AllCell Technologies received a new US patent covering the use of phase change materials (PCM) to prevent thermal runaway propagation in electrochemical devices such as lithium-ion batteries. AllCell has developed a proprietary composite material composed of a conductive matrix impregnated with various PCMs that extends the cycle life of lithium-ion cells and can prevent the propagation of thermal runaway.
AllCell’s thermal management technology uses phase change materials to surround each lithium-ion cell, absorbing and conducting heat away to extend the life of the cells and prevent fire or battery damage. The company points out that complex liquid cooling systems add expense, reduce vehicle range, and are prone to leaks. AllCell’s technology requires no power to operate, has no moving parts, and can operate even when the vehicle is turned off.
AllCell CEO Said Al-Hallaj said, “We are very pleased to announce this enhancement of our IP position during a period of rapid growth for our company. AllCell is excited to contribute to the critical improvements in electric vehicle batteries required to transition from today’s limited market of early adopters to products with true mass market appeal.”
Earlier this year AllCell announced the formation of AllCell Automotive, a joint venture with Townsend Ventures, LLC, to commercialize PCM technology in automotive applications. The joint venture is working with automotive OEMs to develop a new generation of automotive lithium-ion batteries with PCM thermal management technology.
In the race to build a better battery, researchers are testing all kinds of rare elements and high-tech nanomaterials. How ironic would it be if the miracle material turned out to be…air? Several groups are working on lithium-air batteries, which have the potential to deliver far more energy density than the lithium-ion kind. A recent article in IEEE Spectrum discussed some of the latest advances.
Lithium-air batteries work by exposing a lithium anode to an electrolyte that drives positively charged lithium ions toward a cathode made of a porous material that allows oxygen from the air to form lithium peroxide. Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to reverse the process to create a rechargeable battery. “There’s no electrolyte that currently works well,” explains Stanley Whittingham, an expert in materials science at Binghamton University.
Last month, researchers in Italy and South Korea reported designing a lithium-air battery that overcomes this problem, achieving approximately 100 charge and discharge cycles with little capacity loss. And last week, a research team in Scotland reported in the journal Science that they had achieved 100 cycles with a different lithium-air design.
Some carmakers are exploring lithium-air technology, but most researchers don’t seem to consider it that promising for car batteries. One problem is that in order to provide the same energy density as, say, gasoline, lithium-air batteries require more space - although not much more weight - than the fossil fuel. Professor Whittingham predicts that the technology will be used for large, stationary energy-storage applications rather than for portable batteries. Another problem is that lithium-air batteries are chemically delicate: the lithium gets diverted into dead-end reactions with water or carbon dioxide in the air, so the electrodes may need to be sealed or filtered so that they interact only with dry air and the electrolyte, an added complication.
Two materials firms join IBM’s Li-air Battery 500 Project
By
Charlie Morris
on
Sun, 04/22/2012 - 10:03am
EST
IBM announced Friday that Asahi Kasei and Central Glass will join its Battery 500 Project team to collaborate on research into lithium-air batteries. The two companies have some very pertinent expertise, due to their existing work with lithium-ion batteries - Chemical manufacturer Asahi Kasei makes separator membrane, and Central Glass supplies electrolytes.
The biggest challenge in the EV world today is not range anxiety, charging standards or right-wing talk show hosts. It’s energy density. IBM’s researchers, among other commentators, have opined that, for EVs to become competitive in the marketplace, the energy density of batteries needs to increase by a factor of 10. Lithium-air batteries have the potential to make that happen, due to their lighter cathodes and the fact that their primary “fuel” is the oxygen readily available in the atmosphere. Scientists at IBM Research-Almaden started the Battery 500 Project in 2009 to develop a lithium-air battery that could take an EV 500 miles on a single charge.
“These new partners share our vision of electric cars being critical components of building a cleaner, better world, which is far less dependent on oil,” said IBM’s Dr. Winfried Wilcke, who initiated the Battery 500 Project. “Their compatible experience, knowledge and commitment to bold innovation in electric vehicle battery technology can help us transfer this research from the lab onto the road.”
“New materials development is vitally important to ensuring the viability of lithium-air battery technology,” said Central Glass Director Tatsuya Mori. “As a long-standing partner of IBM and leader in developing high-performance electrolytes for batteries, we’re excited to share each other’s chemical and scientific expertise in a field as exciting as electric vehicles.”
