[Neanderthal]

A new, safer electric vehicle battery, tested for a thousand cycles in a test cell, can store up to four times more energy than current lithium-ion batteries.
Andy Mukolo - Barchart - Wed Mar 15, 11:09AM CDT


For years, EV owners desired a battery to power their cars for over 1,000 miles on one charge. Researchers at the Illinois Institute of Technology and Argonne National Lab have developed a lithium-air battery to make that dream a reality.

The new battery is made of solid electrolyte instead of the usual liquid variety. Solid electrolyte batteries are safer because they don’t overheat and catch fire.

Argonne chemists say the lithium-air battery has the highest projected energy density of any battery technology and can boost energy density four times faster than lithium-ion batteries. Hence, a longer driving range for electric car owners.

The chemical reaction for previous lithium-air designs involved one or two electrons stored per oxygen molecule. In contrast, the new lithium-air design involves four electrons; more electrons stored means higher energy density.

Previously, lithium-air battery test cells had about 300 life cycles. The new design operates a test cell for 1,000 cycles, demonstrating its stability over repeated charge and discharge. “With further development, our new lithium-air battery design could reach a record energy density of 1,200 watt-hours per kg,” says Curtis, an Argonne chemist. That’s about four times more than Tesla batteries.

New EV Battery Can Store 4x More Energy Than Lithium Batteries

A newly developed electric vehicle battery not only can store up to four times more energy than current batteries but is also a safer alternative.

www.barchart.com

 

[TruckMan]

Sure they do…

 

[gkr778]

Here's the research article submitted by the Argonne/IIT team:

A room temperature rechargeable Li2O-based lithium-air battery enabled by a solid electrolyte

The ceramic-polyethylene oxide–based composite solid electrolyte investigated here addresses issues involving the stability of battery cells (the Argonne/IIT team successfully operated their Li-air test cell for 1000 cycles), but other technical challenges remain including cathode design, maintaining cell capacity at increased discharge rates, and recharge times.

 

[ChrisNJ]

They're forgetting the re-charge part. Soo if the F-Lightning has a 130kwh battery and takes 1-2 hours to 'fast-haha' charge, then this new battery would be 500kwh? So does that mean 4-8 hr 'fast-haha' recharge time?

 

[Digmor Crusher]

1000 miles per charge, 15 minutes to charge, charging stations abundant as gas stations are now and no inflated price's for EV's......sign me up.

 

[CJH]

Can they scale it? Can they produce it at market pricing? Same questions are asked with every new battery tech.

 

[gkr778]

Can they scale it? Can they produce it at market pricing? Same questions are asked with every new battery tech.

Not yet CJH. No commercial grade implementations of Li-air battery technology exist as of now. Major advancements in electrolyte performance (among others) are needed before that's even considered feasible.

As mentioned in the OP and post #3, the ceramic-polyethylene oxide–based composite solid electrolyte investigated by Argonne/IIT represents an advancement in terms of cell stability, but other technical issues remain.

 

[rand49er]

1000 miles per charge, 15 minutes to charge, charging stations abundant as gas stations are now and no inflated price's for EV's......sign me up.

Hold your horses. Cost. It has to have a reasonable cost.

 

[BlackGTP]

Progress! Hopefully this can make it out of the lab, or minimally what they've learned from this can be applied to a different chemistry that is productionable.

So much research on batteries, solar, etc. is going on - the science is amazing even if most won't ever make it into the hands of consumers.

 

[Greg Burr]

Maybe this is what the in-laws were referring to as solid-state

 

[gkr778]

the science is amazing even if most won't ever make it into the hands of consumers.

+1
Most definitely! In the case of lithium-air batteries, it all started with research at Lockheed Corporation that quite literally ended in a bang. In the 1970s, Lockheed tested a prototype battery design that used oxidation of lithium at one electrode and reduction of oxygen at the other. The lithium electrode was very unstable and corroded rapidly, causing the battery prototype to explode.

It wasn't until 1996 when Li-air battery research realized a major advance in safety thanks to the development of non-aqueous polymer electrolytes. Research activity for Li-air batteries really accelerated around 2006 when methods for improving recharging capability were devised, and again in 2015 when the application of graphene (the carbon allotrope) was found to extend battery service life.

Still, as mentioned earlier, several technical issues with Li-air batteries remain unresolved. It's unlikely that Li-air batteries will be mass produced commercially anytime soon.

 

[Greg Burr]

So does 1,000 cycles potentially mean about 3 years of daily charges? I would like 10X that

 

[gkr778]

So does 1,000 cycles potentially mean about 3 years of daily charges?

That sounds right. I think Li-ion batteries used in EV start to degrade after 1,500 cycles.

 

[CJH]

Really depends on how the cycles are rated. IE, if its full depeltion cycles, then if you only use 50% of a full charge one day, it only counts that against the total. That's the more normal way, since people typically don't go 0-100-0% most of the time.

 

[BlackGTP]

+1
Most definitely! In the case of lithium-air batteries, it all started with research at Lockheed Corporation that quite literally ended in a bang. In the 1970s, Lockheed tested a prototype battery design that used oxidation of lithium at one electrode and reduction of oxygen at the other. The lithium electrode was very unstable and corroded rapidly, causing the battery prototype to explode.

It wasn't until 1996 when Li-air battery research realized a major advance in safety thanks to the development of non-aqueous polymer electrolytes. Research activity for Li-air batteries really accelerated around 2006 when methods for improving recharging capability were devised, and again in 2015 when the application of graphene (the carbon allotrope) was found to extend battery service life.

Still, as mentioned earlier, several technical issues with Li-air batteries remain unresolved. It's unlikely that Li-air batteries will be mass produced commercially anytime soon.

Ha! Explosive results! I'm sure there's been a few singed eyebrows in the name of science. These guys are the real heroes of the world, not some guy that's worshipped for hitting a ball with a stick and gets a $200 million contract.

 

[gkr778]

I'm sure there's been a few singed eyebrows in the name of science. These guys are the real heroes of the world

The Autoextremist Pete DeLorenzo terms scientists, engineers, and designers of that caliber (at least within the automotive industry) "true believers". That's a most appropriate appellation for these unsung heroes.

 

[1958carnut]

We're getting closer but still have quite a long road and a lot of work ahead 'til this EV thing is... what it should be

 

[big swede]

Why would you want to carry 1000 miles of range around 100% of the time. Other than extreme uses like trailering, 400 miles is more than enough for me. I’ll let everyone else lug all that extra weight around.

 

[BlackGTP]

Why would you want to carry 1000 miles of range around 100% of the time. Other than extreme uses like trailering, 400 miles is more than enough for me. I’ll let everyone else lug all that extra weight around.

Good point! I would assume this point is just to emphasize that you can get 4x the power from the same sized battery. I'd presume that for regular consumers we'd get a battery 1/4th the size or something along those lines.

 

[AWHoden]

Good point! I would assume this point is just to emphasize that you can get 4x the power from the same sized battery. I'd presume that for regular consumers we'd get a battery 1/4th the size or something along those lines.

That would open the interior even more than EV's are now....you could have a midrunk! (unless you're GM, no frunk for you)