Developments
in Battery Technology
Introduction
Batteries
have been around for ages, but the technological advancements of the near past
have brought battery technology in the focus and forefront. Batteries provide
power to mobile devices, wrist watches, notebooks; lap tops, smart phones etc.,
and battery life have bearings o n the ease of using these
mobile devices. Secondly the advent of the electric vehicle has brought battery
life into focus. Presently the battery usage without a charge time limits
the range of such vehicles. Energy and power sector innovations have brought
battery cost and life into sharp focus. Solar and Wind technologies promise to
enable the planet to use renewable energy and avoid emissions, but this is
conditional as both are intermittent and require back up , which presently is
provide by base load coal or gas , battery life and more importantly cost are important factors which may enable the power
system to function on emission free technology .
For the last 25 years, the lithium-ion battery has held
sway. Packing a large amount of energy into a relatively small space and
weight, these are in greater demand than ever for mobile phones and electric
cars. In fact, 2017 has been a nirvana for lithium. The price of the commodity
has been driven 240 per cent higher. Batteries accounted for 35 per cent of
lithium use in 2015, up from 25 per cent in 2007, with electric vehicles,
phones and personal computers accounting for 60 per cent of that market. Lithium-ion’s
limitations are apparent, however, to anyone who has seen their mobile phone
battery draining suddenly.
While smart phones, smart homes and even
smart wearable’s are growing ever more advanced, they're still limited by
power. The battery hasn't advanced in decades. But we're on the verge of a
power revolution. Big technology and car companies are all too aware of the
limitations of lithium-ion batteries. While chips and operating systems are
becoming more efficient to save power we're still only looking at a day or two
of use on a smart phone before having to recharge
Battery Costs
The
installed cost of battery grid storage has dropped 50% in the last four years
and this rate is likely to continue for the next several years, the cost of
storage has dropped much faster than most prediction. Large-scale storage system prices will fall
by more than 35% from 2017 to 2022 with declines expected on battery prices and
balance of system costs. Battery prices dropped by 65% between 2012 and 2016
while balance of system costs fell 60%.
A steady drip of new wind-plus-storage projects is
allowing operators to apply installation learnings. In September, E.ON started
building the 20 MW Texas Waves energy storage projects, consisting of two 10 MW
lithium ion LG Chem energy storage systems at the operational Pyron and Inadale
wind farms in West Texas. E.ON has already used learnings from its
10 MW Iron Horse solar plus storage facility- completed in April 2017- to cut
the costs for the Texas Waves projects, Mark Frigo, E.ON Vice President, Head
of Energy Storage, North America, told New Energy Update in October. "We
had learnings across the board, ranging from commercial to technical," he
said. A key driver of cost reductions was the “right sizing” of the battery
E.ON drew from LG Chem's experience in frequency regulation applications to
optimize the battery size to minimize the storage life-cycle costs
Coupling
AC coupled storage means
that the inverter to which the battery
is connected is separate to the solar inverter. ... With no more than 3
components a new or existing solar
system can be “batteryready”
thanks to AC-coupling.
Simple DC
coupled solar battery systems were once used only for remote
power systems and off-grid homes but over the last decade hybrid (solar and
battery) inverter technology has advanced rapidly and led to the development of
new AC coupled energy storage configurations. However DC coupled systems are
far from dead, in fact charging a battery system using DC charge controllers or
modern DC coupled hybrid inverters is still the most efficient method
available.
As off-grid
systems became larger and more advanced AC
coupled systems evolved as the preferred configuration
using multi-mode inverter/chargers
coupled with one of more common lower cost
string solar inverters. Over recent years battery technology has improved
significantly with many new lithium battery types emerging as manufacturers explore different ways to add
or couple batteries to new or existing solar systems. The original Tesla Powerwallwas the first 'high voltage' DC battery system
and since then higher voltage (200-500V) batteries have become increasingly
popular and are used with specialist hybrid inverters. More recently AC batteries have been developed by many leading solar manufacturers
including Tesla, Sonnen and Enphase.
DC coupled systems have been used for decades in off-grid
solar installations and small capacity automotive/boating power systems. DC
coupled systems use solar charge controllers (also known as solar regulators)
to charge the battery directly from solar, plus a battery inverter to supply AC
power to appliances.
For micro systems such as those used in caravans/boats or
huts, the PWM type solar controllers are very low cost way to use 1 or 2 solar
panels to charge a 12 volt battery. PWM (pulse width modulation) controllers
come in many different sizes and cost as little as $40 for a small 10A version.
AC coupled
systems use a common solar inverter coupled to a multi-mode inverter or inverter/charger to charge the battery. Although
simple to setup and very powerful they are slightly less efficient at charging
than DC coupled systems (90-94%). However these systems are very efficient for
powering AC loads during the day and are able to be expanded with multiple
solar inverters to form micro-grids.
AC Batteries
AC batteries are a new evolution in battery storage for grid connected
homes which allow batteries to be easily AC coupled to your new or existing
solar installation. AC batteries consist of lithium battery cells, a battery management
system (BMS) and inverter/charger all in one compact unit. These systems
combine a DC battery
with an AC battery Inverter but are only designed for
grid-connected systems as the inverters are not powerful enough to run most
homes completely off-grid. .
