Category: Battery News

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Bosch & GS Yuasa on-target to double battery energy density & half costs by 2020

German supplier Robert Bosch and Japanese battery partner GS Yuasa Corp. are "on a good path" toward their goal of developing a lithium ion battery that costs half as much as today's batteries but has twice the energy density, a top Bosch executive said.

The companies aim to produce such a battery by 2020, Wolz said. "We are on a good path to reach that target," he told reporters.

Achieving such performance in automotive power packs will be a major breakthrough in popularizing electrified drivetrains, Wolz said.

Bosch is positioning vehicle electrification as a pillar of growth as carmakers tap batteries to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations. The supplier expects hybrid and electric-only drivetrains to account for 15 percent of the global automotive market by 2020, Wolz said.

In 2013, GS Yuasa, Bosch and trading house Mitsubishi Corp. formed a joint venture to develop low-cost, high energy-density lithium ion batteries.

Bosch invests some 400 million euros in electromobility research and development each year.

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VW ‘close to battery breakthrough’ next-gen e-Golf to get 300km range

Volkswagen is closing in on a new battery technology that will bring “a quantum leap for the electric car”, according to the firm’s boss Martin Winterkorn.

Winterkorn told German tabloid newspaper Bild, "VW is researching a super-battery in Silicon Valley in California, that is cheaper, smaller and more powerful. An electric Volkswagen that can travel 300km (186 miles) on electricity is in sight. It will be a quantum leap for the electric car.”

As we reported back in December, VW acquired a 5% holding in QuantumScape, a San Jose-based early-stage battery startup that has been working on commercializing solid-state battery technology from Stanford University.

Volkswagen was due to decide in the first half of this year whether QuantumScape's battery technology is ready for use in its electric cars.

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Samsung doubles lithium ion battery capacity

Samsung researchers have developed materials that double the power capacity of lithium-ion batteries.

Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) said the technology uses silicon cathode material coded with high-crystalline graphene to produce batteries with twice as much capacity as ordinary lithium-ion batteries.

The institute said the research result was published in the international science journal Nature Communication on Thursday.

The research team said the new technology is expected to enhance the performance of mobile devices and electric vehicles.

"The research has dramatically improved the capacity of lithium-ion batteries by applying a new synthesis method of high-crystalline graphene to a high-capacity silicon cathode," said Son In-hyuk, a professional researcher at SAIT. "We will continue to improve the secondary cell technology to meet the expanding demand from mobile device and electric vehicle markets."

The lithium-ion battery was introduced in 1991 and its storage capacity has been gradually improved. But the material's properties have limited improvements to capacity, failing to follow skyrocketing demand from the mobile and electric car industries.

Consequently, researchers worldwide have accelerated the development of materials for a high-capacity battery that can fundamentally overcome the limitations in graphite material.

One of them is silicon, which is expected to realize more than 10 times the power capacity compared with graphite. But the research has faced serious technological problems over drastic degradation of battery life.

SAIT said its researchers turned to graphene, a relatively new material that is physically strong and highly conductive, to solve this problem.

This material has up to four times the capacity compared with graphite and can double the energy density of ordinary lithium-ion batteries, the institute said.

Patents covering the new technology have been applied for in Korea, China, Europe and the United States.

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BMW Wants to Put an EV Charging Station In Every Street Light

BMW's MINI Plant in Oxford UK is showcasing a high-efficiency street lighting system that doubles as a charging station for electric vehicles (EVs) during the city’s second Low Carbon Oxford Week.

Known as Light & Charge and demonstrated for the first time in the UK, this innovative system is the outcome of a pilot project developed by the BMW Group and is a state-of-the-art LED street light that combines energy-efficient lighting with affordable EV charging.

Allowing cities to significantly reduce energy consumption, its integrated charge point also provides a cost-effective and simple solution which can be grafted straight onto the existing local authority street lighting infrastructure, substantially increasing the number of public charging stations. EV charging stations can be set up at any location where suitable parking is available, simply by replacing conventional street lights with Light & Charge systems.

