The Battery Show Wrap-up

September 16, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Automotive, Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Science, Sustainability, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

With more than 700 companies exhibiting, the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo provides a hands-on opportunity to talk with EV and battery suppliers. (Image source: Design News)

Spending the better part of a week with more than 9,000 attendees at The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019, in Novi, Michigan gives a pretty strong impression of where electrification of transportation is today, and more importantly, where it will be going tomorrow.

Growing Fast

First of all the show itself has grown—the Expo is now 20% larger than last year and more than 700 companies exhibit their products and technologies. There is an incredible variety of things to see—computer simulation software, battery test systems, connectors and cabling, battery packaging and venting systems, motors and controllers, chargers, and of course, battery cells and packs are on display. But, here is the thing—the days of garage hobbyists and “mom and pop” operations are gone. The battery and EV industries have become multi-billion dollar enterprises and the commercial professionals have taken over, and it shows.

Conferences and presentations at the show were divided into eight separate tracks and there were more than 150 speakers. Basic materials science, battery chemistry, charging systems, and EV market factors all get serious and critical examination by academic and industry experts. The talks are grouped into topics such as cell design, battery materials development, and EV and hybrid industry developments to aid show-goers in their choices.

Buses, Trucks, and Delivery Vehicles Lead The Way

Although EVs are still a very small part of the total automotive market in the US (between 2-3 %), there are certain segments that are beginning to show growth. During an Industry Leader’s Round Table on EV Growth, attendees learned that electric school buses are becoming popular. A school bus would seem in ideal EV application—the route is well-established, the speeds are low with lots of stop and go, and after an initial activity in the morning the bus sits unused (when it can recharge) until the end of the day. School districts are finding that the highly efficient electric buses can save, not only in fuel costs but also in reduced service and maintenance costs.

Another market that is rapidly growing is light delivery vehicles. FedEx, UPS, and others are buying fleets of electrically-powered trucks for urban package delivery. Once again, cost is the biggest driver as electrified trucks are proving themselves reliable and frugal in the field. The growing popularity of this segment was reflected in an increase in attendance in sessions dedicated to electrification of trucks and commercial and off-road equipment.

Actor and EV activist Ed Begley, Jr. leads a Roundtable panel discussion on EV Sustainability. (Image source: Design News)

Can EVs Be Sustainable?

The growth of the personal EV market in the US is not quite as robust. Ford’s Senior Technical Leader Bob Taenaka provided a Keynote Address on how carmakers will deliver on customers EV demands. The same topic was also addressed during an Industry Leader’s Roundtable dedicated to EV Sustainability. Auto industry analysts were questioned by actor, author, environmental activist, and noted electric vehicle early adopter Ed Begley, Jr. It was a wide-ranging discussion that included battery and vehicle costs, transitioning from current internal combustion gasoline-powered vehicles to EVS and how soon that is likely to occur in the US. Of particular interest was the conversation surrounding how automakers and unions will handle the disruption caused by vehicles that are much less labor-intensive to build, requiring fewer production-line workers. In addition, auto dealers will find their business changing dramatically, as the service requirements for EVs will be significantly less than current gasoline-powered vehicles.

New Materials

Research and development of new battery materials was also address in several session and during a Keynote Address by Mark Verbrugge, director, Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory at General Motors. Verbrugge told his audience that a push toward Earth abundant materials and away from exotic elements could dramatically improve both battery performance and cost.

Another innovation that could improve battery performance was discussed during an Industry Leader’s Roundtable on Solid State Batteries. With representation from the University of Michigan, two battery manufacturers, and Ford and Toyota, the panel estimated production of the first solid state electrolyte batteries was just 3-5 years away. In fact, battery maker A123 broke the news during the session that it will convert its Romulus, Michigan battery plant to produce prototype solid state batteries before the end of 2019.

