[RahulNagaraj]

With the rapid adoption of electric mobility, there has been a lot of focus on improving the battery technology in electric vehicles. Most EV manufacturers currently use lithium-ion batteries for their vehicles. However, over the years multiple alternative battery technologies have been researched upon.

Among the alternatives are solid-state lithium-metal batteries. Considered the 'holy grail' of battery tech, lithium-metal batteries are said to be capable of holding more energy while charging in a fraction of the time when compared to standard lithium-ion batteries. However, lithium-metal batteries are known to be very unstable, which has prevented their mass usage.



Now, a group of researchers at Harvard University's School for Engineering & Applied Sciences (SEAS) has had a breakthrough with the lithium-metal battery tech.

According to a report, the researchers have managed to stabilise the lithium-metal battery and figure out a way to charge and discharge them over 10,000 times - at a high current density. This new battery technology could increase the lifespan of an electric vehicle, making it equal to or even greater than that of its conventional fuel-powered counterparts.



The researchers claim that the lifespan of EVs could extend to 10 - 15 years, without the need of replacing the batteries. Further to this, the high current density on the lithium-metal batteries could allow electric vehicles to be fully charged in just 15 to 20 minutes.

As per the report, a lithium-metal battery causes the formation of needle-like structures called dendrites, which pierce the barrier between the anode and cathode, resulting in the battery to short or catch fire.

To prevent this, the researchers at Harvard introduced multiple layers of varying stability between the anode and cathode. These multiple layers contain the dendrites, allowing the battery to last for a much longer duration.



The researchers also stated that their proof-of-concept design confirms that solid-state lithium-metal batteries could compete with commercial lithium-ion battery tech. However, there are still a number of practical challenges to overcome, before scaling things up to the level of mass production.

Source: Harvard SEAS

Link to Team-BHP news

[Tgo]

I guess people would like to know that people of Indian origin are spearheading towards mass production of Solid State Cells.

Here's a video of an interview with Mr. Jagdeep Singh of Quantumscape where he discusses with Sandy Munro about the scalability of the technology, how they came to this stage with support from VW and what the solid state cell technology actually is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKFiQIMyF-A

[vamsi.kona]

Well just a few days back I read an article about new battery technology using Aluminum as the base metal rather than Lithium, thereby removing the need for rare earth metals. Graphene Aluminum Ion batteries are said to charge 60 times faster and also hold 3 times more charge than Li-Ion batteries. Another aspect seems to be that the chances of combustion due to high temperatures are almost negligible.

New Battery tech using Aluminum

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/04/...fast-charging/

[souvikjana83]

Originally Posted by vamsi.kona

Well just a few days back I read an article about new battery technology using Aluminum as the base metal rather than Lithium, thereby removing the need for rare earth metals. Graphene Aluminum Ion batteries are said to charge 60 times faster and also hold 3 times more charge than Li-Ion batteries. Another aspect seems to be that the chances of combustion due to high temperatures are almost negligible.

New Battery tech using Aluminum

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/04/...fast-charging/

The best thing about this technology is that it can be easily adopted by India due to availability of Aluminium instead of Lithium. India won't need to import Lithium as Aluminium is available in plenty. It will bring down the cost of batteries to fraction of the cost today making EVs more affordable for mass adoption..

[Shresth_EV]

Solid state batteries are will bring much awaited energy density and charge cycles but the “charge in 20min” couldn’t be more wrong.

The tech to charge that fast is already with us. The Ioniq 5 already claims to charge in 18min from 20-80%@220kW.

Charging time is a function of both, battery capacity and charger used. The tech is already present to allow sub-30m charges provided toh have the right charger and capable car (Tesla charge upto 250kW, taycan upto 350kW)

This “20min” charge will still likely require a DC fast charger, and even if one would ignore non linearity of charging, (ie the power delivered reduces as one approaches 100%), even then a 100kWh battery (the likes of which are used in a model S) will need to charge at 300kW for charging 0-100 in 20min.

One cannot escape physics — the bigger batteries would need faster chargers to charge as quickly as a smaller battery from 0-100.

So while a solid state battery could very well increase energy density so that the pack which previously stored 100kWh, now with same size and weight now carries 200kWh, and takes you 800km, it will also need a 600kW charger now to charge fully in 20min. 10min? 1.2MW.

This will be a real issue with big batteries. Now it can go twice the distance, but it will also take twice the time if you use same chargers.

Almost like “our new smartphone can charge in 30min but for that, get the bigger charger, which we sell separately”.

[thiagar]

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[Raghu M]

Not to dampen the spirits but this is one more technology that will not materialize until a decade maybe. These kind of breakthroughs are regularly reported but on the ground nothing happens. If the charging time could reduce so drastically, I guess the technology would have already been explored by mobile manufacturers. The average time to charge a cell phone to 100% is close to 90 mins. I don't see cars getting charged sooner. Even with express charging, you don't get a 100% charge. The tech should be easily adoptable, not expensive to manufacture and most of all, it should be scalable. If any of the said boxes do not get ticked, it's of very little use.

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by souvikjana83

The best thing about this technology is that it can be easily adopted by India due to availability of Aluminium instead of Lithium.

