The battery has an energy charge of 107 Ah and weighs 0.982 kilograms to deliver a gravimetric density of 417 Wh/kg and a volumetric density of 935 Wh/liter, exceeding conventional Lithium batteries (280 Wh/kg and 730 Wh/liter).

SES was able to prove through a number of tests the high energy capacity it can offer. To this end, the cells were subjected to a high recharge capacity C/10 (10-hour discharge), C/3 (3-hour discharge) and 1C (1-hour discharge) at room temperature. In addition, the company developed an algorithm that endows the battery with artificial intelligence to optimize performance, ensure part safety and control the refueling process.

Related content: SES Develops Lithium Metal Batteries with High Charging Capacity

Qichao Hu, founder and CEO of SES, has stated that they are still working to get as much performance out of this battery as possible, in order to mass-produce it and then market it. Currently, the company is collaborating with carmakers Hyundai and General Motors, who are testing cell prototypes under real-world conditions.

“These batteries will need to undergo further testing and optimization, but we are very excited about the performance they have demonstrated. The batteries must be able to deliver high energy density over a wide range of temperature and power density. A car must operate in hot and cold environments and run smoothly when driving fast or slow. Solid-state batteries can never achieve this performance on par with our Lithium Metal Hybrid batteries,” he said.

SES aims to bring this energy replenishment option to market by 2025, which do not require any dedicated technology to produce.

About SES

Founded in 2012, SES is an integrated Lithium-Metal battery manufacturer with strong capabilities in materials, cell design, AI-driven modules and algorithms, and Lithium-Metal recycling. Headquartered in Singapore, SES has operations in Boston (USA), Shanghai (China) and Seoul (Korea).

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post SES introduces Apollo: A 107 Ah Lithium Metal Battery appeared first on Green Racing News.

It is worth noting that an element of this type must go through a complicated path before going to market, since its chemical and mechanical properties must find a balance because of its thermal management and potential consequences of a strong impact caused by accidents, therefore, shock absorption is necessary to be channeled.

This casing has been called Durethan BKV30FN04 and is made of polyamide 6, a fiberglass-reinforced material which provides extreme safety measures, as it cannot be ignited.

Also, its light weight, makes it ideal for not increasing the weight of the vehicles, optimizing results when it is necessary to install additional equipment, and providing optimal characteristics when covering the batteries without affecting the functionality they perform.

Related content: Improving Lithium Batteries: A Priority in Electromobility

LANXESS Casing Details

LANXESS claims that it can withstand an extremely high voltage of up to 800 V after numerous tests and studies. It also has the advantage of blocking or suppressing this energy charge, in case of emergencies or if necessary. This, together with the materials described above, makes it highly resistant.

Moreover, the casing can be used to perform other functions beyond the coating of electric car batteries, such as high-voltage connectors, cell cooling system pipes or cable supports. It can even be used to reinforce the hydrogen tank.

About LANXESS

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with 2018 sales of €7.2 billion. The company currently has about 15,500 employees in 33 countries, and is currently represented at 60 production sites around the world. The core business activities are the development, manufacture and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives, specialty chemicals and plastics. LANXESS is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI World and Europe) and FTSE4Good.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post LANXESS introduces a casing for Electric Car Batteries appeared first on Green Racing News.

Both companies have a long-term goal to develop, produce and subsequently commercialize graphene nanotube solutions for these batteries. A limitation currently seen in the market is the low electrical, thermal and ionic conductivity, as well as the life cycle is considerably reduced during charge and discharge cycles, caused by lamination breakage and degradation.

Graphene nanotubes, however, would come into the picture to reverse the situation due to a set of properties providing excellent solutions in comparison to today’s standards. This new component increases batteries’ conductivity by improving the electrons’ flow.

Related content: GMG announces Graphene-Aluminum Ion Batteries for 2024

OCSiAl is the world’s largest manufacturer of carbon nanotubes, according to Daikin Industries via an official statement, announcing the $2 billion or so purchase of the company’s shares.

About OCSiAl

Headquartered in Luxembourg, it has more than 420 employees in the world, in countries including the United States, China (in Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hong Kong), Russia, India, Japan, South Korea and Europe. The current annual production capacity is 80 tons, representing 97% of the world’s single-walled carbon nanotube production capacities.