A Show of Optimism

Although the future of electrification of transportation in the US is complicated and difficult to predict, Design News editors detected a shared sense of optimism among battery show attendees. If nothing else, the number of new EVs that are scheduled to reach the market in the next year or two will provide more car-buying options—particularly as SUV and light truck EVs come available. There is also a strong consensus that battery cost will continue to fall and that a cost parity between EVs and gasoline-powered vehicle is just a couple years away. These factors, combined with many billions of dollars of investments by auto makers and suppliers means that electrification has moved from the fringes into an essential core part of the automobile industry.

The dates for The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2020, in Novi, Michigan will be September 15-17, 2020.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Heard At The Battery Show

September 13, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Automotive, Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Science, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

More than 700 companies take part in The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan. (Image source: Design News)

With more than 9,000 attendees and 700 manufacturers, The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019, in Novi, Michigan has become one of the premiere venues for engineers, technologists, and industry leaders. As befitting its proximity to Detroit, the show has become the place to learn of new trends and directions, particularly in the electrification of transportation.

Breaking News

During the Leaders Roundtable on solid-state battery technology, Brian Sisk, vice-president of battery cell development at A123 Systems announced that the company would be building a prototype manufacturing facility at its Romulus, Michigan battery plant. The facility was originally expected to be closed and sold, however the company has now decided to use it to jump-start its solid-state battery efforts. A123 is working with Massachusetts-based Ionic Materials, whose polymer-based solid electrolyte will be used with graphite anodes and metal oxide cathodes. Sisk told Design News that the solid-state batteries can be built on commonly-used battery manufacturing equipment and that prototypes will be available for OEM testing before then end of the year.

What People Said

“The Jaguar I-PACE seems to be a step behind (the Tesla Model 3)”

Corey Steuben, account director, Munro & Associates

“Biggest miss? Why do we have three standards for charging?”

Christopher Michelbacher, EV charging & infrastructure manager, Audi of America

“All of you are irrelevant! The market is going to decide whether EVs are going to be successful!”

Ken Stewart, CEO Bright Road

“Different people have different thresholds for inconvenience.”

Bob Taenaka, senior technical leader in Electrified Vehicle Battery Cells and Systems, Ford Motor Company

“I have people tell me that they have never heard of wireless charging. Wireless gives you a more elegant solution.”

Michael Masquelier, CEO at WAVE, Inc.

“Technologies don’t go away—the incumbent factor is huge!”

Michael Sanders, senior advisor, Avicenne Energy

“There is a need for sustainable battery solutions based on Earth-abundant materials”

Mark Verbrugge, director, Chemical and Materials Systems Laboratory, General Motors

“If you take these high power packs and put them in stationary applications, you can use them to power wireless chargers.”

Greg Fritz, EV business unit manager, ACTIA

“Our chairman has said that we will have solid-state battery powered vehicles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.”

Timothy Arthur, principal scientist, Materials Research Department, Toyota Research Institute of North America

“Electric Vehicles can be an asset to the (power) grid”

Maureen Marshall, regional director, CALSTART

“EVs have gone from being “hip” and essentially a science project to being an essential core business.”

Ken Stewart, CEO Bright Road

“Retail customers may only use fast charging on longer trips—they might want a larger battery (then) so that they have to make less stops.”

Bob Taenaka, senior technical leader in Electrified Vehicle Battery Cells and Systems, Ford Motor Company

“There will be a lot of consolidation—but the large guys are going to win. The large guys aren’t going to let small guys take away their lunch!”

Michael Sanders, senior advisor, Avicenne Energy

“Batteries are like bacon—they are good in anything!”

Eli Paster, CEO, PolyJoule, Inc.

Here’s A New Concept

Dave Rich, whose job includes 12V – 48V Vehicle Electrification and Tech Development at General Motors, presented a paper titled “Dynamically Adjustable, Dual Voltage Batteries Without a DC/DC for Future Electrification.” GM has developed a way to provide both 12 volts and 48 volts from a single system. Called MODACS (Multiple Output Dynamically Adjustable Capacity System), the invention eliminates the need for a separate 12 volts battery in vehicles with 48-volt hybrid systems.