Improved
Lithium battery
Alameda, California, has worked on a novel anode material that promises
to significantly boost the performance of lithium-ion batteries. Sila
Nanotechnologies emerged from stealth mode last month, partnering with BMW to
put the company's silicon-based anode materials in at least some of the German
automaker’s electric vehicles by 2023. A BMW spokesman told the Wall Street Journal the company expects that the deal
will lead to a 10 to 15 percent increase in the amount of energy you can pack
into a battery cell of a given volume. Sila’s CEO Gene Berdichevsky says the
materials could eventually produce as much as a 40 percent improvement
For Electric Vehicles (EVs), an
increase in so-called energy density either significantly extends the mileage
range possible on a single charge or decreases the cost of the batteries needed
to reach standard ranges. For consumer gadgets, it could alleviate the
frustration of cell phones that can’t make it through the day, or it might
enable power-hungry next-generation features like bigger cameras or ultrafast
5G networks.
An anode is the battery’s negative electrode,
which in this case stores lithium ions when a battery is charged. Engineers
have long believed that silicon holds great potential as an anode material for
a simple reason: it can bond with 25 times more lithium ions than graphite, the
main material used in lithium-ion batteries today.
But this comes with a big catch.
When silicon accommodates that many lithium ions, its volume expands, stressing
the material in a way that tends to make it crumble during charging. That
swelling also triggers electrochemical side reactions that reduce battery
performance.
In
2010, Yushin coauthored a scientific paper that identified a method for
producing rigid silicon-based nanoparticles that are internally porous enough
to accommodate significant volume changes. He teamed up with Berdichevsky and
another former Tesla battery engineer, Alex Jacobs, to form Sila the following
year. The company has been working to commercialize that basic concept ever
since, developing, producing, and testing tens of thousands of different
varieties of increasingly sophisticated anode nanoparticles. It figured out
ways to alter the internal structure to prevent the battery electrolyte from
seeping into the particles, and it achieved dozens of incremental gains in
energy density that ultimately added up to an improvement of about 20 percent
over the best existing technology. Ultimately, Sila created a robust,
micrometer-size spherical particle with a porous core, which directs much of
the swelling within the internal structure. The outside of the particle doesn’t
change shape or size during charging, ensuring otherwise normal performance and
cycle life. The resulting composite anode powders work as a drop-in material
for existing manufacturers of lithium-ion cells.
With any new battery technology, it
takes at least five years to work through the automotive industry’s quality and
safety assurance processes—hence the 2023 timeline with BMW. But Sila is on a
faster track with consumer electronics, where it expects to see products
carrying its battery materials on shelves early next year. Experts caution that
gains in one battery metric often come at the expense of others—like safety,
charging time, or cycle life—and that what works in the lab doesn’t always
translate perfectly into end products.
Companies including Enovix and
Enevate are also developing silicon-dominant anode materials. Meanwhile, other
businesses are pursuing entirely different routes to higher-capacity storage,
notably including solid-state batteries. These use materials such as glass,
ceramics, or polymers to replace liquid electrolytes, which help carry lithium
ions between the cathode and anode.
BMW
has also partnered with Solid Power, a spinout from
the University of Colorado Boulder, which claims that its solid-state
technology relying on lithium-metal anodes can store two to three times more
energy than traditional lithium-ion batteries. Meanwhile, Ionic Materials,
which recently raised $65 million from Dyson and others,
has developed a solid polymer electrolyte that it claims will enable safer,
cheaper batteries that can operate at room temperature and will also work with
lithium metal.
Some battery experts believe that
solid-state technology ultimately promises bigger gains in energy density, if
researchers can surmount some large remaining technical obstacles.But
Berdichevsky stresses that Sila’s materials are ready for products now and,
unlike solid-state lithium-metal batteries, don’t require any expensive
equipment upgrades on the part of battery manufacturers. As the company develops additional ways to
limit volume change in the silicon-based particles, Berdichevsky and Yushin
believe they’ll be able to extend energy density further, while also improving
charging times and total cycle life.
Intelligent Lithium Batteries
Designed and Engineered in the USA,
Trillium, Trojan's Intelligent Lithium batteries feature more runtime, lifetime
and are available in 3 popular sizes. From its superior cell and battery design
to its intelligent, built-in diagnostics, Trillium offers a range of advanced safety;
environmental and electronic features not found in competitive products and has
a life expectancy over 5,000 cycles
Cheaper Batteries for Electric Vehicles and isolated grid
Battery
technology for large-scale power storage represents a potentially disruptive
force for utilities. , demand for
electric vehicles will influence battery development.Utilities are faced with high
volatility both on the supply and on the demand side. The ability to store
power effectively is critical to enable volatile generation types like wind or
like solar to become a fully flexible part of the energy mix and to provide
base load. But power storage is also required to counter volatility in demand, thus
decreasing peak capacity requirements. The game-changer will be the lithium-ion
battery technology: the key enabler for everyday usability of electric
vehicles. Even though lithium-ion batteries for vehicles are still at the
beginning of their technological development, they are ready for market launch
now. However, high costs of $500 kilowatt-hour (on the pack level) due to
small-scale production still limit mass-market penetration. Nevertheless,
Berthold, traction batteries will significantly gain share and will reach
massive scale by 2015. Hence, significant cost reduction through mass
production is possible and will lead to costs of less than $250 kilowatt-hour
in 2020.
