Researchers at Penn State say they have found a way to make batteries for electric cars that can be smaller and faster charging.
“The need for smaller, faster-charging batteries is greater than ever,” said Chao-Yang Wang, the lead author of the research study that was published in the October 12 issue of the journal Nature. “Our fast-charging technology works for most energy dense batteries and will open a new possibility to downsize electric vehicle batteries from 150 to 50 kWh without causing drivers to feel range anxiety,” said Wang.
Batteries operate most efficiently when they are hot, but not too hot. Keeping batteries consistently at just the right temperature has been a major challenge for battery engineers. Historically, they have relied on external, bulky heating and cooling systems to regulate battery temperature, but they respond slowly and waste a lot of energy. The team decided to regulate the temperature from inside the battery. The researchers developed a new battery structure that adds an ultrathin nickel foil as the fourth component besides the anode, electrolyte, and cathode. The nickel foil self-regulates the battery’s temperature and reactivity which allows for 10 minute fast charging on just about any EV battery.
Source: Cleantechnica: Read The Article
PSR Analysis: Reducing battery packs for electric cars conserves precious resources such as Lithium, which are currently seeing massive price increases and may experience a potential shortfall in the not too distant future. Smaller, faster charging batteries will dramatically cut down battery cost and use of critical raw materials such as cobalt, graphite, and lithium, enabling mass adoption of affordable electric cars.
While fast charging is certainly desirable, the elimination of bulky and expensive liquid cooling systems for battery packs could be just as important because it would help lower the cost of electric cars. It could also give a boost to battery swapping, which is being promoted by NIO, CATL, and BYD, because there will be no coolant lines to connect and disconnect. Battery swapping is fast, and it eliminates owner concerns about battery degradation. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast & Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