“Light & Charge is a simple and innovative solution which aims to integrate a charging station network into the urban landscape and this is essential if we want to see more electric vehicles on the road in our cities in the future. I’m delighted that the MINI plant is the first location in the UK to showcase BMW Group’s technological expertise not only in developing electric vehicles but also as part of a much wider commitment to electric mobility,” said Frank Bachmann, Managing Director, MINI Plant Oxford.

Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council are currently working in partnership to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles such as electric cars as part of their bid for funding from the Office of Low Emission Vehicles, Go Ultra Low City Scheme.

Commenting on the new innovation, representatives from Oxfordshire County Council and Oxford City Council said: “We’re pleased that we have the opportunity to take a look at this innovative new technology as part of Low Carbon Oxford week. Combining energy-efficient street lighting with a re-charging station for electric vehicles is a neat solution to the problems of on-street charging stations.”

With its modular LED design, the Light & Charge street light is much more energy-efficient than conventional street lighting and provides more effective illumination. It can be installed anywhere and its modular design can to be tailored to different locations. Up to four LED modules can be used to provide night-time lighting on main roads, while one or two modules are sufficient to provide lighting on side streets and in residential areas. As is already the case with vehicle headlights, LED technology allows more targeted light distribution with highly uni­form illumination to increase road safety and is optimised for minimum glare and light pollution. Through intelligent control electronics, the street light can adjust itself to its environment and yields energy savings by enabling the reduction of light output late at night and whenever no one is around.

The EV charging cable connects to a standard connector on the Light & Charge street light and the integrated control panel allows drivers to start charging with the swipe of a card regardless of vehicle model.

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LG signs battery deals with two Chinese Bus Manufacturers

LG Chem has agreed with Chinese automakers Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus and Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle to supply lithium ion-based batteries for their electric vehicles (EVs), the Korean company said Sunday.

"LG Chem has signed battery supplement deals with Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus and Dongfeng Commercial Vehicle," LG said in a statement. "The contract calls for LG to provide batteries for their upcoming large- and small-sized electric city buses."

Company spokesman Woo Byeong-min declined to reveal the financial details.

Since 2010, LG Chem, the world's largest battery manufacturer, has continued signing deals with China's leading car producers because the Korean company believes the Chinese EV market has huge potential.

Nanjing Golden Dragon Bus, established in 2000, is one of the top-tier producers of electric buses in China, with an annual capacity of about 8,000 units. Dongfeng Commercial is an affiliate.

"The latest agreement will significantly help us expand our portfolio to buses from sedans and sport utility vehicles (SUVs) in China, the world's biggest EV market," Woo said.

He said demand for electric buses was increasing in major Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing, thanks to more subsidies from the central government to cut carbon emissions.

The statement said LG Chem was looking to electric buses to keep its growth momentum.

"For example, an EV sedan uses a battery with between 10 and 30 kilowatt per hour (KWh) storage capacity," Woo said.

"However, an electric bus uses a 60-200 KWh battery. The electric bus market is therefore more profitable."

LG Chem said its battery factory in the southern Chinese city of Nanjing would begin operating next year, and would be the frontrunner among its main rivals in China.

The LG Chem statement quoted President Kwon Young-soo as saying, "The Chinese EV market will boom after 2016. LG Chem is ideally positioned to lead the market, given the number of clients we have secured."

KDB Securities, a local brokerage, expects demand for EVs in China to reach 350,000 by 2016 from an estimated 200,000 this year, with leading car manufacturers introducing affordable models.

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LG Chem to offer 80 to 120 kWh batteries

South Koran chemical engineering company LG Chem have announced its intention to be a supplier of larger batteries to car manufacturers who are interested in longer range EVs.

LG Chem is targeting a 300-500 km range battery pack. The company contends that currently most EVs with their 100-150 km range have a limited appeal and that hinders the potential for market growth. Currently, only the Tesla Model S possesses a truly long-range battery pack.