With the electric energy, which can be stored
in a modern lithium-ion battery, a customer can drive between 100 and 150
kilometers per charge and per day. This is by far enough for 80 percent of
typical usage of an average American household, for example. Seventy percent of
the Europeans drive less than 40 kilometers per day. For those cars,
electricity is also a perfect power to propel. Use it during the day and charge
it overnight.
But
on the other hand, customers want also total flexibility. For those customers
you will see solutions like range extenders or plug-in hybrids. The customers
will have the choice about the size of the battery on the board. Because this
will determine the daily range and the overall usage of gasoline during the
life cycle of the car. This is our opinion, that this decade will be more a
decade for the automotive industry, and the next decade will see the
application of the battery in the grid.
Cheaper
batteries are critical for both the future of electric vehicles (EVs) and for
the future electrical grid. Battery improvements are needed to increase the
range of EVs, and cheaper batteries can help drive down the costs of EVs so
more consumers can afford them.
For
the electrical grid, increased penetration of renewables poses some challenges
because of their intermittent nature. Since the wind could stop blowing at any
time, and the sun's radiation can only be captured during the day, these
sources of power need to be backed up. Cost-effective storage of power could
enable essentially unlimited penetration of renewables into the grid with
prices for battery cells falling by 70
percent between
2012 and 2017, But costs need to
continue to decline to make widespread use of utility-scale battery storage a
reality.
Lithium-ion
batteries have become the battery of choice in many consumer electronics such
as laptops, and in electric vehicles such as those produced by Tesla. But there
are a couple of problems with these types of batteries that need to be
resolved. The use of lithium-metal electrodes enables a greater energy density
than conventional lithium-ion batteries. But lithium-metal electrodes can
develop finger-like structures called dendrites that will eventually
short-circuit the battery.
The
solution to this problem was to replace the lithium-metal electrode with a
carbon electrode with a lattice structure that houses lithium ions. Thus, the
lithium-ion battery was born, albeit with a lower energy storage capacity than
a battery utilizing a solid lithium-metal electrode.
Lithium-ion
batteries also suffer from one other shortcoming that has been the subject of
numerous news articles. If these batteries are damaged, they can explode or
catch fire. This has happened in laptops, cell phones, and EVs. If damaged, all
of the energy stored inside the battery can release over a short period of
time, and the result can be a hot, intense fire.
The
NOVA documentary profiled the work of Professor Mike Zimmerman of Tufts
University. Professor Zimmerman has developed a battery that replaces the
liquid electrolyte in the battery with a flame-retardant plastic. This battery
won't catch on fire if it is cut, punctured or crushed. In fact, it can continue to produce
power despite significant damage.
Lithium
ions produced at the lithium electrode travel through the plastic as quickly as
they do a liquid electrolyte. The plastic also physically prevents the
electrodes from forming the dendrites that can short out the battery. Lithium metal
can be used for the negative electrode, which could potentially double the
battery's energy density.
Professor
Zimmerman's work has been done mostly in stealth. The NOVA special was
reportedly the first television interview he had done on his work. He has
formed a company, Ionic Materials, and recently raised $65 million to
commercialize this solid-state
Alternative
technologies
There is a growing interest in finding alternative
technologies. There’s a sense that existing lithium-ion batteries and related
charging technologies are reaching their limitations Samsung in November revealed that it had
developed a technology based on a “ graphene ball” that could potentially boost
its battery capacity by 45 per cent and increase charging speed five-fold. Keen
to put behind it the memories of the exploding batteries in its Galaxy Note 7
phone, Samsung has been putting a lot of effort into battery research, and news
that the graphene-based power unit would take just 12 minutes to be fully charged
was welcomed by many. Though the technology, similar to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge
system, really only represents an enhancement, rather than a replacement, for
lithium-ion. Graphene has long been seen as a vital ingredient for future
energy needs. Other alternatives being researched include fuel cells,
photosynthesis, solid state technologies, sodium-ion, solar, foam, aluminium
graphite, sand and even human skin. Many of these have the advantage of being
either safer or more abundant than lithium, the production of which is
dominated by a handful of companies. However, research in these technologies
largely remains in the labs with little sign of a full commercialisation on the
horizon. Hydrogen fuel cells, first invented in the 1830s, have long been seen
as the most viable alternative to lithium batteries. Yet the technology has been
held back by high material costs since the 1990s heyday of hydrogen
development. There has been some headway in harnessing hydrogen as an
alternative power source but the ultimate aim is to use fuel cells to overhaul
the transport market. Japan is leading the way with Toyota and Honda both
pushing to develop the technology. Yet it remains a tough task. Intelligent
Energy, a UK fuel cell company linked with developing the technology for use in
smartphones, was quietly sold in October to one of its investors after
admitting that a sales collapse risked leaving shareholders with little, or no,
value. 50 ideas to change the world We asked readers, researchers and FT
journalists to submit ideas with the potential to change the world. A panel of
judges selected the 50 ideas worth looking at in more detail. This second
tranche of 10 ideas is about meeting
growing needs for energy and resources. The next 10 ideas, looking at ways to
change education and information management, will be published on February 5, 2018.