The system can provide any number of 12 volt and 48 volt sources, which mean that as a vehicle platform evolves and adds new functionality, the same MODACS can provide the required power outputs. It can also charge on 48 volts and discharge on 12 volts at the same time.

Rich also highlighted the potential to bring capacitors into the system—called Capacitor Assisted Battery (CAB). He told us that “In 12 volts, power is king, while in 48 volts energy is more important.” By adding the CAB, the best of both worlds is a possibility. Rich also noted that the system is robust. “An old CAB is actually stronger than a new LFP (lithium ion) battery,” he said.

Rich told Design News that General Motors has already filed more than 20 patents on MODACS, and expects many more to be filed in the coming year. He also told us that the concept isn’t limited to 48 volts and could be used with higher voltage systems.

Long term, the concept could be huge, as it removes the inefficiencies that come from DC to DC conversions and allows power and energy to be applied where and when it is needed.

The dates for The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2020, in Novi, Michigan will be September 15-17, 2020.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Ed Begley, Jr. Brings a Passion To EVs

August 27, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Automotive, Battery/Energy Storage, MI, Science, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

Ed Begley, Jr. has been driving EVs for more than 50 years and will share his experiences at The Battery Show in Novi, Michigan. (Image source: Ed Begley, Jr.)

Ed Begley, Jr. is an actor who has appeared in hundreds of films, television shows, and stage performances. He is most recognized for his role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the television series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988). Beyond his career as an actor, Begley became an ardent environmentalist in the early 1970s and his commitment to living green brought him to a passion for electric vehicles (EVs).

It is that passion that will provide the background as Mr. Begley provides one of the Keynote Addresses at The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019, on September 12^th in Novi, Michigan. Begley will share his experiences as, over the past 50 years, he has been a staunch advocate for electrification of transportation.

Starting Early

“I’m an early adopter—I bought my first electric car in 1970, so I have a certain amount of knowledge about such things,” Begley told Design News. “It was as primitive as you can imagine—it was an electric vehicle made by a company called Taylor-Dunne. They still make electric cars today. When I say electric car, I am being quite grand. It was a golf cart with a windshield wiper and a horn. It didn’t have a high top speed—about 20 mph—and the range was about 20 miles,” he added.

Aside from his bicycle, the crude electric vehicle was Begley’s major mode of transportation. “Living in the San Fernando Valley, it was a good vehicle to get around with when it was too smoggy or too rainy, or when I had something big to carry that was too much for my bicycle, or to take on the bus,” he said. But the EV was a revelation in some ways. “I suddenly had a car that was not only good for the environment, but it was good for my pocket book. It was so much cheaper to charge it than it was to buy 1970 gasoline,” said Begley.

Becoming More Practical

Eventually, as Begley’s success as an actor grew and his environmentalism further developed he was able to buy more practical electrified transportation. “I bought a conversion car in 1990, a 1973 Subaru,” he told us. “The guy was real electrical whiz—he had built his own controller out of Radio Shack parts and what have you—and I bought that car for $1700 dollars! I put in a state-of-the-art Curtis controller, and upped the battery voltage from 36-volts to 72-volts, and suddenly had a vehicle that could go on the freeway!”

Later, Begley spent $10,000 for a VW Rabbit that had been converted to electric. “The guy built it specifically for me. I drove that car for about four years, and sold it for $10,000—exactly what I paid for it,” he said.

Begley was among the first to get a new GM EV-1 when the company introduced its first electric vehicle. “When the (GM) EV-1 came out in 1996, I hopped on that because they had airbags for safety and it was built by a real car company. I had that for three years, the first lead-acid battery one, and then I drove the 1999 version of the EV-1 (with improved batteries) for three years. I could see the writing on the wall that they (GM) were going to crush them, so I switched into a (Toyota) RAV-4 in 2001, before Toyota started to get rid of those too,” said Begley.

Begley drove his RAV-4 from 2001 until 2014 and had to replace the battery pack once during that time. Next, he got a Nissan Leaf (in 2014), and claims that 5 years later the batteries are, “still in great shape.”

