Battery Tech Breakthroughs: What They Mean for Cars & Clean Energy
A breakthrough that could propel electric cars to the mass market — that’s the buzz about a recent study out of MIT. Here’s the gist of the research, published in the journal Nature: Scientists Byoungwoo Kang and Gerbrand Ceder tweaked the surface structure of lithium ion phosphate, a material commonly used to make batteries. The tweaks allows the material to conduct electricity very quickly and handle repeated charges without degrading, making it possible to have smaller, lighter, quick-charging batteries.
How quick? The researchers say a small battery (for your cell phone, for example) could get a full charge in as little as 10 seconds. In theory, you could plug an all-electric car into a Jetsons-esque fueling station, and drive away fully charged within five minutes, rather than five hours.
While this breakthrough might seem like the missing piece of the electric car puzzle, it’s far from it, according to Giorgio Rizzoni, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University. “There’s all this excitement as though the problem has been solved,” Rizzoni said. “It hasn’t.” Rather, like other energy-storage breakthroughs that have emerged over the last several years, he said, it’s one more small step toward electrification of the U.S. auto fleet.
Ceder and Kang contrast their findings with ultracapacitors, which typically recharge quickly but lack storage capacity. They’re not technically batteries, and in fact store much less energy than batteries. As a result, they’ve traditionally been used for quick bursts of energy, rather than endurance. New technology that uses interactions of positively and negatively charged ions coupled with an electrolyte instead of static charges can boost storage capacity, but it’s still only a fraction of what batteries can hold. Rizzoni says the technology holds “outstanding potential” for transient sources of energy (short bursts) in conjunction with batteries — as a backup supply for glitches in the power grid or electric cars, for example, or during times when wind and solar power are low.
Stealthy ultracapacitor startup EEStor, controversial for its bold claims and scanty evidence, has bigger dreams than being an also-ran with batteries. The company says it has developed something of a battery-ultracapacitor hybrid device that can store 10 times the power with one-tenth the weight and volume, at half the cost of lead-acid batteries. If EEStor delivers, it would, in short, turn mobile energy on its head. But Cedar and Kang’s breakthrough, already licensed to two companies and much less of a moonshot (lithium iron phosphate is widely used — it’s the processing technique that’s different), could give EEStor new competition.
Advances in energy storage hold potential not only for electric and plug-in hybrid cars, but also for smart grid projects and utility-scale wind and solar power, in part through holding energy for times when sunshine and wind are absent. But in itself, the battery breakthrough of the month won’t change your life — not the car you drive, the source of electricity for your town or the way you use energy in your home.
Ceder and Kang have been clear about this, though they’ve set an ambitious timeline, saying the technology could be on the market within two to three years. Rizzoni emphasized hurdles beyond manufacturing (also mentioned in MIT’s release about the study), noting that major infrastructure investments (hello, stimulus) would be necessary to achieve the rapid charge times their research has opened up as a possibility. Even if production was a done deal, standard outlets wouldn’t pack enough punch to give the batteries a full charge within minutes.
So where does this leave energy storage research? Taken in combination, recent breakthroughs — which also include 3M’s recently announced battery balancing technology — reflect an industry very much on the move. With a massive injection of federal dollars for battery, energy storage and vehicle research, it’s poised to accelerate. But to put it bluntly, none of the recent breakthroughs will translate to mass transformation of the auto or energy industry unless costs come down (including those associated with licensing proprietary technology) and production ramps up. “It’s not just about the highest performing materials,” Rizzoni said. It’s also about the bottom line.
This article also appeared on BusinessWeek.com
Without reading it, I’m not certain I understand what Rizzoni says is needed, e.g., standard outlets wouldn’t pack enough punch. So, they’re half as fast as 220v at filling up the batteries.
If adaptors of some sort are required, I’m willing to bet they can be onboard rather than confined to a “filling station”. Which means you can top up anywhere.
The point that MIT folks made was that they recharged their test battery using normal house mains – not something unique.
Lots of nonsense in this article. First, batteries cannot correct the many problems of wind or solar power. Intermittancy can last for DAYS or even WEEKS, not just minutes, making battery backup
capacity nonsensical – not only iw no one ever going to store a week’s worth of electricity in batteries, but
even if done, once depleted, the storage would be impossible to refill. Why do alternative energy advocates keep coming up with scams like “smart grids” to solve what is an insoluable problem?
As to the new battery technology, Pizanni is missing the boat. First – there is no need for extemely rapid
battery recharge at home and the recharge times available in practically every household would allow for recharges at a rate of around 45 miles of range per hour. You only have to recharge to get the range you need for the next trip – you don’t have to recharge the entire battery, except in rare occasions.
The electrical infrastructure is everywhere – and high capacity rechargers are not hard to install in the existing infrastructure – mainly existing gas stations. And the growth in demand for fast public rechargers will hardly be mind boggling. There will be plenty of time in the years that will be required to switch the fleet over to electric.
The only missing piece of the new li ion technology is price. But that is coming down and with the ability to obtain range without a range extender gas engine, that will also contribute to lower costs.
Packing the punch wouldn’t really be a problem. The charging station could have the same EEStor technology. The Ultracap/batteries could be charged by the grid (even at 110v) for 6 or whatever hours, and when the car comes along needing a charge; it would get the “punch” from what is built up at the charging station. According to what I’ve read on this, EEStor units will be able to release power as quickly as it will take it.
What I think is the main issue is it’s been 2 or 3 years now of “we’ll have it within 6 to 12 months.”
Even if it’s real; it’s likely to never make it to market. You gotta love this “free” country we live in.
At first glance the batteries look great until you actually start reading what they can actually do and that is they really only have the ability to retain enough power to charge you cell phone, not a car. I think this could be great in the mean time to charge small products such as cell phones, PDA’s, Ipods, etc and continue to develop it. I would say we are some years away from this technology though.
This advice is really going to help, thanks.
Please do not disparage the reputation of MIT by mentioning “EEStor” in the same article. EEStor is magic beans and unicorns.
Hey EEGuy,
I couldn’t have said it any better. I just don’t understand how Dick Weir CEO of EESTOR continues to scam these bloggers into believing of a product that does not exist, never has, and never will.