New types of solar power Changing the economics of clean water Zero power
electronics The search for a better battery Mining landfill sites
Superconductivity at room temperature Making wind power cheaper Splitting
hydrogen from water Seaweed as a biofuel One area where there is a pressing
need for battery innovation is in the emerging market for wearable technology.
A rigid battery would not work in emerging areas such as smart clothing so
academics have been developing more flexible models. Researchers at the
University of Manchester in August revealed that they had developed technology
using graphene-oxide to create an ink-like substance that can be printed on to
fabrics. The ink, which is as flexible as cotton, acts as a solid-state
flexible supercapacitor that can rapidly charge electronic components. Dr
Nazmul Karim, a fellow at the National Graphene Institute, said the
breakthrough was a significant step in the development of new types of
charging. “It will open up possibilities of making an environmental friendly
and cost-effective smart e-textile that can store energy and monitor human
activity and physiological condition at the same time,” he said. One Dutch
company, meanwhile, has created a sustainable battery using only water and
salt. AquaBattery has developed a system that involves brackish water flowing
through a stack of membranes to store energy. The first ‘Blue Battery’ pilot
project began in November in the Dutch city of Delft to prove that the system,
which converts electrical energy into chemical energy, is as scalable as
AquaBattery argues. The great battery race Mei Nelissen, part of the team that
initially worked on the Blue Battery concept, said in a Ted X talk that she was
“dancing like we had discovered fire” when it proved the system could work, as
it opened up the possibility of solving one of the main conundrums facing the
renewable energy industry — storing energy for use when the wind does not blow
and the sun does not shine. That remains the challenge for the battery market.
Demand is growing exponentially in the here and now, particularly in the
smartphone market where consumers are familiar with ‘red zone panic’ when their
handset runs out of power. The Blue Battery won the ‘circular economy’ award
from Accenture in October but the system remains a long way off
commercialization. Paul Lee, head of technology, media and telecoms research at
Deloitte, says he does not expect change any time soon. “Over the next five
years, lithium-ion is likely to remain the basis of almost all batteries used
in smart phones. At present there appear to be no battery technologies on the
horizon that have evolved sufficiently to be tested and factored into supply
chains that could displace lithium ion.”
Energy harvested from the device owner
You could
be the source of power for your next device, if research into TENGs
comes to fruition. A TENG - or triboelectric nanogenerator - is a power
harvesting technology which captures the electric current generated through
contact of two materials.
A
research team at Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute and the University of
Surrey have given an insight into how this technology might be put into place
to power things like wearable devices. While we're some way from seeing it in
action, the research should give designers the tools they need to effectively
understand and optimize future TENG implementation.
Gold nanowire batteries
University of
California Irvine have cracked nanowire
batteriesthat can withstand plenty of recharging. The result could be future
batteries that don't die. Nanowires, a thousand times thinner than a human
hair, pose a great possibility for future batteries. But they've always broken
down when recharging. This discovery uses gold nanowires in a gel electrolyte
to avoid that. In fact these batteries were tested recharging over 200,000
times in three months and showed no degradation at all.
Solid state lithium-ion
Solid
state batteries traditionally offer stability but at the cost of electrolyte
transmissions. solid state battery
which uses sulfide superionic conductors would
means a superior battery.
The
result is a battery that can operate at super capacitor levels to completely
charge or discharge in just seven minutes - making it ideal for cars. Since its
solid state that also means it's far more stable and safer than current
batteries. The solid-state unit should also be able to work in as low as minus
30 degrees Celsius and up to one hundred.
The
electrolyte materials still pose challenges so don't expect to see these in
cars soon, but it's a step in the right direction towards safer, faster
charging batteries.
Grabat graphene batteries
Graphene batteries
have the potential to be one of the most superior available. Grabat has developed graphene batteries that could offer electric
cars a driving range of up to 500 miles on a charge.
Graphenano, the company behind the development,
says the batteries can be charged to full in just a few minutes and can charge
and discharge 33 times faster than lithium ion. Discharge is also crucial for
things like cars that want vast amounts of power in order to pull away quickly.
Laser-made microsupercapacitors
Scientists at Rice
University have made a breakthrough in microsupercapacitors.
Currently they are expensive to make but using lasers that could soon change.
By using lasers to
burn electrode patterns into sheets of plastic manufacturing costs and effort
drop massively. The result is a battery that can charge 50 times faster than
current batteries and discharge even slower than current super capacitors.
They're even tough, able to work after being bent over 10,000 times in testing.
Foam batteries
Prieto
believes the future of batteries is 3D. The company has managed to crack this
with its battery that uses a copper foam substrate. This means these batteries
will not only be safer, thanks to no flammable electrolyte, but they will also
offer longer life, faster charging, five times higher density, be cheaper to
make and be smaller than current offerings.
Prieto
aims to place its batteries into small items first, like wearables. But it says
the batteries can be upscaled so we could see them in phones and maybe even
cars in the future.
Foldable battery is paper-like but tough
The Jenax J.Flex battery has been developed
to make bendable gadgets possible. The paper-like battery can fold and is
waterproof meaning it can be integrated into clothing and wearables.
