Good overview of the state of battery development. https://spectrum.ieee.org/solid-state-battery-production-challenges TRANSPORTATION NEWS Solid-State EV Batteries Now Face “Production Hell” Producing battery packs that yield 800+ kilometers remains rough going CHARLES J. MURRAY 8 HOURS AGO Volkswagen and QuantumScape are raising hopes in the electric vehicle market, but automotive battery experts are warning that the road to widespread, solid-state success is still a long and arduous one. A single breakthrough, as if from above, is not likely to turn the whole industry on its nose anytime soon. “Solid-state is a great technology,” noted Bob Galyen, owner of Galyen Energy LLC and former chief technology officer for the Chinese battery giant, Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd (CATL). “But it’s going to be just like lithium-ion was in terms of the length of time it will take to hit the market. And lithium-ion took a long time to get there.” “I haven’t seen cost numbers that are even close to competing with liquid-state, lithium-ion batteries.“—BOB GALYEN, GALYEN ENERGY LLC Galyen and other experts consulted by Spectrum noted that recent announcements by Volkswagen, QuantumScape, Toyota, and NIO have resulted in impressive stock market performance. However, these same experts noted a pointed skepticism toward the technical merits of these announcements. None could isolate anything on the horizon indicating that solid-state technology can escape the engineering and “production hell” that lies ahead. The remaining hurdles will involve validating existing solid-state battery technologies (currently in use for more limited, often medical, applications) for cars and trucks. The adoption curve, experts say, will depend on the product’s ability to be validated in terms of performance, life, and cost characteristics. Solid-state cells, so-named for their use of a solid electrolyte, are seen as a key to the future of the electric car because they potentially offer greater safety and energy, as well as much faster recharge times. Solid-state cells differ from conventional lithium-ion batteries in their use of a glass or ceramic electrolyte, instead of a liquid composed of lithium salts. Automakers are keen on solid-state batteries’ future, because the technology offers greater thermal stability than liquid-based batteries, thus allowing for substantially faster recharge, among other advantages. Solid state has also been the subject of recent announcements from battery manufacturers and mainstream automakers alike. In early January, Volkswagen Group’s PowerCo SE battery company said it tested lithium-metal cells from QuantumScape, achieving 1,000 charging cycles with 95 percent of the cell’s capacity still intact. The company said in a statement that the cell’s life-performance was analogous to “an electric car that could drive more than 500,000 kilometers (300,000 miles) without any noticeable loss of range.” “What happens when you’re driving down I-75 and you hit a big pit in the road? What kind of damage would be done to the solid-state matrix?”—BOB GALYEN, GALYEN ENERGY LLC Similarly, Toyota announced in October that it plans to incorporate solid-state batteries in an unnamed number of production vehicles by 2027. The automaker said it is targeting a 1,000-km (600-mile) range with 80 percent DC fast-charge in ten minutes or less. In December, Chinese automaker NIO also got in the game, saying it is introducing a 150-kWh “semi-solid-state battery” that would theoretically offer a 1,000-km range as soon as this summer. Experts were quick to point out, however, that NIO’s battery, made by WeLion New Energy Technology Co. Ltd., is not solid state. “This is in fact a fairly conventional NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) cell with a gel electrolyte that has been in production for 15 years and is typically referred to as lithium-polymer,” noted Sam Abuelsamid, principal research analyst for Guidehouse Insights. “Technically the gel is considered a semi-solid because it has properties of both a solid and liquid. But in a cell, it lacks the properties of a true solid-state electrolyte.” Notably, he said, semi-solid-state cells can be punctured on impact. (Which is closer to a traditional lithium-ion battery—and contrasts with actual solid-state cells, which would fracture.) He also noted that semi-solid-state cells, with a manganese spinel chemistry, were used on a Hyundai Sonata hybrid in 2009. Engineering challenge The big challenge facing true solid-state cells, however, is the long climb to engineering validation. Galyen cites five “golden rules” of batteries–safety, performance, life, cost, and environmental–which must be met for solid-state cells to achieve industry-wide adoption. The process is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s reference to “manufacturing hell” in 2018. “Most of the solid-state battery companies fall short on at least three of the five golden rules,” he said. “I haven’t seen anyone publish life-numbers that make any sense. And I haven’t seen cost numbers that are even close to competing with liquid-state, lithium-ion batteries.” Solid-state costs, he said, are about where conventional lithium-ion batteries were a decade ago. Automakers also still need to verify the “performance rule” in three key areas–performance at temperature, performance at altitude, and performance under shock and vibration. Of those, Galyen said, shock and vibration are particularly concerning. “What happens when you’re driving down I-75 and you hit a big pit in the road?” he said. “What kind of damage would be done to the solid-state matrix?” Automakers will not move to broad adoption until they are able to verify the new technology’s abilities in all those key areas, Galyen added. “None of these batteries have been validated yet,” he said. “So how do you plan on putting something into automotive production when it hasn’t been validated?” Validation will take time, as automakers test factory-built