Batteries & Energy Storage news and discussions

[weatheriscool]

Next-gen EV battery promises 186 miles with a 5-minute charge
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
October 16, 2024

Battery tech firm ProLogium has taken the wraps off its 100% silicon composite anode battery. Highlighting its potential for use in EVs at the ongoing Paris Motor Show, the Taiwanese company claimed a major leap in energy density and charging efficiency, promising 186 miles (300 km) of range from a five-minute charge.

Let's dive into the juicy numbers right away. ProLogium said its new battery system manages an energy density of 321 Wh/kg. That's a huge leap compared to current electric vehicle (EV) batteries. For comparison, the 53 kWh battery pack in a Hyundai Ioniq 6 is rated at 153 Wh/kg, Tesla's superior 4680 cell is believed to come in at 232.5 Wh/kg.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/prologi ... e-battery/

[weatheriscool]

New Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate Batteries Scaling to Over 300 Gigawatt Hours Per Year in 2025
October 16, 2024 by Brian Wang
https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/10/n ... -2025.html

Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate (LMFP) batteries are ramping up to serious scale and could offer a 20% boost in energy density over LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) batteries.

LMFP operates at a higher voltage than LFP, its theoretical energy density can reach up to 230 Wh/kg, which is 15% to 20% greater than that of LFP batteries.

CATL, BYD, and Gotion High-Tech are expanding production capacities and forming strategic partnerships according to battery expert Magnus Bekker.

[weatheriscool]

10-min super battery to power a new breed of long-range plug-in hybrid
By C.C. Weiss
October 24, 2024
https://newatlas.com/automotive/catl-fr ... d-battery/

The world's largest battery manufacturer, CATL, announced on Thursday a new style of battery destined to create a cleaner, longer-range generation of plug-in hybrid vehicles. The Freevoy Super Hybrid Battery debuts to give PHEVs and extended-range electrics (EREVs) the type of zero-emissions all-electric range that was previously reserved for battery electric vehicles. Freevoy-powered hybrids will travel farther with fewer fueling stops, whether they're relying solely on battery power or tapping into an ICE drive or generator. When battery power and fuel finally do run out, drivers can choose 10-minute battery charging, refueling or both.

CATL frames its newest battery as a solution to commonly cited PHEV and EREV shortcomings at a time when consumer interest in hybrid vehicles is increasing. More specifically, the Freevoy battery addresses issues with insufficient range, slow charging times and diminished performance in cold temperatures.

[weatheriscool]

500 Wh/kg High Density Batteries
October 29, 2024 by Brian Wang

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2024/10/5 ... eries.html
Australian battery tech company Li-S Energy has a major improvement in the performance of its lithium-sulfur battery technology, with its latest battery achieving an energy density close to 500 Wh/kg. It is semi solid state battery.

They are manufactured full-size 10 Ah semi-solid-state cells that deliver an energy density of 498 Wh/kg on first discharge and 456 Wh/kg after formation cycling, with the cells continuing to cycle in ongoing testing.

They have a commercial approach to testing. They testing full-size 10 Ah and 20 Ah pouch cells produced on their automated production line and reporting performance after formation cycling. Other companies use smaller coin cells and use the first cell discharge performance.

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Honda's in-house solid-state batteries will be 50 percent smaller
By C.C. Weiss
November 25, 2024

Honda doesn't just want to power future vehicles with solid-state batteries; the company wants to develop and ultimately mass-produce the batteries itself. Solid-state tech represents a deep-anchored cornerstone of both its midterm electric vehicle plans and its greater goal of achieving full carbon neutrality by 2050. It took a big step toward those objectives this month, unveiling its first demonstration solid-state production line, which will allow it to refine both the battery construction and the manufacturing processes behind it.

Like other automakers and battery suppliers, Honda realizes that solid-state technology has the potential to directly address the biggest problems facing today's electric vehicles. First and foremost, it will work to leverage solid-state's superior energy density toward batteries that supply double the range within the same size footprint as modern lithium ion-powered EVs, providing up to 620 miles (1,000 km) per charge by the end of the decade.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/honda-s ... tion-line/

[Tadasuke]

How long will those storage facilities last before having to be replaced though? And what is going to happen with all the used battery packs?

I humbly suspect (solid-state) batteries with 4x kWh/liter capacity and 6.5x kWh/price are going to be available in 2040 (when compared to Li-Ion from 2024). Such a situation would be far far from perfect, but still a significant improvement over 2024.

