New Record-Crushing Battery Lasts 1.2 Million Miles in Electric Cars:
Electric cars had their biggest year ever in 2019. As of the end of the year, 2.5 percent of the world's total cars were electric. It's a small percentage, but represents significant growth for the electric vehicle industry.
Before electric cars become more widespread, they have some technological hurdles left to clear, including the distance drivers can go before having to re-charge the car's battery (also known as range anxiety!), and the life of the battery itself. Range currently runs from around 100 miles on the low end up to 200+ miles [see note 1] in newer models, and most warranties run out after 150,000 miles or 8 years.
The latter figures are about to get a big boost after an announcement this week from Chinese company Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL). The company says it has new battery technology that lasts up to 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) and 16 years—and it's ready to manufacture the batteries on demand.
[...] The battery uses lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) for its cathode (positively-charged electrode) and artificial graphite for its anode (negatively-charged electrode). The cathodes of existing batteries use small NMC crystals, but this one uses larger crystals, resulting in a structure that one researcher explained is less likely to develop cracks while the battery charges; that was one of the primary improvements contributing to a longer overall lifespan.
The other was a reformulation of the material that carries ions between the battery's cathode and its anode. Like its predecessors, the new battery uses a lithium salt with additives, and the Dalhousie team devoted a lot of research and time to optimizing the blend of ingredients.
[...] Whatever the company's formula, it seems it will be instrumental to making Elon Musk's vision of a million-mile battery come true, and sooner rather than later. CATL will supply batteries to Tesla Model 3s made at the Gigafactory near Shanghai. Conveniently close to Tesla's first European Gigafactory, which is under construction outside Berlin, CATL is building a factory in Erfurt, Germany that's slated to start making batteries in 2021.
Note 1: According to Wikipedia:
The Model 3 Standard Range Plus version delivers an EPA-rated all-electric range of 250 miles (402 km) and the Long Range versions deliver 322 miles (518 km).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @07:37PM (6 children)
Please... No more China propaganda that's either bullshit or stolen research.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @08:11PM
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Pav on Saturday June 13 2020, @08:21PM (3 children)
That's always the game of the up-and-coming power. The USA was a huge intellectual property thief back in the day... and so was the open source movement (before it actually started running everything). As for "propaganda", in this day of big corporate media that's not even out of the ordinary even if this claim DOES turn out to be exaggerated.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @09:11PM (1 child)
That was WWII nazi tech obtained after they lost the war. We're not at war with China.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @11:48PM
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2020, @03:59PM
here we go again: trying to patent math and logic and stuff ...
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday June 14 2020, @03:58PM
You think Musk would be betting the success of his Chinese factory on propaganda?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @08:14PM (5 children)
I call bullshit.
Unless they created this "new battery technology" back in 2004 or prior, they can't possibly say for certain it will last "16 years."
Of course, I realize it only needs to last long enough for them to take your money.
Real breakthroughs in new battery technology is truly something to be excited about.
Sadly, I don't trust anything made from Chineseum.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @09:14PM
Those chinky compact florescent bulbs say 15 year life also. They last 8 months.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @09:37PM
Don't even need to bring China into it for this one. It's about a miracle battery tech, you can stop at that point until it hits mass production.
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Sunday June 14 2020, @12:19AM (2 children)
Yes, they can. It's actually quite simple:
1. create a small capacity battery - electrode area of 1 cm^2 aren't unusual - one that you can charge-discharge in seconds at nominal currents
2. apply cyclic voltammetry [wikipedia.org] until you see the capacity of the battery dropping at 80% of the original and you've got the number of charge/discharge cycles which defines the life-time of the battery. E.g. at 30secs per voltammetry cycle, 10000 charge/discharge cycles is gonna take 3.5 days, not years. (perspective: current lithium batteries have a life-time between 500-1500 cycles [popularmechanics.com])
Then it is primary school arithmetic:
* multiply that number with the charge capacity of a typical car battery and you've got the total charge that can "transit" through you battery during it's lifetime. Multiply with the voltage of your battery and you've got the total energy. Estimate what distance that energy will allow your car to travel - apply same assumptions with the "miles per gallon" or "liters per 100km".
* multiply that number of cycles with the typical duration of a charge/discharge cycle of a car battery and you'll get the lifetime of the battery in time units.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday June 14 2020, @09:42AM (1 child)
Well that is a shot at it, but does not prove it.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday June 14 2020, @04:10PM
It's generally a pretty good estimate though. And it's really the only way to get a realistic number.
Do you think ANY modern batteries claiming "X year lifespan" have been around in their current form for X years? Of course not, you sell the cutting edge technology you have. By the time you're able to prove your claims, your competitors are already selling products two generations better than yours.
That's where consumer protection laws come in - you sell a 10-year battery that turns out to only last 5, the consumer should be able to reclaim the lost value from you. Of course, modern corporate law provides lots of ways to avoid that responsibility, along with almost all other kinds, so long as you're willing to sacrifice your reputation, but that's why you pay more for well-respected brands.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @08:24PM (4 children)
Electron flow is still from the cathode to the anode inside the battery, right?