About Daikin Industries

Since its foundation in Osaka in 1924, Daikin has expanded its business focused primarily on air conditioning to more than 160 countries. With the objective of both helping to solve social and community problems and growing the business, Daikin strives to meet expectations while maintaining trust around the world, as a global company supporting human health and comfort, while creating new values for the air and the environment.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post Graphene Nanotubes to Improve Lithium Ion Batteries appeared first on Green Racing News.

The battery will be revealed to attendees of The Battery Show North America, to be held in Novi, Michigan. There, the world will witness a considerable energy capacity in a very small space, as it can deliver 400 Wh per kilogram and 810 Wh per liter, due to its lithium metal anode.

The American company has reaffirmed a commitment to sustainable mobility, pointing out that these batteries are designed for use in vehicles, which would translate into greater charging capacity, faster refueling, greater durability and, of course, more range to be covered with a single recharge.

Related content: GMG Announces Graphene-Aluminum Ion Batteries for 2024

This breakthrough represents giant steps towards a green future, as one of the details involved to have an electric vehicle at home, is the battery issue. According to Sion Power’s tests, the 6-amp Licerion-EV cells were able to provide more than 800 charge and discharge cycles, raising their performance level to 80% in just 15 minutes.

The company claims to have succeeded where most of its competitors have failed. The appearance of residual products affecting the batteries’ stability, as well as the dendrification process, are part of the solutions that Sion Power found through the multi-layers development for the lithium anode to protect it.

“This is a watershed moment for Sion Power’s momentum toward next-generation electrified vehicles. Our Licerion-EV technology has demonstrated an unmatched combination of power, safety and electrical performance. We look forward to continue working with our partners to commercialize our revolutionary battery system,” said Tracy Kelley, CEO of Sion Power.

About Sion Power

Sion Power advances on the rechargeable battery industry with its Licerion technology. Licerion is an advanced approach to lithium metal batteries containing twice the energy into the same size and weight battery found inside a traditional lithium-ion battery. Licerion batteries improve electric vehicle performance and enable new aerospace applications. Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, Sion Power is privately owned and vertically integrated with more than 470 international patents and patent applications.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post This Sion Power Battery can store up to 400 Wh per kilo appeared first on Green Racing News.

Battery Technology and SAE International hosted the Battery and Electrification Summit. There, several topics about lithium were discussed, highlighting the processes and advances to achieve the desired solid state, where the capability to work despite breaking its outer casing, weight, smaller size and low fuel compounds make them have the best success rate in the market for use in electrified vehicles.

These batteries are in fact expected to reach a density of 350 kWh per kilogram. However, there is still a long way to go to reach this success rate, especially when it comes to removing graphite from the anodes and replacing them with silicon or metallic lithium, two less aggressive compounds under development by several companies, such as StoreDot.

The Future of Lithium-ion Batteries

Graphite anodes are one of the obstacles for developing and getting the most out of lithium-ion batteries, according to Timothy Holme, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of QuantumScape. The company is working closely with German automaker Volkswagen on solid-state development to extract a volumetric energy density of 1,000 Wh/liter from its anode-free battery.

Related content: Discovery of a Way to Boost Lithium Battery Capacity

QuantumScape is not the only company doing this, as the startup Sionic Energy sees it through its Chief Technology Officer, Surya Moganty, who states the need to reduce graphite in order to counteract it with silicon, as they have been developing positively, achieving a 12% reduction of the total cost after building more than 60% of the anode with this element, offering an additional 33% of autonomy in comparison with a battery using graphite.

The ultimate goal now is to eliminate the anode entirely to improve the lithium-ion chemical architecture to solid-state. StoreDot revealed progress in one of their research and claimed to have two studies. The first features a high-performance solid-state XED cell, while the second is without the anode.

Finally, these developments demonstrate the road ahead to strengthen the battery sector with the most stable element (lithium), but at the same time, it is necessary to reduce its impact on the planet to become a 100% sustainable element.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post Improving Lithium Batteries: An Electromobility Priority appeared first on Green Racing News.

Whittingham, with John B. Goodenough and Akira Yoshino, discovered the reversible electrode intercalation mechanism which opened the door to lithium-ion batteries, essential elements for today’s vehicular transport and beyond. Furthermore, their contribution was so outstanding that they received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2019.