[weatheriscool]

Fast-charging lithium-sulfur battery for eVTOLs nears production
By Abhimanyu Ghoshal
November 26, 2024

https://newatlas.com/energy/ghove-lithi ... ery-evtol/
Researchers at Australia's Monash University are close to solving one of the biggest challenges with eVTOL aircraft. The team's new lithium-sulfur battery tech is designed to deliver roughly twice the energy density of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, as well as speedy charging and discharging – enabling the sort of power delivery needed in the skies.

Until now, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have held promise for high-density energy storage, but they suffer from slow charging and discharging. The Monash researchers figured out that using a polyvinylpyrrolidone complex – a unified chemical compound with different properties than each of its three individual components – as a facilitator accelerates chemical reactions within the battery.

[caltrek]

How Giant ‘Batteries’ in the Earth Could Slash Your Electricity Bills
by Matt Simon
December 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Grist) Solar panels and wind turbines give the world bountiful energy — but come with a conundrum. When it’s sunny and windy out, in many places these renewables produce more electricity than is actually needed at the time. Then when the sun isn’t shining and wind isn’t blowing, those renewables provide little to no electricity when it’s sorely needed.

So for the grid of tomorrow to go 100 percent renewable, it needs to store a lot more energy. You’ve probably heard about giant lithium-ion batteries stockpiling that energy for later use. But when providing backup power, even a big battery bank will usually drain in four hours. The need for an alternative has the United States government, researchers, and startups scrambling to develop more “long-duration energy storage” that can provide a minimum of 10 hours of backup power — often by using reservoirs, caverns, and other parts of the landscape as batteries.

A new study from several universities and national labs in the United States and Canada shows that large-scale deployment of long-duration energy storage isn’t just feasible but essential for renewables to reach their full potential, and would even cut utility bills. It looked specifically at the Western Interconnection, a chunk of the grid that includes the western U.S. and Canada, plus a bit of northern Mexico. The study found that building more long-duration energy storage there would reduce electricity prices by more than 70 percent in times of high demand.

“It’s like an orchestra,” said Patricia Hidalgo-Gonzalez, director of the Renewable Energy and Advanced Mathematics Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego and coauthor of the paper published last month in the journal Nature Communications. “We need to think about all these factors, how they work. But bringing in more storage can only help in making this more cost-effective.”

The technologies already exist to hold renewable energy for at least half a day, with more on the way.

Read more here: https://grist.org/climate/long-duratio ... ind-power

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

Stellantis lithium-sulfur EV batteries: cheaper, lighter, more range
By Joe Salas
December 06, 2024

In a potentially game-changing move for the EV industry, Stellantis and Zeta Energy Corp have teamed up to develop the next-generation EV battery with more range, more power, 50% faster charging, and at less than half the cost.

Lithium-ion batteries have powered the electric vehicle (EV) revolution since 2008, when Tesla introduced the Roadster to the world, powered by 53 kWh of Li-ion goodness, with a range of around 245 miles (394 km). The iconic Roadster nearly doubled the 140-mile (225 km) range of General Motors' 1999 EV1, which was powered by an incredibly heavy, 26.4 kWh nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack.

Despite lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries having been conceptualized in the 1960s, practical applications were limited due to issues like poor life cycles and capacity loss from something called "the polysulfide shuttle effect," unique to Li-S batteries. As the battery discharges, sulfur at the cathode side reacts with the lithium, creating lithium polysulfides which diffuse through the electrolyte to the anode leaving deposits. While charging, some polysulfides would migrate back to the cathode, but not all, degrading the battery very quickly.

https://newatlas.com/automotive/stellan ... batteries/

[weatheriscool]

Researchers Nearly Double Battery Energy Capacity Using Burned Rice Hulls
The type of 'hard carbon' that emerges from burned rice hulls can store more than 700 milliampere-hours of energy.
By Adrianna Nine December 9, 2024
https://www.extremetech.com/energy/rese ... rice-hulls

Many of us have dunked a wet device into dry rice to draw out water—a modern "life hack" that, despite its popularity, has proven only marginally helpful. But it turns out rice could be beneficial in another way. Researchers have found that rice hulls, a natural byproduct of the rice milling process, release a special form of carbon when burned. That carbon dramatically increases batteries' energy density, allowing them to last up to twice as long.