cells in real-world conditions. To do that, manufacturers will first need to build battery factories, which could take two years, and then run a half-year of prototype products and distribute them to customers who put them through their duty cycles. “Then you put the products into production and find out what your ‘gotchas’ are,” Galyen said of the inevitable problems. The process is reminiscent of Elon Musk’s reference to “manufacturing hell” in 2018. Back then, Musk declared his company was about enter into six months of the so-called “hell” as it struggled to work out the kinks in its Model 3 production line. He told reporters at the time that a flood, a tornado, or even a ship sinking anywhere on earth could disrupt his company’s plans. Galyen said that such headaches are commonplace in manufacturing, but particularly so in battery production. “There’s not one battery I’ve ever seen that doesn’t have a ton of ‘gotchas,’” he said. To do the build-out, production, and validation could easily take seven or more years, Galyen said. Science nearly ready Experts expect the science to keep evolving during that period. Today, there are numerous versions of solid-state batteries using everything from traditional graphite to silicon to lithium metal in the anode, and there are cathodes made from traditional NMC and nickel-rich materials. Most experts assume that more time is needed to run the gauntlet of engineering validation, even for the biggest, most secretive companies. Battery scientists are optimistic that the new breed of batteries can overcome two key drawbacks of conventional lithium-ion. First, they say, nickel-rich cathodes will enable the battery industry to use less cobalt in the cathode. Second, solid-state chemistries will enable battery makers to use lithium metal in the anode. The ability to reduce cobalt in the cathode is important because cobalt is scarce, expensive and often mined in countries with weak labor laws. And the ability to use lithium metal in the anode is important because it would boost energy density while promoting safety. Makers of liquid-based lithium-ion batteries currently don’t use lithium metal anodes due to fear of fires. “This is why we started this (solid-state) journey in the first place–so we could use lithium metal,” noted Helena Braga, an associate professor of engineering physics at the University of Porto in Portugal, and a well-known researcher who worked with Nobel-Prize-winner John Goodenough on solid-state batteries a decade ago. Braga said she is confident that the new chemistries will be ready soon, if they are not already. What’s unknown is how far along those chemistries may be within some of the big manufacturing companies that make few public pronouncements, such as LG Chem and BYD. Some of those companies may be farther along, but it’s hard to know because there is so little reliable information. For now, most experts assume that more time is needed to run the gauntlet of engineering validation, even for the biggest, most secretive companies. “Most of the companies have great hope that they’re going to achieve success with the five golden rules,” Galyen said. “And they expect it to happen in the next decade.”
EV batteries are a fire hazard, too much stored energy without built in fire suppression. China is burning coal to recharge those EV's. EV's are the cart before horse, should have built safe nuclear power plants first.
If wonder if Hemp batteries will ever get traction, preliminary claims are 8x more efficient than Lithium; https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn400731g
And you don't know what you're talking about, but thanks for playing! https://www.driving.co.uk/car-clini...es have shown the,the country during the year.
https://www.thecooldown.com/green-tech/revolutionary-electric-car-battery-gotion-us-manufacturer/ REVOLUTIONARY 600-MILE EV BATTERY MAKER ROLLS OUT ‘MADE IN USA’ PRODUCTION PLANS: ‘TODAY, WE TAKE ANOTHER LEAP FORWARD’ “We have made a name for ourselves in the Americas market.” By Susan Elizabeth TurekFebruary 7, 2024 Gotion High-Tech sparked a wave of optimism after it announced last year that its highly anticipated 621-mile EV battery pack would soon begin mass production, and the China-headquartered company has reportedly been working to uphold that promise. According to Energy Storage News, the battery maker’s new factory in Fremont, California, manufactured its first battery pack near the end of December. While the Silicon Valley plant is focused on the markets for portable and residential energy storage (ESS) rather than the battery cells themselves, the outlet noted that it was a promising step toward Gotion’s “‘Made in USA’ production strategy.” Gotion, whose revolutionary Astroinno lithium-ion battery allows electric vehicles to drive 621 miles on a single charge, also intends to open plants in Illinois and Michigan. The latter state’s EV battery production facility is already under construction. Meanwhile, the Illinois factory — which will focus on ESS solutions, as well as cell and pack production — was just announced in September and is expected to create a minimum of 2,600 full-time jobs. “Today, we take another leap forward, announcing the largest electric vehicle battery production investment in Illinois to date. It’s my pleasure to welcome a world-leading battery manufacturer — Gotion — to Illinois,” Governor JB Pritzker said at the time, per Energy Storage News. Gotion Global executive president Cheng Qian said in May that the battery, which took 10 years to develop, can fast-charge in only 18 minutes and has “passed all safety tests” — in addition to providing the astounding single-charge range thanks in part to its use of new electrolyte additives, according to InsideEVs. A unique “sandwich structure,” as described by the outlet, also makes the battery lighter, reducing the number of parts used in the design by 45%, while the battery itself can endure more than two million miles over the course of its lifetime.