British-American by descent, this outstanding scientist was born on December 22, 1941 in Nottingham, England. He attended Stamford School from 1951 to 1960, while chemistry knocked on his door when he attended Oxford University, obtaining a BA (1964), MA (1967), and DPhil (1968).

Stanley Whittingham’s Work

He was able to create the first lithium-ion battery in 1976, with metallic lithium at the anode and Titanium disulfide intercalated with lithium ions at the cathode with a strength of 2.5 volts, initiating (unknowingly) a scenario which significantly contributed to automakers who turned to this material for the electric vehicle power source.

However, the task was not easy, because lithium is an unstable and highly reactive chemical element. In fact, it is capable of burning under normal atmospheric conditions after combining with oxygen and water. So it took a long time to find a solution that would make this material a safe source to work with.

Related content: ORNL Team Uses Green Solvent to Recover Materials from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

In order to achieve stability, lithium metal was replaced with compounds of it that would tolerate lithium ion release. Although, as mentioned above, it was not until 2019 when they received worldwide prestige and recognition for this development.

This material is currently present in electronic devices (cell phones, tablets, etc.) and electric vehicles which have been part of society for decades. Also, it can store considerable amounts of wind and solar energy, in order to contribute for a society free from pollutant fuels, such as gasoline and diesel.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post Electromobility’s debt to Stanley Whittingham appeared first on Green Racing News.

The sodium’s low temperatures without losing optimal and adequate performance have been combined with the lithium’s energy density and power to create a final product with high performance. In order to get to this result, however, the company dedicated years of research to make the batteries viable.

One of the drawbacks that CATL faced was to compensate for the high volume of sodium ions compared to lithium ions, which meant having to use highly demanding materials in order to maintain structural stability along with their kinetic properties, because when combining them, energy was lost, causing degradation problems in the charge and discharge process.

Related content: BASF to Build New Battery Recycling Plant at Cathode Materials Plant in Germany

After spending a long time trying to find an answer, CATL unveiled the first generation of sodium battery cells, modifying the components along with the structure to provide high performance at low temperatures, a fast charging system and thermal stability which was ” impossible” to crack in the past.

The company is confident about the promising results of sodium-ion cells, though on the other hand, they also claim that this technology is not capable of surpassing the performance of lithium-ion cells at the moment. During the ‘TechZone’ event, however, they stated that the biggest benefit comes when recharging them.

For comparison, these cells generate up to 160 Wh/kg, while the lithium-ion batteries used on a Tesla can reach up to 300 Wh/kg. The advantage lies in the low temperature, reaching 80% of their energy capacity in 15 minutes at ambient climate.

Besides, CATL batteries can perform at 90% in sub-zero temperatures, being a more than interesting project for those countries with freezing temperatures due to their strong winter periods.

What is CATL?

CATL is a Chinese company founded in 2011 with headquarters in Ningde, dedicated to developing energy solutions worldwide, and leading the lithium-ion battery sales in 2017, as the company revealed in its annual sales report.

The manufacturer finally aims to have a manufacturing sodium-ion batteries process by 2023, considering they currently want to continue discovering new aspects and boosting existing ones to raise the energy density up to 200 Wh/kg.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post CATL Takes Full Advantage of Sodium-Lithium Battery Technology appeared first on Green Racing News.

Lithium-ion batteries have many advantages, but an Achilles’ heel spoiling the positive factors: The dendrites, as these pieces get a sharp shape with a considerable edge which may perforate the battery affecting the integrity, shortening its useful life and becoming a problem to be improved.

This new concept is a solid lithium metal battery developed by a group of scientists and researchers from Harvard University who sought to solve this problem by analyzing the dendrite structure and formation, assuring they found a timely answer.

Related Content: ORNL Team Uses Green Solvent to Recover Materials from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries

Solid Lithium-Metal Battery

The scientists produced a lithium-metal battery using solid-state metals to replace lithium ions, removing completely the dendrites causing so many problems in electric vehicles. In addition, they assure the new proposal makes the energy source more stable than graphite or liquid materials.

The secret behind the problem consists of considering any chemical-level gaps with “dynamically generated breakdowns” to halt dendrite formation, as revealed by a study published in Nature.

“Our multilayer design has a structure of a less stable electrolyte intercalated between more stable solid electrolytes, preventing the growth of lithium dendrites.”