Another major aspect is that Aluminum is one of the most recycled metals, thereby reducing the headache of supply as well as disposal.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by RahulNagaraj

As per the report, a lithium-metal battery causes the formation of needle-like structures called dendrites, which pierce the barrier between the anode and cathode, resulting in the battery to short or catch fire.

When I pointed out the inherent dangers in adopting Lithium ion battery tech last year, no one - I mean no one - believed what I said.

Dendrite formation and shorting due to the two anodes meeting is just one of the dangers. EV fans in the forum still don't believe me when I say that there are many more dangers involved...so I won't bother recounting them anyway.

I welcome alternate battery tech such as the one being discussed here. Safety comes first ideally, but not in reality.

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by locusjag

drite formation and shorting due to the two anodes meeting is just one of the dangers. EV fans in the forum still don't believe me when I say that there are many more dangers involved...so I won't bother recounting them anyway.

I welcome alternate battery tech such as the one being discussed here. Safety comes first ideally, but not in reality.

Please share the link to your previous post on the dangers of battery powered cars.

I feel even 20 mins is too much! It doesn't take more than 5 mins to refuel a car. I guess another 75% improvement will involve cutting edge technology, which can end up being expensive and unfavorable for commercial use.

[Kannan]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

I feel even 20 mins is too much! It doesn't take more than 5 mins to refuel a car.

If we have battery technology to charge 10% to 80% in 20 minutes, that I believe is highly acceptable. If that happens in the next 2 years, that will skyrocket the adoption of EV.

The reason why I say that is, generally in city limits at the least in Chennai, Coimbatore & Bengaluru I have spent almost 10 minutes to get the tank full and then they take another 5 minutes to swipe the card. It's not like the pump takes 10 minutes, the pump attendants are busy attending to other pumps that it takes them almost 5 minutes to attend to each customer.

Similarly on highways, if the car can recharge 10% to 90% in 45 minutes as long as it's able to travel 250KMs from 90% to 10%, that is also fine, because most people spend that much of time taking a break.


Also, I wish the battery technology doesn't depend on rare earth elements. As of now, India is taken for the ride by the OPEC mafia because India has to rely on other countries and if that happens with rare earth elements, most probably we might end up back at square one.

[Shresth_EV]

Originally Posted by Kannan

Also, I wish the battery technology doesn't depend on rare earth elements. As of now, India is taken for the ride by the OPEC mafia because India has to rely on other countries and if that happens with rare earth elements, most probably we might end up back at square one.

Just a little “terminology” correction. There are only 17 “rare earth” elements in existence, and out of those, only 1 is relevant to EVs ie neodymium. This is used for making very strong magnets.

However, many EVs simply use normal ferromagnets (Model 3, Kona EV, Nexon EV) than neodymium ones due to cost. The power density (HP per unit volume) is incremental if using neodymium. Other EVs use induction AC motors (Model S, X)

The relevant “cell metals” are Lithium, nickel, cobalt and iron. At pack level, you have aluminium and copper for wiring and casing.

None of these are “rare earth” metals. One more important thing here, is that one can recycle batteries to get these metals back.

This is not so for oil because it’s a consumable which is burnt in use. A strong recycling push for old electronics and electric car batteries is much needed. Further, it’s important to note that these metals make up less than 10% of the total pack mass.

It’s estimated that 85kWh Model S batteries from 2012 used about 15kg lithium. A lot of the mass of pack comes from the aluminium casing and cooling systems.

As for cartels, none exist right now for battery related elements. South America has lots of reserves which is a very good alternative to “chini kam” if you see from political stand.

[Kannan]

Originally Posted by Shresth_EV

The relevant “cell metals” are Lithium, nickel, cobalt and iron. At pack level, you have aluminium and copper for wiring and casing.

None of these are “rare earth” metals. One more important thing here, is that one can recycle batteries to get these metals back.

This is not so for oil because it’s a consumable which is burnt in use. A strong recycling push for old electronics and electric car batteries is much needed. Further, it’s important to note that these metals make up less than 10% of the total pack mass.
.

Thanks for correcting me, I should have rephrased the entire sentence. Also mentioning the "Rare earth" might be wrong.

What I meant was, we have to reduce the dependency on other countries, for now, I believe Lithium is one of the dependency. If the Aluminium-Ion battery can be explored further, maybe India can avoid depending on other countries since India has a good amount of Bauxite Ore.

Originally Posted by Shresth_EV

As for cartels, none exist right now for battery related elements. South America has lots of reserves which is a very good alternative to “chini kam” if you see from political stand.

South America is a long way from India. We will never know how geopolitics might turn out to be and its impact on how we can utilize Lithium.

[whitewing]

On a different tangent, with the same end result, researchers at Purdue have managed to pump up the max current that can be delivered all the way up to 2,400 Amps !!

Today, chargers are limited in how quickly they can charge an EV’s battery due to the danger of overheating. To charge an EV faster, a higher current needs to travel through the charging cable. The higher the current, the greater amount of heat that must be removed to keep the charging cable operational. The cooling systems that chargers currently use remove only so much heat.
Using an alternative cooling method, Purdue researchers designed a charging cable that can deliver a current 4.6 times that of the fastest available EV chargers on the market today by removing up to 24.22 kilowatts of heat. The project was funded by a research and development alliance between Ford Motor Co. and Purdue.

However it needs to be seen if EV batteries can be designed to handle such a large amount of current.

https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/rele...le-design.html