Making Everything Green

It hasn’t just been his transportation that Begley wanted to be green. He installed solar hot water in his house in 1985 and added PV electric solar panels to his house in 1995. More recently he has built a new home to LEED-Platinum certification—which architects recognize as possessing the highest levels of energy efficiency and responsibility. Begley is a man who lives his convictions.

Begley’s Keynote address is titled “Electric Vehicle Sustainability: Overcoming Barriers & Resistance” and will take place from 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, September 12. What does the actor want to tell a room that is largely filled with engineers? “I want to share with them my personal experience about the financial ramifications of adopting all of these green measures in my home,” he said. “It’s all been good for my pocketbook. There is an economic case to be made for doing this green stuff,” he added.

With such a long perspective on the ups and downs of the EV market, Begley is optimistic about the near-term future. “I think the market is going to step up at some point, and make a nice selection of vans and pickup trucks that are fully electric,” he told us. “I think that day is coming and soon because people want those vehicles. If you can give people a proper experience with that kind of vehicle with a proper range, cost, and performance, and reliability, and it’s electric, I think a lot of people would give electric a try.”

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Battery, EV/HV, & Stationary Power All in One Place.

Learn everything you need to know at our in-depth conference program with 70 technical sessions in eight tracks covering topics on battery, electric & hybrid vehicles, and stationary power technologies.

The Battery Show. Sept. 10-12, 2019, in Novi, MI. Register for the event, hosted by Design News’ parent company Informa.

Nickel May Be Limiting Material

August 16, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Battery/Energy Storage, Electronics & Test, Materials, MI, Science, Sustainability, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

Supplying raw materials for the increasing volumes of electric vehicles (EVs) produced worldwide is a source of growing concern among battery and vehicle manufacturers. It should be no surprise that one primary worry is the volatility in availability of the lithium that is used in lithium ion batteries. Although the supply chains for mining and processing the material are somewhat convoluted, the general sense among industry experts is that there is presently an oversupply of lithium, which will act, over the short term, to keep prices stable, if not pushing them into a decline. According to a recent report from Bloomberg, however, the same cannot be said for nickel.

So Many Uses

Nickel is an amazing useful material. The metal is both corrosion resistant and a good electrical conductor, particularly when mixed with copper. Nickel has excellent high temperature resistance which come into play in applications that include jet engines and gas turbines. In lithium ion batteries, nickel metal is often used as the electrical conductor between cells. It is also one of the primary ingredients in a lithium ion battery cathode (positive electrode).

A rechargeable lithium ion battery consists of two electrodes that are immersed in an electrolyte solution and that are separated by a permeable polymer membrane. When the battery is being charged, the lithium ions pass from the positive cathode electrode, through the polymer membrane, to the negative anode electrode. During discharging, the lithium ions travel back from the anode to the cathode, in the process giving up electrons to the anode which travel via an external circuit to power an electronic device before returning via the circuit to the cathode.

Carbon graphite is the most common anode electrode material as it has an ordered layered structure that can accommodate and store the small lithium ions between its layers. Because the working voltage of a battery is determined by the difference in electrochemical potential between the cathode and the anode, the cathode must be another material than graphite, and the choice of this material controls most of the performance characteristics of the lithium ion battery. That’s where nickel, or at least its oxide, comes into the picture.

Lithium ion battery Megafactory projected raw material demand in tonnes. Note the increase in anticipated demand for nickel. (Image source: Benchmark Mineral Intelligence)

Nickel’s Use in Cathodes

The cathode electrode stores the lithium ions through electrochemical intercalation—a process by which the lithium ions are inserted into or removed from lattice sites within the cathode material structure. Compounds chosen for cathodes are commonly oxides made from transition metals such as nickel, cobalt, copper, iron, chromium, zinc, or manganese. The role of the transition metal element in the cathode is to compensate for the charge when the lithium ion arrives or departs.