The battery has
already been created and has even been safety tested, including being folded
over 200,000 times without losing performance.
uBeam over the air charging
uBeam uses ultrasound to transmit electricity. Power is turned
into sound waves, inaudible to humans and animals, which are transmitted and
then converted back to power upon reaching the device. These transmitters can
be attached to walls, or made into decorative art, to beam power to smart phones
and laptops. The gadgets just need a thin receiver in order to receive the
charge.
StoreDot charges mobiles in 30 seconds
StoreDot, a start-up born from the
nanotechnology department at Tel Aviv University, has developed the StoreDot
charger. It works with current smart phones and uses biological semiconductors
made from naturally occurring organic compounds known as peptides – short
chains of amino acids - which are the building blocks of proteins.
The result is a
charger that can recharge smart phones in 60 seconds. The battery comprises
"non-flammable organic compounds encased in a multi-layer
safety-protection structure that prevents over-voltage and heating", so
there should be no issues with it exploding.
The company has also
revealed plans to build a battery for electric vehicles that charges in five
minutes and offers a range of 300 miles.
There's no word on
when StoreDot batteries will be available on a global scale - we were expecting
them to arrive in 2017 - but when they do we expect them to become incredibly
popular.
Transparent solar charger
Alcatel has demoed a
mobile phone with a transparent solar panel over the screen that would let users
charge their phone by simply placing it in the sun. Although it's not likely to
be commercially available for some time, the company hopes that it will go some
way to solving the daily issues of never having enough battery power. The phone
will work with direct sunlight as well as standard lights, in the same way
regular solar panels.
Aluminum-air battery gives 1,100 mile drive on a charge
A car has managed to drive 1,100 miles on
a single battery charge. The secret to this super range is a type of battery
technology called aluminum-air that uses oxygen from the air to fill its
cathode. This makes it far lighter than liquid filled lithium-ion batteries to
give car a far greater range.
Urine powered batteries
The
Bill Gates Foundation is funding further research by Bristol Robotic Laboratory
who discovered batteries that can
be powered by urine.
It’s efficient enough to charge a smart phone which
the scientists have already shown off. Using a Microbial Fuel Cell, micro-organisms
take the urine, break it down and output electricity.
Sound powered
Researchers
in the UK have built a phone that is able to charge using ambient
sound
in the atmosphere around it.
The smartphone was
built using a principle called the piezoelectric effect. Nanogenerators were
created that harvest ambient noise and convert it into electric
current.The nanorods even respond to the human voice, meaning chatty mobile
users could actually power their own phone while they talk.
Twenty times faster charge, Ryden dual carbon battery
Power
Japan Plus has already announced this new battery technology called Ryden dual carbon. Not
only will it last longer and charge faster than lithium but it can be made
using the same factories where lithium batteries are built.
The
batteries use carbon materials which mean they are more sustainable and
environmentally friendly than current alternatives. It also means the batteries
will charge twenty times faster than lithium ion. They will also be more
durable, with the ability to last up to 3,000 charge cycles, plus they are
safer with lower chance of fire or explosion.
Sand battery gives three times more battery life
This
alternative type of
lithium-ion battery
uses sand to achieve three times better performance than current
batteries. The battery is still lithium-ion like the one found in your smart phone,
but it uses sand instead of graphite in the anodes. This means it not only
offers three times better performance, but it's also low cost, non toxic and
environmentally friendly.
Scientists,
at the University of California Riverside have been focused on nano silicon for
a while, but it's been degrading too quickly and is tough to produce in large
quantities. By using sand it can be purified, powdered then ground with salt
and magnesium before being heated to remove oxygen resulting in pure silicon.
This is porous and three-dimensional which helps in performance and,
potentially, the life-span of the batteries.
Sodium-ion batteries
Scientists
in Japan are working on new types of batteries that don't need lithium like
your smart phone battery. These new batteries will use sodium, one of the most
common materials on the planet rather than rare lithium – and they'll be up to
seven times more efficient than conventional batteries.
Research
into sodium-ion batteries has been going on since the eighties in an attempt to
find a cheaper alternative to lithium. By using salt, the sixth most common
element on the planet, batteries can be made much cheaper. Commercializing the
batteries is expected to begin for smart phones, cars and more in the next five
to 10 years.
Upp hydrogen fuel cell charger
The Upp hydrogen fuel
cell portable charger
is available now. It uses hydrogen to power your phone keeping you off the grid
and remaining environmentally friendly. One hydrogen cell will provide five
full charges of a mobile phone (25Wh capacity per cell). And the only by-product
produced is water vapor. A USB type A socket means it will charge most USB
devices with a 5V, 5W, 1000mA output.
Batteries with built-in fire extinguisher
It's
not uncommon for lithium-ion batteries to overheat, catch on fire and possibly
even explode. The battery in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a prime example. Researchers
at Stanford university have come up with lithium-ion batteries with
built-in fire extinguishers.
The
battery has a component called triphenyl phosphate, which is commonly used as a
flame retardant in electronics, added to the plastic fibres to help keep the
positive and negative electrodes apart. If the battery's temperature rises
above 150 degrees C, the plastic fibres melt and the triphenyl phosphate
chemical is released. Research shows this new method can stop batteries from
catching fire in 0.4 seconds.
