E4 says that company's technology aims at longer battery life. E2, a May 2024 article, calls long-duration battery company Ambri "Bill Gates-backed", which shows backing around the time of the claim. The criteria name long-duration battery backing of this kind (as with Form Energy) as meeting the "true" standard. E1 lists Form Energy and ESS in "the fund's portfolio", but the quote does not name the fund, so it adds little on its own.
Cite this claim
Warren Buffett, “Bill Gates is working on batteries that last longer.” (said 5 May 2024). Verdict: resolved true. Reliability API, claim c_cfe3345f1fa3, method 0.1.0+28da144b, dataset release v1.1.2. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_cfe3345f1fa3
This claim is in dataset release v1.1.2, with the same verdict.
Reply to this claim
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Verdicts are made automatically; how verdicts are made.