Nickel is used to create an intercalation structure for the battery cathode. But, if you remove significant amounts of lithium out of a nickel-oxide structure, it will release large amounts of oxygen, which can be a fire hazard. Other oxides must be added to help create stability. Aluminum, which likes to hold onto oxygen, can be added to the structure for example to reduce the hazard. It stabilizes the structure, but it lowers the capacity of the cell by a small amount. Cobalt is also frequently added to the cathode material to help stabilize the structure, but is costly and is sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a region of significant political instability. The cells developed by Panasonic and Tesla for its vehicles have so-called NCA chemistry, Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminum. Others use manganese and/or iron to help stabilize the structure, but the central ingredient in current commercial lithium ion battery cathodes is nickel.

Demand Versus Supply

Supply of the high-purity material used in batteries, known as class-one nickel, faces some real concerns—demand is likely to outstrip supply within five years, primarily due to increasing demand in the EV industry, according to Bloomberg (BNEF). Demand from lithium-ion batteries is forecast to increase by a factor of about 16 times to 1.8 million tons of contained metal by 2030, according to a BNEF July report. From the Bloomberg report, “Batteries will account for more than half of demand for class one nickel by that date, shifting a market that’s currently focused on stainless steel.”

Nickel is not a particularly scarce metal and is often found in the same locations as copper deposits. Mining nickel tends to be environmentally concerning as it involves leaching of the metal from ores using strong acids. These environmental concerns have held up the opening of a copper and nickel mine adjacent to the environmentally sensitive Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in Northern Minnesota, for example.

Nickel prices in London have increased by more than a third thus far in 2019 and in July reached the highest level in more than a year. It is expected that increasing future battery demand will continue to push prices higher.

Nickel producers are responding with more output. According to Bloomberg, “Perth-based Independence last year increased nickel output from its Nova mine in Western Australia by about a quarter and is spending as much as A$75 million ($51 million) on exploration in an effort to extend the asset’s life and find new deposits.”

In June, Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., said the nickel market faces a deficit of 51,000 tons in 2019, raising an earlier forecast. Bloomberg reports that last month, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. Confirmed that it will reopen its Ravensthorpe mine in Western Australia in the first quarter of 2020 amid the strength of interest from potential nickel and cobalt customers. The mine was closed in a soft market for nickel in 2017.

As with lithium and cobalt, two other materials whose supply seems at times precarious, the increasing demand for nickel from battery makers will depend almost entirely on how quickly the EV market grows. In the US, the demand for EVs is only just starting to register on the automotive market, while in places like China, Canada, and some parts of Europe (Norway), electric vehicles are showing substantial growth. Whether nickel producers can keep up with the growing demand could be just one more stumbling block in the inevitable path to electrification of transportation.

Raw materials supply will be among the topics at the The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019 conference that will take place in Novi, Michigan on September 10-12, 2019. Four days, eight tracks, and over 80 sessions, curated by industry experts will bring battery and electric vehicle technologies into clear focus.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Drive World with ESC Launches in Silicon Valley

This summer (August 27-29), Drive World Conference & Expo launches in Silicon Valley with North America’s largest embedded systems event, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). The inaugural three-day showcase brings together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and embedded systems industries who are looking to shape the technology of tomorrow.

Will you be there to help engineer this shift? Register today!

Tesla’s Megapack Aids In Renewable Energy Adoption

August 6, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Science, Sustainability, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

Last year, Design News reported on, what was then, the world’s largest lithium-ion battery in Hornsdale, South Australia, built using Tesla Powerpack batteries. The facility saved nearly $40 million in its first year and has helped to stabilize and balance the region’s previously problematic power grid.

The use of battery storage is transforming the ability of global electricity grids to adapt to the transient nature of renewable energy sources like wind and solar. But for such carbon-free resources to work on a utility scale requires massive battery storage projects, on the scale of Hornsdale. To meet the need, Tesla has designed and engineered a new battery product specifically for utility-scale projects: it is called Megapack.