But on the outside, the cathode is positive and the
plateanode is negative?(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @09:17PM (3 children)
There were positive ground electrical systems on some of the early cars. No big deal except for an upside down scope pattern when you're looking at the ignition system on an Oscope.
(Score: 2) by Dr Spin on Sunday June 14 2020, @11:09AM (2 children)
There were positive ground electrical systems on some of the early cars. No big deal except for an upside down scope pattern when you're looking at the ignition system on an Oscope.
And a huge problem with corrosion due to electrolytic action.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday June 14 2020, @07:57PM (1 child)
AFAIR it all goes back to some 18th century experimenter who found that rubbing glasss with silk made an opposite charge from rubbing amber with cats' fur. He thought that silk was more noble than cats' fur so he declared that silk made positive. So now, positive flow of electicity is actually stuff going backwards.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday June 15 2020, @06:15PM
but then someone came along and declared it was illogical and the standard changed.
Because it is easier and cleaner to pull electrons instead of pushing them.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Saturday June 13 2020, @08:31PM (3 children)
I’m getting the faint smell of BS from this article, too.
But OK, suppose you can make these in volume at a competitive cost. This should be a major market disruptor. So let’s see how long it takes before these are offered to customers by electric car manufacturers, or at least see this story attract some more media attention.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:47PM
At least with batteries, you can buy some and run them continuously until they give up the ghost, then see how many equivalent miles they lasted. Better than buying some knockoff with extensive circuitry or multiple moving parts and running them until some invisible element wears down.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Sunday June 14 2020, @12:29AM (1 child)
Maybe, maybe not.
See that "The cathodes of existing batteries use small NMC crystals, but this one uses larger crystals"?
Larger crystals mean lower surface (for the same mass/volume). Lower electrode area means lower power density. For a car that needs to accelerate fast enough, a lower power density means a larger battery for the same delivered power.
This may be a shitty choice for a personal car, even if it may be a better choice for eTrucks or energy storage (where battery mass has less influence).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2020, @05:08AM
Most current car batteries can supply way more power than is actually needed*. The real question is whether the larger crystals reduce the energy supply.
*If you really need to go zero to sixty in 1.7 seconds, you could add a supercapacitor.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by Bot on Saturday June 13 2020, @09:15PM (3 children)
"The extraction of cobalt from DRC has been linked to human rights abuses, corruption, environmental destruction and child labour."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/apple-and-google-named-in-us-lawsuit-over-congolese-child-cobalt-mining-deaths [theguardian.com]
I expect now every kid who endorsed removing flags and statues, censoring movies, and rewriting history, to stop using cellphones, tablets and laptops.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:22PM
They will take, and destroy, for a principle, but give up something? Not gonna happen.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:23PM
They'll just use them to complain to Apple until they cave.
(Score: 2) by corey on Sunday June 14 2020, @09:59PM
Looks like some have modded this Off topic, but it's very important. Cobalt is certainly tied with modern slavery. Most mainstream battery manufacturers are avoiding using this element in their battery research. I've spoken to a few, and at work we're avoiding anything with Cobalt in it in our hybrid vehicle development.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:15PM
> As of the end of the year, 2.5 percent [ev-volumes.com] of the world's total cars were electric.
As of the end of the year, 2.5 percent [ev-volumes.com] of the world's total car SALES were electric.
With the existing fleet of IC cars, it will be years before electric is 2.5% of the fleet.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday June 13 2020, @10:44PM (4 children)
And here I was just the other day thinking how I'd like to have to stop to for go-juice at least twice as often. The not being able to find a place to get any is just an added bonus. Where do I sign up?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 13 2020, @11:24PM (1 child)
By the time the industry decides on a charging standard and gets usable range for most customers, the hydrogen infrastructure for FCEVs will probably be in place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 14 2020, @04:07PM
if they figure out a way to make hydrogen without natgas and/or nukes we won't need go-juice stations 'cause we'll all be making hydrogen at home ... with solar ... and probably the car won't have a port 'cause the exhaust (water) will go into a tank in the car itself from which hydrogen will be liberated again back into the water tank etc etc ...?
your "fullness gauge" will just measure how-much exhaust you have collected ^_^
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday June 14 2020, @12:32AM (1 child)
If you know Mandarin, in China.
If not... well, depending how the US-China trade war progresses, it may well happen you'll never get a chance to sign up in your lifetime.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday June 14 2020, @03:31AM
Damn the bad luck. I'll just have to deal with the
inconvenience I guess.My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday June 14 2020, @09:51AM (2 children)
I will be interested in an EV when re-charging is on a battery changing basis. Range won't be such an issue then.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Sunday June 14 2020, @04:26PM (1 child)
If you need the range, certainly. Though there are other options. Personally I like the idea of enough battery to handle an average "busy day" or two of driving, overnight charging, and a compact, efficient on-board generator that can power road trips and remove range anxiety. Fast battery charging/swapping is nice, but there's a whole lot of situations where infrastructure-free range is important.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Sunday June 14 2020, @07:43PM
There is nothing to prevent battery-swapping EVs having the facility to charge from a charging point as well. Best of both worlds.