Lithium-ion batteries rely on graphite as an anode, or the battery's negative terminal. This naturally occurring form of carbon is favored for its many tiny layers, through which lithium ions move back and forth during a battery's many charge and discharge cycles. But other forms of carbon offer better energy density than graphite. Hard carbon, a solid form of carbon that can't be converted into graphite, is used in increasingly popular sodium-ion batteries to provide more energy in a single charge.

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

'Capture the Oxygen!' The Key to Extending Next-generation Lithium-ion Battery Life
December 24, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) A research team led by Professor Jihyun Hong from the Department of Battery Engineering Department of the Graduate Institute of Ferrous & Eco Materials Technology at POSTECH, along with Dr. Gukhyun Lim, has developed a groundbreaking strategy to enhance the durability of lithium-rich layered oxide (LLO) material, a next-generation cathode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). This breakthrough, which significantly extends battery lifespan, was published in the renowned energy journal Energy & Environmental Science.

Lithium-ion batteries are indispensable in applications such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS). The lithium-rich layered oxide (LLO) material offers up to 20% higher energy density than conventional nickel-based cathodes by reducing the nickel and cobalt content while increasing the lithium and manganese composition. As a more economical and sustainable alternative, LLO has garnered significant attention. However, challenges such as capacity fading and voltage decay during charge-discharge cycles have hindered its commercial viability.

While previous studies have identified structural changes in the cathode during cycling as the cause of these issues, the exact reasons behind the instability have remained largely unclear. Additionally, existing strategies aimed at enhancing the structural stability of LLO have failed to resolve the root cause, hindering commercialization.

The POSTECH team focused on the pivotal role of oxygen release in destabilizing the LLO structure during the charge-discharge process. They hypothesized that improving the chemical stability of the interface between the cathode and the electrolyte could prevent oxygen from being released. Building on this idea, they reinforced the cathode-electrolyte interface by improving the electrolyte composition, which resulted in a significant reduction in oxygen emissions.

The research team’s enhanced electrolyte maintained an impressive energy retention rate of 84.3% even after 700 charge-discharge cycles, a significant improvement over conventional electrolytes, which only achieved an average of 37.1% energy retention after 300 cycles.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1069116

caltrek’s comment: There have actually been a fairly substantial number of battery technology breakthrough announcements lately in Eurekalert. I have not had enough time to keep up with such breakthroughs

[caltrek]

Fire at One of the World's Largest Battery Plants Forces Evacuations in California
January 17, 2025

Introduction:

(AP via NPR) MOSS LANDING, Calif. — Hundreds of people were ordered to evacuate and part of Highway 1 in Northern California was closed early Friday after a major fire erupted at one of the world's largest battery storage plants.

The fire started Thursday afternoon and sent up towering flames and black smoke, and about 1,500 people were instructed to leave Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area, The Mercury News reported.

The blaze was still burning early Friday with some containment and it had not gone beyond the facility, according to Monterey County spokesperson Nicholas Pasculli. As of late Thursday, a few dozen people were at a temporary evacuation center and the rest had gone to friends or family or made other arrangements, Pasculli said.

The Moss Landing Power Plant, located about 77 miles (about 124 kilometers) south of San Francisco, is owned by Texas-based company Vistra Energy and contains tens of thousands of lithium batteries. The batteries are important for storing electricity from such renewable energy sources as solar energy, but if they go up in flames the blazes can be extremely difficult to put out.

"There's no way to sugar coat it. This is a disaster, is what it is," Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church told KSBW-TV. But he said he did not expect the fire to spread beyond the concrete building it was enclosed in.

Read more here: https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/g-s1-43 ... -landing

[wjfox]

Fire at world’s largest battery facility is a clean energy setback

A fire at Vistra Energy's Moss Landing battery storage facility in California destroyed thousands of lithium batteries – and a significant amount of the state's clean energy storage capacity

By Jeremy Hsu
17 January 2025

A fire at the world’s largest battery storage plant in California destroyed 300 megawatts of energy storage, forced 1200 area residents to evacuate and released smoke plumes that could pose a health threat to humans and wildlife. The incident knocked out 2 per cent of California’s energy storage capacity, which the state relies on as part of its transition to use more renewable power and less fossil fuels.

The fire started the afternoon of 16 January, burning through a concrete building full of lithium batteries at the Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Monterey county, California. Other buildings on the site, including more battery storage facilities and a natural gas plant, were not affected. By the morning of 17 January, local officials reported minimal flames and smoke.