To that end, LG Chem says it would begin to offer large capacity lithium-ion batteries that hold between 80 and 120 kWh.

LG Chem is already a supplier for the Chevrolet Volt. General Motors announced this past January that the Bolt, a new pure EV that will go into production in 2016, will have a 320 km range.

Such long-range EVs have the potential to dramatically shake up the electric-car landscape and appeal to a larger audience.

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Graphene Supercapacitor equals Li-ion battery energy density

Scientists in South Korea have developed a graphene supercapacitor that stores as much energy per kilogram as a lithium-ion battery and can be recharged in under four minutes.

Supercapacitors are not a new idea. But graphene, which is a form of carbon composed of sheets a single atom thick, is especially suitable for making them.

Graphene has an area of 2,675 square metres per gram. All of this surface is available for the storage of static electricity. Graphene could therefore be used to make supercapacitors that hold more energy per kilogram than lithium-ion batteries.

Graphene is to graphite what a single playing card is to a full pack. Strong chemical bonds keep the graphene layers intact, but the individual layers are held to each other only weakly, which is why graphite can be used to make the “lead” in pencils. To make small amounts of graphene, you can peel the layers from the surface of a graphite crystal one at a time, as a dealer might when distributing cards (there are various ways of doing this). To make a lot of it, though, you have to pull the whole crystal apart, as one might scatter a pack across a table.

Dr Lu Wu of Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, in South Korea, did this in two stages. First, he exposed powdered graphite to oxygen in a controlled manner to produce a substance called graphite oxide. This is not a true oxide, with a fixed chemical formula. Rather, it is a graphite-like substance that has oxygen-rich clusters of atoms between the graphene layers.

This done, he then heated the graphite oxide to 160°C in a vessel which had an internal pressure of a tenth of an atmosphere. The heat caused chemical reactions inside the graphite oxide, and these produced carbon dioxide and steam. The increased internal pressure these gases created, pushing against the reduced external pressure in the vessel, blew the graphite apart into its constituent sheets. Those, after a bit of further treatment to remove surplus oxygen, were then suitable for incorporation into a supercapacitor—which Dr Lu did.

The result, though small, worked well. It stored as much energy per kilogram as a lithium-ion battery and could be recharged in under four minutes. Scaled up to the size needed for a car, the current required to recharge it that quickly would require a pretty robust delivery system.

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Hitachi Delivers High Output Prismatic Li-ion Battery Cell

Hitachi Automotive Systems today announced that the company will be supplying 5,000W/kg high output power density prismatic lithium-ion battery cells for the new model Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid to be sold by General Motors (GM) in 2016.

These prismatic lithium-ion battery cells being delivered for the 2016 new model Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid employ heat resistant separators to ensure the ionic conductivity between the positive and negative electrodes, achieving not only a high output power density of 5,000W/kg, but also a high level of safety. In addition to this, the battery's ability to maintain its high output power density in GM evaluations, even under extremely low temperatures such as the minus 30℃ cold region test, led to its adoption.

Hitachi's lithium-ion battery operations for vehicles began in 1999, leading the charge worldwide and beginning mass production of safe, high-performance, long lasting products. To date, a total of over 5 million lithium-ion batteries have been introduced into the market for commercial hybrid buses and trucks, as well as hybrid passenger cars.

The many years of supply performance for lithium-ion batteries as mass produced products, together with the accumulated production and quality management know-how garnered from feedback from the market, has led to an emphasis on high reliability and earned Hitachi a high reputation from car manufacturers both inside and outside of Japan.

In addition, last year Hitachi Automotive Systems integrated the lithium-ion battery manufacturer Hitachi Vehicle Energy's design and R&D departments, advancing lithium-ion batteries by using the electronic, control, and software technology the company possessed toward battery control system development.

Hitachi Automotive Systems will continue to contribute to the evolution of electrically driven vehicles through the strengthening of electric power train products, lithium-ion batteries, and more.