Vanadium is the new battery cathode chemistry, says Pure Lithium CEO Amanda Stutt | September 20, 2024 https://www.mining.com/vanadium-is-the-new-battery-cathode-chemistry-says-pure-lithium-ceo/ Stock image. In labs all around the world, scientists are striving to perfect EV battery cathode chemistries – swoping out and switching up minerals in search of the most viable, economical, safe alternatives to provide the highest energy density at a cost that could be manufactured at scale. While the most common cathode chemistries used in lithium-ion batteries today are lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), Pure Lithium (PL), a privately held, Boston-based startup, says it has invented a unique lithium metal battery that swops nickel and cobalt for vanadium. The company says it has found a way to make lithium batteries from scratch going from “from brine to battery” in less than 48 hours. “We’ve taken lithium from four continents around the world and have made it into a pure metal electrode,” co-founder and CEO Emilie Bodoin told MINING.com in an interview. “We’re not that particular about the lithium source because our technology and our end product is very different than what everyone else is doing.” In July, Pure Lithium won the startup Coup de Coeur Award at the World Materials Forum for its battery-ready lithium metal electrode and received the best new project award at Fastmarkets, competing against several more mature companies. Oxy Low Carbon Ventures has invested $15 million in PL, Bodoin said, adding that Canadian firm E3 Lithium has been supplying the company with concentrate for two years. Vanadium – the game changer The disruptor in PL’s chemistry, Bodoin says, is vanadium. The company pairs its lithium metal anode with a vanadium oxide cathode that was invented by Nobel Prize winner Stan Whittingham, a key figure in the history of Li-ion batteries. The company’s intellectual property portfolio (73 patents pending) includes a joint patent application with Professor Whittingham, who did the testing to demonstrate the better safety profile, Bodoin said. “It works, and that’s what we’re using. It’s a simple concept. What we’re doing is so different than any other company,” Bodoin said. Emilie Bodoin, CEO, PL. Image from LinkedIn While vanadium, a naturally occurring mineral found in many uranium mines, doesn’t get a lot of attention, it is more abundant than nickel in North America and readily available in the US, which alleviates supply chain clogs. There are active projects in Nevada – the Gibellini vanadium project, owned by Nevada Vanadium, which in August merged with Flying Nickel Mining, completed the federal permitting process last year for what could be the first primary vanadium mine in the US. US uranium producerEnergy Fuels is also producing commercial levels of high purity vanadium at its White Mesa Mill in Utah. “You don’t hear a lot about vanadium –– it’s going to be the new cathode chemistry. It’s pretty perfect for lithium metal. And you can fit two lithium per one vanadium in it, and it won’t release oxygen. The stuff is so stable at temperature, it’s better than LFP. It’s better than anything,” Bodoin said. “We have a very smooth, even elementally pure piece of lithium. So you’ve just taken a ton of cost and processing and travel out of the biggest problem with the battery.” Scaling up Boston manufacturing facility PL is scaling up its facility in Boston to manufacture, and Bodoin said the company will continue to demonstrate going from brine to battery by taking E3’s lithium concentrate, making it into electrode and making the battery in the same facility, which it aims to have up and running in the next 12 to 16 months. “We’ve made our same batteries work from four different continents worth of lithium to prove that we have a very robust production system,” Bodoin said. “The battery has to be really cheap, or no one’s going to want to buy it.” The CEO, who has been in the battery space for over 12 years, looks to the future in a highly competitive market with confidence. “If you’re a DLE company on shark tank with me, you can’t compete because I’m making a whole battery and all the components for the battery. So, you’re just not going to win.”
Factorial, Mercedes-Benz develop range-boosting EV battery The solid-state battery can add up to 600 miles to electric vehicles’ range, 80% more than current lithium-ion batteries, per the companies. The battery breakthrough announcement follows the delivery of the first B-sample battery cells to Mercedes-Benz in June. The Solstice battery’s cathode material is manufactured using a novel dry coating process that eliminates the need for hazardous solvents typically used in traditional battery production, according to Factorial. These batteries can also be manufactured on existing lithium-ion battery production lines for quick scaling, Factorial CEO and co-founder Siyu Huang told Reuters. The Solstice battery’s sulfide-based solid-state electrolyte also reduces the risk of thermal runaway and potential fires associated with more flammable liquid electrolyte battery designs. Factorial says its Solstice battery maintains stability at operating temperatures over 90°C (194 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the Sept. 10 release. In addition to improving safety, this level of thermal stability could potentially reduce the cooling system requirements of EVs, which can help reduce costs. “Solstice embodies our team’s technology leadership and the potential of solid-state batteries to address the most significant hurdles for electric vehicle adoption,” Huang said in the release. Factorial was launched out of Cornell University in 2013, according to its website. The company emerged from stealth in 2021 after announcing its first graphite anode battery prototype. In addition to Mercedes-Benz, Factorial also has joint development agreements with Stellantis, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., according to a June 5 press release. The company expects to make its battery technology available to other automotive OEMs and consumer electronics customers by decade’s end. Along with Factorial, other companies are partnering to develop solid-state battery technology, including QuantumScape and Volkswagen. Toyota Motor Corp. is also researching solid-state battery technology for its future EVs.