Tesla’s new Megapack will be used to provide utility-level support to help integrate solar and wind renewable power into large-scale power grids. (Image source: Tesla)

Reducing the Complexity

The goal of Megapack is to significantly reduce the complexity of large-scale battery storage, while providing an easy installation and grid inter-connection process. The Megapack comes from the factory fully-assembled—each with up to 3 megawatt hours (MWhs) of storage and 1.5 MW of inverter capacity. According to a Tesla news release, “Using Megapack, Tesla can deploy an emissions-free 250 MW, 1 Gigawatt hour (GWh) power plant in less than three months on a three-acre footprint—four times faster than a traditional fossil fuel power plant of that size.” The Megapack system can also be DC-connected directly to solar, reducing the losses incurred when converting to AC current.

Tesla developed its own software in-house to control and monitor Megapack systems. Megapacks all connect to Powerhub, a system that Tesla calls, “…an advanced monitoring and control platform for large-scale utility projects and microgrids.” Powerhub can, “…also integrate with Autobidder, Tesla’s machine-learning platform for automated energy trading.” According to the company, Tesla customers have already used Autobidder to dispatch more than 100 GWh of energy in global electricity markets. The company also points out that Megapack will continue to improve through a combination of over-the-air and server-based software updates, much like Tesla pioneered with its electric vehicles.

Taking All Tesla Knows

Tesla will install a Megapack in the upcoming Moss Landing project in California with PG&E. The Megapack will act as an alternative to natural gas “peaker” that fires up when the local utility grid can’t provide enough power to meet peak demand. A Megapack installation can be used to store excess solar or wind energy and to then kick in when a peaker is needed to support the grid’s peak loads.

Tesla describes the Megapack this way: “We took everything we know about battery technology to enable the world’s largest energy projects. A 1 Gigawatt hour (GWh) project provides record energy capacity—enough to power every home in San Francisco for 6 hours.”

Critical Power and infrastructure will be among the topics at the The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019 conference that will take place in Novi, Michigan on September 10-12, 2019. Four days, eight tracks, and over 80 sessions, curated by industry experts will bring battery and electric vehicle technologies into clear focus.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Drive World with ESC Launches in Silicon Valley

This summer (August 27-29), Drive World Conference & Expo launches in Silicon Valley with North America’s largest embedded systems event, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). The inaugural three-day showcase brings together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and embedded systems industries who are looking to shape the technology of tomorrow.

Will you be there to help engineer this shift? Register today!

New Technology Could Generate Electricity From Wastewater And Seawater

August 2, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Recycling, Science, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a “mixing entropy battery” (MEB) that can harness energy from the mixing of fresh and salt water. The energy created this way is sometimes called “blue energy.” According to a Stanford news release, the team’s objective is to apply the technology to coastal wastewater treatment plants and to use the electricity generated to make the plants energy-independent and carbon-neutral.

“Blue energy is an immense and untapped source of renewable energy,” said Kristian Dubrawski, a postdoctoral scholar in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford. “Our battery is a major step toward practically capturing that energy without membranes, moving parts or energy input.”

Development of a mixing entropy battery (MEB) depends upon the motion of sodium and chlorine ions from seawater into and out of inexpensive electrode materials. (Image source: Stanford)

Electrochemistry

The Stanford battery isn’t the only technology available to capture blue energy, but it’s the first to use battery electrochemistry instead of pressure or membranes. The present work is based on earlier research at Stanford that tapped into salt gradients to produce electricity, but that effort required an expensive electrode made from silver, and an initial energy input to begin the process.

The new Stanford battery floods a tank with salt-free water (which can be wastewater effluent. The tank contains electrodes which release sodium ions (Na ) and chlorine ions (Cl–) from the electrodes into the solution. This motion of ions also causes a current to flow from the anionic electrode to the cationic electrode. Then, a rapid exchange of the wastewater effluent with seawater allows the electrodes to reincorporate the sodium and chloride ions, reversing the electric current flow. Energy is recovered during both the freshwater and seawater flushes. This means that the battery is constantly discharging and recharging without needing any input of energy. As reported in a paper in the journal ACS Publications, energy is recovered during both the freshwater flush (43.6% of the total energy recovered) and the seawater flush (56.4% of the total energy recovered), with no upfront energy investment.