“This is really a lot more than a fire, it’s a wake-up call for this industry,” said Glenn Church, a member of Monterey county’s board of supervisors, during a press conference. “If we’re going to be moving forward with sustainable energy, we need a safe battery system in place.” After the press conference on the morning of 17 January, the blaze flared up again that afternoon, leading to an extension of the evacuation order.

Because lithium fires burn at high temperatures and emit toxic substances such as hydrogen fluoride, firefighters let this type of blaze burn itself out rather than engaging with it directly. There have been no reports of injuries associated with the fire, and air monitor systems did not detect any signs of hydrogen fluoride. But the smoke plumes from the fire are likely to have contained heavy metals and PFAS, better known as forever chemicals, says Dustin Mulvaney at San Jose State University in California.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/24 ... y-setback/

[weatheriscool]

Lithium-sulfur battery retains 80% charge capacity after 25,000 cycles
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-01-lit ... acity.html
by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore

An international team of engineers and materials scientists has developed a lithium-sulfur battery capable of retaining 80% of its charge capacity after 25,000 cycles. Their paper is published in the journal Nature.

To make batteries smaller and lighter, engineers continually look for new materials. Such efforts tend to focus on the electrodes where lithium is held by other materials. Finding a better material to hold the lithium could result in an overall lighter and more compact battery.

One of the more promising materials is sulfur, due to its quality, abundance and low cost. Unfortunately, some of sulfur's reactions with lithium lead to ion loss, and worse, it tends to expand, leading to degradation and a short battery life.

In this new study, the research team working in China found a way around such problems and built a battery that can hold up longer than other batteries over thousands of recharge cycles.

The approach uses sulfur to create a solid electrode—its porous atomic structure allows for ion diffusion without movement of intermediaries. To create the electrode, the team created a glass-like mixture made from sulfur, boron, lithium, phosphorus and iodine. The latter proved to be the key; it helped speed the movement of electrons through the redox reactions, which led to faster reaction speeds.

[weatheriscool]

Eco-friendly aluminum battery lasts 10,000 cycles with minimal loss
https://techxplore.com/news/2025-01-eco ... nimal.html
by American Chemical Society

Large batteries for long-term storage of solar and wind power are key to integrating abundant and renewable energy sources into the U.S. power grid. However, there is a lack of safe and reliable battery technologies to support the push toward sustainable, clean energy. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have designed a cost-effective and environment-friendly aluminum-ion (Al-ion) battery that could fit the bill.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are in many common consumer electronics, including power tools and electric vehicles. These batteries are ubiquitous because of their high energy density. But lithium is cost prohibitive for the large battery systems needed for utility-scale energy storage, and Li-ion battery flammability poses a considerable safety risk.

[caltrek]

Flame Retardants in Battery Enclosures May Do More Harm than Good
January 28, 2025

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) As dangerous lithium-ion battery fires are on the rise, regulators and manufacturers are scrambling for solutions. Unfortunately, one common strategy may cause serious health harm and not work to slow or stop the fires. A new Viewpoint in Environmental Science & Technology explains that adding flame retardants to the plastic cases surrounding these batteries has no proven fire-safety benefit. The scientists further warn that the types of flame retardants widely used in electronics enclosures are linked to cancer and other health harms and can end up in children’s toys, food containers, and other products made from recycled plastic.

“The use of flame retardants in plastic battery enclosures has no demonstrated benefit and poses threats that can last generations,” said lead author Lydia Jahl, a scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute. “For example, toxic flame retardants migrate out of plastics into the air and drop into house dust, which we inadvertently breathe and ingest. When those flame-retarded plastics are recycled years later, additional people will be exposed from products made with the recycled plastic.”

Lithium-ion batteries power electric cars, e-bikes, and an increasing array of portable electronics like smartphones and earbuds. As their usage expands, standards are being adopted to mitigate their serious fire risks. For example, “flame ratings” for plastic enclosures are common requirements that are met by adding chemical flame retardants. However, there is no publicly available research demonstrating that this use of flame retardants curbs battery fires under real-world conditions. Flame retardants in plastics likely cannot slow or stop the highly energetic fires from a lithium-ion battery in thermal runaway.

“Trying to stop thermal runaway fires by adding flame retardants to plastic is like adding a screen door to a submarine. It's a futile effort against an overwhelming force,” said distinguished fire scientist Dr. Vyto Babrauskas.

Read more here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1071667