Prismatic lithium-ion battery cell
ItemSpecification
Size (mm)120×80×12
Weight (kg)0.24
Average Voltage (V)3.7
Capacity (Ah)5.2
Output Density (W/kg)5,000
Energy Density (Wh/kg)80
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Williams Demo World’s First Sodium-ion Powered Vehicle

Williams Advanced Engineering yesterday played host to a media event that saw the first public demonstration of a sodium-ion powered vehicle. Developed by British battery start-up firm Faradion in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering and Oxford University, this technology was demonstrated in an e-bike application as a proof-of-concept to showcase the capabilities of this new type of battery chemistry.

The project to demonstrate sodium-ion battery technology has been part-funded by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency in its latest competition for ‘disruptive technologies in low carbon vehicles’. Although lithium-ion batteries are currently the predominant technology in electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as energy storage applications, sodium-ion has the potential to offer cost, safety and sourcing benefits. The base materials required for sodium-ion batteries are more easily sourced than those needed for lithium-ion batteries, which are only found in a limited number of markets around the world. Sodium salts used in sodium-ion batteries can be made from common salt, which is more abundant than lithium salt, and also available within the UK, providing possibilities for a British battery supply chain.

As a proof-of-concept, the cells for the e-bike have been manufactured to be larger than necessary, which helps to avoid unnecessary costs and lengthy manufacturing processes at this early stage. When optimised, the cells will be comparable in size to lithium-ion battery packs already on the market. As such, there is potential to exploit the technology for use in a wide range of electric and hybrid vehicles, as well as energy storage applications.

The e-bike battery pack is made up of four 12-cell modules that were designed and manufactured by Williams Advanced Engineering and controlled by a Williams designed battery management system. Williams is a proven leader in the design and manufacture of battery energy storage technology, having developed batteries for the Formula E electric racing series, Jaguar C-X75 hybrid supercar, and the Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) that helped power the company’s Formula One racing cars from 2011-2013. Oxford University’s expertise has been used to maximise battery life and it is expected that as well as comparable performance, sodium-ion cells can offer a comparable lifetime to lithium-ion products.

Paul McNamara, Technical Director of Williams Advanced Engineering, said; “Williams Advanced Engineering has a history of innovation in lithium-ion battery technology for a range of different applications and whilst lithium-ion is still the dominant choice of chemistry, sodium-ion is a fascinating alternative that could have real benefits in terms of cost and availability. We have worked closely with Faradion and Oxford University to explore its potential and today was about showcasing the concept in a real world application for the first time.”

More: Faradion

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Researchers develop 20% improved lithium-sulfur battery for electric cars using vitamin C

Korean researchers have developed a new type of lithium–sulfur battery using vitamin C with a 20% improvement in performance over current ones.

A group of researchers led by Professor Lee Jae-young at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology said on Thursday that they succeeded in improving the energy capacity of lithium–sulfur batteries with vitamin C treated dual-layered graphene–sulfur.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are widely considered as a viable replacement for current lithium-ion batteries for electric cars because of its superior energy density. Yet, lithium-sulfur batteries have not been actively used in the field yet since there are a few problems to be resolved such as poor cycle performance and low charge/discharge rates.

However, the researchers showed that their vitamin C treated dual-layered cathode, which is composed of a sulfur active layer and a polysulfide absorption layer, can increase sulfur utilization dramatically resulting in a lithium-sulfur battery with a high specific capacity of over 600 mAh gsulfur (-1) after 100 cycles even under a high current rate of 1C.

Professor Lee said, “This development is meaningful in a sense that it can greatly improve low cycle performance of lithium-sulfur batteries, which is a big obstacle to commercialization of them,” adding, “we expect the new development will practically increase the adaptation of lithium-sulfur batteries to next-generation electric car batteries.”

The results of the development were published in the online version of ChemSusChem on April 29 with the title of “Improvement of energy capacity via Vitamin C-treated dual-layered graphene-sulfur cathodes in lithium sulfur battery”.