Batteries that is safe from explosion
Lithium-ion
batteries have a rather volatile liquid electrolyte porous material layer
sandwiched between the anode and cathode layers. Mike Zimmerman, a researcher
at Tufts University in Massachusetts, has developed a battery
that has double the capacity of lithium-ion ones, but without the inherent dangers.
Zimmerman's
battery is incredibly thin, being slightly thicker than two credit cards, and
swaps out the electrolyte liquid with a plastic film that has
similar properties. It can withstand being pierced, shredded, and can be
exposed to heat as it's not flammable. There's still a lot of research to be
done before the technology could make it to market, but it's good to know safer
options are out there.
Liquid Flow batteries
Harvard scientists have developed a battery that stores its energy in
organic molecules dissolved in neutral pH water. The researchers say this new
method will let the Flow battery last an exceptionally long time compared to
the current lithium-ion batteries.
It's unlikely we'll
see the technology in smart phones and the like, as the liquid solution
associated with Flow batteries is stored in large tanks, the larger the better.
It's thought they could be an ideal way to store energy created by renewable
energy solutions such as wind and solar.
Research from
Stanford University
has used liquid metal in a flow battery with potentially great results,
claiming double the voltage of conventional flow batteries. The team has
suggested this might be a great way to store intermittent energy sources, like
wind or solar, for rapid release to the grid on demand.
IBM and ETH Zurich and have developed a
much smaller liquid flow battery that could potentially be used in mobile
devices. This new battery claims to be able to not only supply power to
components, but cool them at the same time. The two companies have
discovered two liquids that are up to the task, and will be used in a
system that can produce 1.4 Watts of power per square cm, with 1 Watt of power
reserved for powering the battery.
Zap&Go Carbon-ion battery
Oxford-based company ZapGo has developed and produced the first carbon-ion battery
that's ready for consumer use now. A carbon-ion battery combines the superfast
charging capabilities of a super capacitor, with the performance of a
Lithium-ion battery, all while being completely recyclable.
The company has a
power bank charger that be fully charged in five minutes, and will then charge
a smart phone up to full in two hours.
Zinc-air batteries
Scientists
at Sydney University believe they've come up with a way of manufacturing
zinc-air batteries for much cheaper than current methods. Zinc-air batteries
can be considered superior to lithium-ion, because they don't catch fire. The
only problem is they rely on expensive components to work. Sydney Uni has
managed to create a zinc-air
battery without the need for the expensive components, but rather some
cheaper alternatives. Safer, cheaper batteries could be on their way!
Smart clothing
Researchers
at the University of Surrey are developing a way of you being able to use your
clothing as a source of power. The battery is called a Triboelectric
Nanogenerators (TENGs), which converts movement into stored energy. The stored
electricity can then be used to power mobile phones or devices such as Fitbit
fitness trackers.
The
technology could be applied to more than just clothing too, it could be
integrated into the pavement, so when people constantly walk over it, it can
store electricity which can then be used to power streetlamps, or in a car's
tyre so it can power a car.
Stretchable batteries
Engineers
at the University of California in San Diego have developed a stretchable biofuel cell
that can generate electricity from sweat. The energy generated
is said to be enough to power LEDs and Bluetooth radios, meaning it could one
day power wearable devices like smart watches and fitness trackers.
Samsung's graphene battery
Samsung has managed
to develop graphene balls that are capable of boosting the capacity of its
current lithium-ion batteries by 45 per cent, and recharging five times faster
than current batteries. To put that into context, Samsung says its new graphene-based
battery can be recharged fully in 12 minutes, compared to roughly an hour for
the current unit.
Samsung also says it
has uses beyond smart phones, saying it could be used for electric vehicles as
it can withstand temperatures up to 60 degrees Celsius.
Safer, faster charging of current Lithium-ion batteries
Scientists
at WMG at the
University of Warwick
have developed a new technology that allows current
Lithium-ion batteries to be charged up to five times faster that current
recommended limits. The technology constantly measures a battery's temperature
far more precisely than current methods.
Scientists
have found that current batteries can in fact be pushed beyond their
recommended limits without affecting performance or overheating.
Battery Energy Storage System (BESS),
The International Energy Agency (IEA)
predicts that by 2035, developing nations will constitute 80% of total global
energy production and consumption alike. A greater portion of this new
generation will be derived from renewable sources in response to adhering to
international policies for cleaner energy. While the costs of renewable
generation are declining, concern for energy storage that is essential for the
effective utilization of these renewable sources is on the rise. However, with
the advent of a revolutionary concept known as Battery Energy Storage System
(BESS), these concerns have been somewhat appeased. The Battery Energy Storage
System (BESS) is a system that stores energy using a battery technology so
that it can be utilized in the future.
Spurred by the adoption of cleaner energy,
declining prices and regulatory subsidies; solar photovoltaic, battery energy
storage systems and mini-grids are being increasingly utilized across the
electric system. These developments necessitate that utilities adapt their
conventional centralized systems into more flexible, integrated and distributed
power networks. This movement is evolving from preliminary phases to long-term
investments that support the evolution of new business models.