However, there is still a long way to go regarding this research, considering the fact that lithium-metal batteries have also been experimented with in the past, but with no success, as they exploded after becoming unstable, although the Harvard University results are quite promising for the future.

“This battery technology could increase the electric vehicle lifetime from 10 to 15 years without replacing the battery, even for gasoline-powered vehicles. Due to its high power density, the battery could clear the way for electric vehicles to be fully charged in 10 to 20 minutes,” noted the Harvard press release.

Written by | Ronald Ortega

The post Introducing a battery model that may become primary choice for electric vehicles appeared first on Green Racing News.

Imagine AESC will develop a gigafactory in Douai with a capacity of 9 GWh in 2024 and with the goal of reaching 24 GWh by 2030. It will also invest up to 2 billion euros to produce the latest technological, cost-competitive, low-carbon and safe batteries. for electric models, including the future R5.

For that reason, this Envision AESC partnership foresees 2,500 new jobs by 2030.

The Douai gigafactory paves the way for the production of low-carbon batteries as part of the objectives outlined in the European Green Deal and for the development of closed-loop recycling solutions for production waste and end-of-life batteries.

“Envision Group’s mission is to be the net zero technology partner of choice for global enterprises, governments, and cities. We are therefore delighted that Renault Group chose Envision AESC batteries for its next generation of EVs,” said Lei Zhang, Founder and CEO of Envision Group.

Likewise, he informed that this first phase of development will unlock future large-scale investments to grow the local supply chain and develop all the opportunities of the battery life cycle, including energy storage, battery reuse, smart charging and closed-loop recycling.

It may also interest you: Volkswagen ID.3 and 4 functions stand out above the rest

Renault Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding to become a Verkor shareholder with a stake of more than 20% in the company and plans to join the consortium that was created around the French start-up in 2020. The consortium aims to address the challenges related to digitization, decarbonization and the strengthening of French and European industries within the sector.

Renault Group and Verkor intend to jointly develop a high-performance battery suitable for the C and higher segments of the Renault range, as well as for the Alpine models.

The cooperation between Renault Group and Verkor will be based on a common roadmap to reduce carbon emissions from battery manufacturing by 75% compared to the traditional process, and to establish a supply chain that enables traceability and ensures the availability of raw materials used in electric vehicle models.

“This is a major deal which demonstrates our progress along our roadmap to generate up to 50 GWh of battery cell production capacity by 2030—a cornerstone in developing a competitive, sovereign and sustainable battery supply chain in Europe,” explained Benoit Lemaignan, CEO of Verkor

These two most recent partnerships go hand in hand with existing programs within the Renault Group, in particular the agreement with LG Chem, which currently supplies battery modules for Renault’s electric range and for the upcoming MéganE.

Written by | Gabriel Sayago

The post Renault signs two major battery agreements for French production appeared first on Green Racing News.

It should be mentioned that spent batteries are generally broken down by smelting, a costly, energy-intensive process that releases toxic gases.

The alternative developed by ORNL is a wet chemical process that uses triethyl phosphate (TEP) to dissolve the binder material that adheres the cathodes to the sheet metal current collectors in lithium ion batteries.

“Electrochemically active materials were separated from cathode scraps collected at the manufacturing step of electrodes through a solvent-based separation method without jeopardizing their physical characteristics, crystalline structure, and electrochemical performance,” says the study.

In that regard, they found that the recovered aluminum foils were clean without any signs of corrosion and that the polymeric binder could be recovered by non-solvent induced phase separation.

It may also interest you: Power of the future? Mahle develop an electric motor without magnets

The scientists achieved the recovery of the cathode materials from the spent cells using refined separation parameters based on the recycling of cathode waste. This green solvent-based separation for cathode recovery is anticipated to attract significant interest from the lithium-ion battery manufacturing and recycling communities.

The result is efficient recovery of cobalt, graphite, and valuable materials such as copper foil cathodes that can be reused in new batteries.

The variants offered by the solvent, it can create a process that reduces toxic exposure for workers and recovers valuable, undamaged and active NMC (Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt) cathodes, clean sheet metal and other materials that can be easily reused in new batteries.

Written by | Gabriel Sayago

The post A resolution! ORNL uses green solvent to recover materials from spent lithium-ion batteries appeared first on Green Racing News.