Unlike the earlier effort, that used expensive materials as the electrodes, this new MEB is cost-effective. The electrodes in the new MEB are made with Prussian Blue, a material widely used as a pigment and medicine, that costs less than $1 a kilogram, and polypyrrole, a material used experimentally in batteries and other devices, which sells for less than $3 a kilogram in bulk. The materials are relatively robust and a polyvinyl alcohol and sulfosuccinic acid coating protects the electrodes from corrosion when in contact with seawater.

Wastewater a Good Starting Point

Wastewater treatment is a good starting point for a practical application of the Stanford MEB study. The water treatment process is energy-intensive, accounting for about three percent of the total US electrical load. If sufficient blue energy could be generated by an MEB system, a wastewater treatment plant could be self-sufficient and operate off the grid.

According to the Stanford news release, “The researchers tested a prototype of the battery, monitoring its energy production while flushing it with alternating hourly exchanges of wastewater effluent from the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant and seawater collected nearby from Half Moon Bay. Over 180 cycles, battery materials maintained 97 percent effectiveness in capturing the salinity gradient energy.” The team also reported that every cubic meter of freshwater that mixes with seawater produces about .65 kilowatt-hours of energy – enough to power the average American house for about 30 minutes. If the 68% efficiency achieved in a small prototype MEB can be achieved at full-scale, the energy produced would be sufficient to meet much or even all of the electrical energy demands for a conventional wastewater treatment plant.

“It is a scientifically elegant solution to a complex problem,” Dubrawski said. “It needs to be tested at scale, and it doesn’t address the challenge of tapping blue energy at the global scale – rivers running into the ocean – but it is a good starting point that could spur these advances.”

The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019 conference will take place in Novi, Michigan on September 10-12, 2019. Four days, eight tracks, and over 80 sessions, curated by industry experts will bring battery and electric vehicle technologies into clear focus.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Drive World with ESC Launches in Silicon Valley

This summer (August 27-29), Drive World Conference & Expo launches in Silicon Valley with North America’s largest embedded systems event, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). The inaugural three-day showcase brings together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and embedded systems industries who are looking to shape the technology of tomorrow.

Will you be there to help engineer this shift? Register today!

Another Possible Solid State Lithium Electrolyte Material

July 29, 2019 • Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Science, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

One of the most promising ways to increase lithium ion battery performance and safety is through the use of a solid electrolyte. Present commercial lithium ion batteries use an organic liquid electrolyte that provides good mobility of lithium ions between the anode (negative) and cathode (positive) electrodes. The organic solvent is flammable and thus can be a fire hazard should the battery cell become damaged or if it is over charged.

Examining the crystal structure of LTPS is helping materials researchers understand the mobility of lithium ions in solid electrolytes. (Image source: UCLouvain)

Substituting a ceramic or polymer solid electrolyte for the organic solvent would help make the battery safer and, if lithium metal foil is used to replace the current graphite anode, could increase battery performance and storage capacity by 2-3 times. Lithium metal cannot be used as an anode with liquid electrolytes as spikey dendritic lithium crystals form on the metal surface during charging. These crystals can grow large enough to create a short circuit between the anode and cathode, potentially creating a fire hazard.

Better Mobility

So the search is on for a solid material that should allow safer higher capacity lithium-based batteries. The problem is that lithium ions are less mobile in most solid materials than they are in liquid electrolytes, which limits the battery charging and discharging capabilities. That’s why research at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) in Belgium into a recently discovered material is interesting. According to a news release, the researchers observed that in LiTi2(PS4)3 or LTPS, they measured the highest lithium diffusion coefficient (a direct measure of lithium mobility) ever measured in a solid.

According to the news release, “This lithium mobility comes directly from the unique crystal structure (i.e., the arrangement of atoms) of LTPS. The understanding of this mechanism opens new perspectives in the field of lithium ion conductors and, beyond LTPS, opens an avenue towards the search for new materials with similar diffusion mechanisms.”