While still expensive, the cost of energy
storage is rapidly declining. A report released by the International Renewable
Energy Agency (IRENA) stated that the cost of battery storage for stationary
applications could fall by up to 66% by 2030. This rapid decline has made the
economics of energy storage more appealing to investors, grid operators,
utilities and end-users alike. The developing technology has evidently
demonstrated that economies of scale are now possible.
The deployment of renewable energy is not
only driven by cost efficiencies and environmental awareness, but when coupled
with Battery Storage, a new dimension emerges where utilities are able to
compete on a level playing field with conventional electricity power
plants. Furthermore, energy storage remains a flexible, scalable and
efficient solution. Energy storage thwarts the need for power utilities to
unearth and replace wires or spend money and time on constructing new plants.
As an alternative, they can build a network of battery storage within 6 months.
Energy storage technologies are viewed as a
potential game-changer for widespread adoption of renewable energy generation
throughout Africa. They facilitate the management of renewable power
intermittency, demand response services and the dispatchability of stable,
clean and sustainable power into the local or national grid system.
African power generation has traditionally
been centralized from costly (often antiquated), poorly managed and maintained,
inefficient fossil fuel based plants on unreliable grid infrastructure.
Renewable energy and storage technologies offer low cost utility scale and
distributed generation opportunities to African countries to break their
dependence on such expensive plants. Policy-makers and state utilities in many
countries face a challenging journey of market reform and infrastructure
improvement in order to make this shift. This is needed before they will be
able (and willing) to support widespread cheap and efficient generation
capacity from distributed renewable energy with storage plants running
alongside larger centralized plants, each selling power at cost-reflective
tariffs and across robust and reliable grid infrastructure.
The reality is that energy storage is going
to unlock huge opportunities for more renewable energy investment in Africa at
both a utility and distributed scale that will totally disrupt the traditional
African power sector model. Governments and state utilities will need to adapt
quickly to embrace the evolution and to avoid more and more potential customers
going off-grid in the interim. *
Energy storage projects are now under
development in various parts of the world thanks to the reduction of the
technology’s costs and its necessity to manage the electricity networks and
facilitate the renewable energy growth. But does this mean the time to develop
energy storage in Africa has arrived too? The Africa Energy Indaba will be
discussing the role and impact of energy storage in Africa through a focused
dialogue, unpacking and exploring the opportunity for Africa.
Energy Storage Outlook for 2019
2018
was another defining year for the lithium supply chain as the global population
continued to make remarkable strides towards the implementation of clean energy
and transportation. Although the clean energy and transportation industries are
only in their early days, it has become apparent that renewables and
electrification of transportation are an irreversible trend, one that has begun
to disrupt many established industries. On the battery manufacturing side of
the lithium supply chain, 2018 was a defining year for all companies in common
concerning the announcement of new production capacity. Throughout 2018, large
players such as BYD, CATL, LG Chem and many others announced strategic plans to
stay ahead of the industry. Expansion plans that were announced include LG
Chem’s global expansion by 32GWh, CATL Chinese and German expansion by 38 GWh
and BYD Chinese expansion by 60 GWh.
All
categories of the stationary energy storage market saw dramatic growth in 2018,
especially in utility- scale ‘mega’ projects and in the residential market. In
the German residential market, the industry surpassed 100,000 systems
installed, while the South Australian government continued to promote its
residential energy storage program, which aims to have 40,000 systems installed
over the next few years.
The
Caribbean markets also saw a breakthrough as Puerto Rico and other islands
moved to restore power grids after Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It was reported
that all new solar installations in Puerto Rico are now being installed with
battery systems and many existing system owners are retrofitting systems to
include batteries.
In Q4
2018, California approved new building construction energy efficiency measures
that will be a catalyst for solar power to be installed on certain types of
buildings, including residential properties. These measures will encourage the
procurement of energy storage systems for resiliency and monetary (demand
response, rate arbitrage) purposes. The North American residential energy
storage market is expected to grow from less than 15,000 systems installed in
2018 to between 40,000-50,000 systems installed in 2019.
The
utility-scale segment of the stationary energy storage market has witnessed
incredible demand and has had the most material impact on the lithium supply
chain. Many utilities over the past 24 months have captured headlines by
announcing major projects. In recent weeks, we have witnessed a California
utility announce plans to deploy multiple energy storage parks amounting to 2.2
GWh of capacity. This is the equivalent of approximately 45,000 electric
vehicles. These types of energy storage parks are quickly being financed while
product is generally packaged as containerized solutions directly at or near
the battery manufacturing plant. This allows for the solutions to be quickly
installed, which creates a vacuum of demand over a very short period of time. According
to one recent report, the US utility-scale energy storage pipeline amounted to
over 30 GWh, which is equal to well over 500,000 electric vehicles.
