Electricnick, The EV Revolution

There is never a dull moment with lithium technology research.  Electric cars certainly benefit from the constant neck-break pace with lithium innovations.  So what else is happening in this field?

The gist is that so far, the best choice as far as weight to energy density ratio goes to the use of Lithium in batteries.  If these batteries have allowed electric vehicles, EVs to once and for all show they were viable less polluting alternatives to the internal combustion engine, ICE, the battery technology needed to improve.  It has done so without any doubts.

From Lead To Lithium.  If the conventional lead/acid batteries have evolved almost exponentially since their heavy maintenance cycle decades ago, the lithium battery pack has condensed the energy and weight ratio to a fraction of the the lead/acid combination.  However, the first lithium batteries, i.e. the Cobalt Oxide ones had a nasty tendency to heat up into flame.  It was followed by Iron Phosphates that, even though lost energy density rations, proved to be better players.

What’s New Now? You’ve probably heard the latest news darlings of the lithium future, Lithium-Sulfur and Lithium-Air.  The lithium-sulfur has a much higher theoretical specific energy density than conventional lithium chemistry by about five times, lower temperature performance, and uses inexpensive and nontoxic raw materials.  As far as lithium-air, researchers are working on can store up to ten times more energy than conventional ones.  At this stage they need to work on making sure issues with the accumulation of solid reaction products on the electrode does not block the contact between electrolyte and air.

As breakthroughs happen, it pushes the performance envelop in ways we could only dreamt of in the past.  All of this is good news for EVs in general.  Hybrid batteries anyone?

Sources: GreenCarCongress.