Of course, measuring high lithium ion diffusion rates in a laboratory is a long way from building commercial batteries for use in portable electronics and electric vehicles (EVs). While it is easy to overestimate the importance of such developments, the real value in this type of basic research is an enhanced understanding of the mechanisms and physics involved. With greater understanding will come improved materials, which will eventually result in dramatically better batteries.

The Battery Show and Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo 2019 conference will take place in Novi, Michigan on September 10-12, 2019. Four days, eight tracks, and over 80 sessions, curated by industry experts will bring battery and electric vehicle technologies into clear focus. In addition, there will be a not-to-be-missed Industry Roundtable that will discuss the future of solid-state lithium batteries.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Drive World with ESC Launches in Silicon Valley

This summer (August 27-29), Drive World Conference & Expo launches in Silicon Valley with North America’s largest embedded systems event, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). The inaugural three-day showcase brings together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and embedded systems industries who are looking to shape the technology of tomorrow.

Will you be there to help engineer this shift? Register today!

Copper Sulfide Looks Promising As Sodium Ion Battery Anode

July 24, 2019 • Alternative Energy, Battery/Energy Storage, Materials, MI, Science, Technology, The Battery Show – Novi

Schematic model demonstrating grain boundaries and phase interfaces formations for copper sulfide anodes used in sodium ion batteries (Image source: KAIST)

The world keeps looking for cheaper, safer, longer lasting, and more powerful alternatives to lithium ion batteries. Commercial lithium ion batteries have been around since 1991 and have found applications powering everything from personal electronics, to electric vehicles (EVs), to electric power grids.

Sodium ion batteries have shown some promise—sodium ions replace the lithium ions as charge carriers inside the battery during charging and discharging. Sodium is significantly more available and cheaper than lithium. Sodium ion batteries could also be safer—they can be completely drained of their charge during shipping or storage, while lithium ion batteries need to maintain about 30% of their charge providing energy that could ignite a fire if the batteries are somehow damaged.

Commercial lithium ion batteries use intercalation-type materials, such as graphite, to serve as anode (negative electrode) materials that store and release lithium ions between planes of carbon atoms. But graphite anodes have not been viable for high-capacity sodium storage due to their insufficient spacing between the carbon atom layers to accommodate sodium ions.

To build viable sodium ion batteries, a search is on for materials that can achieve higher capacity in the anode. Most such materials unfortunately have large volume expansions and abrupt crystallographic changes when incorporating sodium ions, which lead to severe capacity degradation.

A team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has described in a news release their work using copper sulfide as an anode storage medium for sodium ion batteries. Professor Jong Min Yuk’s team confirmed the stable sodium storage mechanism using copper sulfide that is pulverized and that induces capacity recovery. According to the news release, “Their findings suggest that when employing copper sulfide, sodium ion batteries will have a lifetime of more than five years with one charge per a day. Even better, copper sulfide, composed of abundant natural materials such as copper and sulfur, has better cost competitiveness than lithium ion batteries, which use lithium and cobalt.”

According to Yuk, “Sodium ion batteries employing copper sulfide can advance sodium ion batteries, which could contribute to the development of low-cost energy storage systems and address the micro-dust issue.”

As with so many battery research results, the replacement of lithium ion batteries with commercial sodium ion batteries does not seem like it will happen any time soon, despite the optimism of the Korean team. But progress is continuing and the incentive to improve upon lithium ion batteries is increasing almost daily as a move to further electrification of the transportation system and battery storage for the electric grid reaches primetime.

Senior Editor Kevin Clemens has been writing about energy, automotive, and transportation topics for more than 30 years. He has masters degrees in Materials Engineering and Environmental Education and a doctorate degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in aerodynamics. He has set several world land speed records on electric motorcycles that he built in his workshop.

Drive World with ESC Launches in Silicon Valley

This summer (August 27-29), Drive World Conference & Expo launches in Silicon Valley with North America’s largest embedded systems event, Embedded Systems Conference (ESC). The inaugural three-day showcase brings together the brightest minds across the automotive electronics and embedded systems industries who are looking to shape the technology of tomorrow.

Will you be there to help engineer this shift? Register today!