“We are very focused on addressing environmental challenges and limitations with diverse technology to build a brighter future,” said Asahi Kasei’s Tetsuro Ohta. “This alliance allows us to explore a new path to developing an improved rechargeable battery performance that cannot be met with conventional technologies.”
Cabot launches new performance additive for lithium-ion batteries
By
Charlie Morris
on
Fri, 03/02/2012 - 8:38am
EST
Back in the old days, you could put a tiger in your tank – now Cabot Corporation wants to put one in your battery pack. This week, the Boston-based specialty chemical company announced the launch of the new LITX50™ carbon conductive additive, which is designed to increase the power and energy of lithium-ion batteries.
Every battery has positive and negative layers, which are made by coating a metal foil with a layer of battery materials. Thick layers are good for energy capacity, but not for delivering power, as they are too resistive. Thin layers are good for power delivery, but weak for energy capacity, as more layers must be added to make a battery with enough power. LITX50 is designed to improve the conductivity of electrodes, enabling better power performance and thicker, higher-energy layers.
“The LITX50 product is a multi-function additive that delivers improved performance across the board,” said Cabot spokesman Greg Romney. “It allows battery makers to coat thinner, more energy dense layers while also achieving superior performance under challenging low temperature conditions.”
Envia Systems announced today that a test sponsored by ARPA-E has verified the company’s impressive claims for its new battery cells. Envia’s prototype juice boxes have achieved an energy density of 400 Watt-hours/kilogram - the highest ever recorded for a rechargeable lithium-ion cell.
We’ll leave the hyperbole to the marketing folks, and settle for a couple of numerical comparisons. In an interview with Gigaom.com, Envia CEO Atul Kapadia noted that current lithium-ion batteries deliver an energy density of around 100 to 150 Wh/kg. How does that translate into cost? The batteries used in the Nissan LEAF cost around $375 per kWh. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently made an optimistic prediction that battery prices would drop below $200 per kWh in a few years. Once its new cells go into production, Envia expects costs to be as low as $125 per kWh.
The company plans to work with partners in the battery and auto fields, rather than doing its own manufacturing, and hopes to have its batteries in production vehicles in about three years. GM is a major investor in Envia, so the new supercells may show up in a future generation of the Volt.
Envia co-founder Dr. Sujeet Kumar explained some of the company’s proprietary technology. “Since the inception of Envia, our product team has worked tirelessly and logged over 25 million test channel hours to optimally develop each of the active components of the battery: Envia's proprietary Si-C anode, HCMR cathode and EHV electrolyte. Rather than just a proof-of-concept of energy density, I am pleased that our team was successful in actually delivering 400 Wh/kg automotive grade lithium-ion rechargeable cells.”
Johnson Controls to show new prismatic EV battery modules at Geneva Motor Show
By
Charlie Morris
on
Fri, 02/24/2012 - 10:33am
EST
Johnson Controls has made a couple of potentially major advances in EV battery technology, which it will be displaying at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. A Ford Transit Connect Electric van powered by a Johnson Controls lithium-ion battery will be available for test drives.
Johnson’s new prismatic storage cells are designed to require less installation space than cylindrical cells, making them easier to integrate into vehicles. The company has also developed a modular battery system, which should be easy to adapt to different EV models, shortening development times and making batteries more affordable to produce. Each sub-module contains storage cells, an electric collector system, monitoring electronics, a cooling system and mechanical mounting options.
Johnson Controls plans to produce the new sub-modules beginning in 2014.
EnerG2’s new plant will make nanotech battery components
By
Charlie Morris
on
Wed, 02/15/2012 - 11:34am
EST
Energy storage specialist EnerG2 cut the ribbon for a new manufacturing facility for EV battery components in Albany, Oregon this week. The company uses proprietary processing technology to build nanostructured carbon materials with ultra-high surface areas and ultra-high purity levels. The super-carbon is used in a variety of energy storage applications, including ultracapacitors, lithium-ion batteries, and advanced lead acid batteries.
At full capacity, the EnerG2 plant is expected to produce enough carbon material for 60,000 EV batteries per year. Supported in part by $21.3 million in funding from the DOE, it’s one of 30 advanced battery and electric drive manufacturing facilities supported by the Recovery Act.