electric bus market has reached a tipping
point led by full fleet transition in China, with a very encouraging list of
pilot projects by nearly all major North American and European transit
authorities.the largest opportunity is the North American yellow school bus
fleet Major North American transit
authorities, including Toronto, New York and Los Angeles have already outlined
plans to achieve a zero-emission fleet between the years 2030-2040
The
transition to clean energy technologies is well underway. 2018 was another
important year for the lithium supply chain as Tier 1 lithium battery
production companies announced significant expansion plans and began to raise
the necessary capital to deploy related strategies. The move to increase
lithium battery production will ensure that supply is available to meet demand
that arises from primary applications such as electric vehicles, which in turn
will potentially increase supply for secondary applications such as stationary
energy storage systems and EV charging infrastructure. Considering the slow
ramp-up in global battery module and cell manufacturing capacity, and
considering the rapid uptake of electric vehicles and mega utility-scale energy
storage systems, it is difficult to visualize an oversupply of high-quality
battery modules in the next years High
points of 2019 could be:
- Record number of
electric vehicles sales in the global passenger market
- Increase in the number
of electric vehicle options available to consumers
- Ongoing pilot projects
and overall shift to electric municipal bus fleets
- Ramp in utility-scale
mega-projects in the stationary energy storage market
- Hyper growth in the
residential energy storage (RESS) markets in Europe, USA, Caribbean and
Australia
- RESS integration with
Energy Block Chain / Virtual Power Plants, Internet of Things, Artificial
Intelligence
- Strong advancements in
the micro grid markets focused on providing energy access to
underdeveloped and developing regions of the world
- Hyper-growth in the EV
charging infrastructure
- Battery plant
development, including: new facilities, facilities expansion, financing
(capital raises), construction development and other related information
- Entrance of new players
into the lithium supply chain
- Mega-supply
announcements throughout the supply chain ( cells, battery modules, chemicals)
Update:
Mar., 14, 2019:
Lithium
Batteries
Lithium-ion batteries
power everything from cell phones to electric vehicles. Naturally, consumers
want devices that last for longer and longer, but increasing energy density has
proven challenging due to engineering roadblocks.
Li-ion batteries are
enabled by a protecting layer on the negative electrode, which self-forms as a
result of electrolyte decomposition, a process called solid electrolyte
interphase (SEI). This so-called passivation layer is important because it
offers just enough electronic resistance to limit electrolyte decomposition.
However, through repeated use, this layer’s growth leads to capacity fade and
increased cell resistance. Over time, needle-like dendrites grow on the lithium
electrode, inhibiting performance and safety.
To bypass this
roadblock, the engineers devised a new SEI — a reactive polymer composite made
up of polymeric lithium salt, lithium fluoride nanoparticles, and graphene
oxide sheets. Many thin layers of this polymer react to make a claw-like bond
to the lithium metal surface so that it doesn’t react with the electrolyte
molecules. This was achieved by controlling the surface of the lithium at the
level of individual atoms and molecules. The reactive polymer also decreases
the weight and manufacturing cost, further enhancing the future of lithium
metal
Battery prices fell
nearly 50% in the last 3 years — and there’s no sign of stopping
There’s a huge global
market demand for high-density battery packs for electric vehicles and energy
storage, which in turn has led to dramatic reductions in price. In 2010, the
average market price for battery packs was $1,100/kWh. In 2019, this figure
hovers at around $156/kWh, marking a whopping 87% reduction in price. Compared
to three years ago, when battery prices were around $300/kWh, batteries are now
at almost half as cheap.
According
to a recent report by
Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), market demand and technological advances
might push the price below a $100/kWh milestone by 2023.
The two most important
challenges that prevent the wide-scale adoption of renewable energy and
electric vehicles are infrastructure and cost — both need to be addressed. You
might buy an affordable electric car with adequate autonomy, but if consumers
aren’t confident there’s a reliable charging infrastructure, they will likely
think twice before making a purchase. Likewise, utilities and consumers alike might
be interested in investing in solar farms and wind turbines, but if storing
that energy overnight to meet the baseload is too expensive, fossil fuel power
plants will still have a job.
Luckily, the future seems
very optimistic. According to market analysts at BNEF, battery packs have
experienced an insane downward curve in terms of price.
These cost reductions can
be attributed to growth in electric vehicle sales and the increasing
proliferation of high energy density cathodes.
Improved battery pack
design and falling manufacturing costs associated with economies of scale will
drive prices down even further. New technologies such as silicon or lithium
anodes, solid state cells, and new cathode materials will also play a major
role in reducing costs in the future.
“Factory costs are falling thanks to improvements in
manufacturing equipment and increased energy density at the cathode and cell
level. The expansion of existing facilities also offers companies a lower-cost
route to expand capacity,” Logan Goldie-Scot, head of energy storage at BNEF,
said in a statement.
The new BNEF report, which was
presented last week in Shanghai, forecasts a battery market demand of 2TWh in
2024, around which time prices are expected to fall below $100/kWh. This is an
important milestone because most experts agree that at this price range,
electric vehicles reach price parity with internal combustion engine vehicles.
Of course, this will vary
depending on the region and vehicle segment. For instance, Amazon placed an
order for 100,000 all-electric vans from Rivian, a Michigan-based auto startup
company. This kind of application, however, puts more emphasis on battery life
cycle than the price per unit of stored energy.
Bloomberg analysts believe
that important cost reductions will continue well into the future. The global
lithium-ion battery market size is expected to grow from $20 billion today to
$60 billion by 2025. By 2030, it could double to $120 billion, not counting
investments in the supply chain. During this time, battery pack prices could
fall below $60/kWh.