"In his 2013 Budget Proposal, the President laid out a blueprint for a stronger economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, and skills for American workers," said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. "The Department's support for EnerG2 is an example of how we are supporting the commercialization of innovative technologies and revitalizing U.S. manufacturing."
Researchers use MRI to get an inside look at a lithium-ion battery in action
By
Charlie Morris
on
Mon, 02/13/2012 - 5:24pm
EST
How many times have you wished you could look inside a battery? Think how handy it would be for finding out why a defective battery failed, or how a worn-out battery might best be rebuilt. You might even be able to watch the inner workings of a battery while it’s in operation, the better to figure out how it could be improved. A team of researchers from three universities have developed a way to do just that, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
The team’s work so far, which they described this week in the journal Nature Materials, has concentrated on observing the build-up of lithium metal deposits on the electrodes after charging. However, the methods they developed could be a powerful set of tools for various aspects of battery development and testing.
"New electrode and electrolyte materials are constantly being developed, and this non-invasive MRI technology could provide insights into the microscopic processes inside batteries, which hold the key to eventually making batteries lighter, safer, and more versatile," said Professor Alexej Jerschow of New York University. "Both electrolyte and electrode surfaces can be visualized with this technique, thus providing a comprehensive picture of the batteries' performance-limiting processes."
"MRI is exciting because we are able to identify where the chemical species inside the battery are located without having to take the battery apart, a procedure which to some degree defeats the purpose," added Professor Clare Grey of Cambridge and Stony Brook Universities. "The work clearly shows how we can use the method to identify where lithium deposits form on metal electrodes. The resolution is not yet where we want it to be and we would like to extend the method to much larger batteries, but the information that we were able to get from these measurements is unprecedented."
Time Magazine names PolyPlus lithium battery one of 2011’s 50 Best Inventions
By
Charlie Morris
on
Sat, 12/31/2011 - 12:33pm
EST
Time Magazine’s 2011 list of the year’s “50 Best Inventions” included one that could someday have a huge impact on EV technology. Berkeley, California-based PolyPlus holds a number of patents for advanced types of lithium-based batteries, including one called a lithium-water battery that captured Time’s imagination.
A lithium-water or lithium-air battery reacts directly with oxygen in the surrounding water or air to produce its power. This allows the battery to be smaller, lighter and cheaper to produce than a traditional lithium-ion battery. The key to making this work is a patented technology that PolyPlus calls a Protected Lithium Electrode (PLE), a membrane that allows lithium to react with water or ambient air in a controlled way – without the membrane, lithium would quickly dissolve in water, or oxidize when exposed to air.
The PolyPlus lithium-water battery has achieved an energy density of 1,300 Wh/kg, many times more than the maximum energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. These batteries, which PolyPlus plans to put on the market in 2013, should be very handy for such things as unmanned underwater EVs. However, we electric car enthusiasts are more interested in a closely related technology, the lithium-air battery, which PolyPlus claims could give an EV a range of 500 miles per charge.
“As we move aggressively to commercialize our lithium batteries, this recognition from Time Magazine reflects the progress we have made and the great potential for this technology,” said Steven Visco, PolyPlus CEO. “We are moving rapidly toward delivering batteries that last much longer and are far lighter than anything available today.”
Saft exporting lithium-ion batteries built at new Jacksonville plant
By
Charlie Morris
on
Wed, 12/21/2011 - 10:52am
EST
Battery builder Saft is now shipping the first cells to roll off the production lines at its new factory in Jacksonville, Florida. Several hundred were exported to European customers. The 235,000-square-foot facility is ramping up volume to handle a projected $300 million in annual sales, and will employ 300 people once it’s running at full speed. The company received a $95.5 million grant from the Department of Energy specifically for EV battery manufacturing. Look for lots more details in the weeks to come, as we’re sure this will receive just as much coverage in the mainstream press as Solyndra did.
“Starting volume industrial-scale deliveries to customers from the Jacksonville plant opened in September this year confirms the sound foundations we have put in place, both in terms of the advanced production technology we have implemented and the team of people we brought together to run it,” said Dan Miller, Jacksonville operations manager. “We are now ramping up production to the volume of cells a year we need to address the constantly growing demand worldwide from customers who require reliable, high performance energy storage solutions.”
Saft is a multinational firm with operations in 19 countries. It builds a wide range of high-tech batteries, not just for EVs, but also for backup power, transportation, space and defense applications.
