Are we facing a revolution in batteries? Researchers are working on exciting solutions for electric cars

Electromobility is playing an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. Many EU countries – including Germany – want to switch completely to producing CO2-emission-free vehicles by 2035.

In order for this to be possible, we need new, powerful batteries that are ideally cheap to produce.

The science magazine nature published an article on February 7, 2024, which deals with the development of current and future electric car batteries – and will probably revolutionize the market. More on that in a moment.

The e-future looks promising

The nature contribution is already starting with a bang: Toyota wants to bring a car onto the market in 2027 or 2028 that has a range of 1,000 km and can be charged in ten minutes.

Another blast: a battery that runs on air, among other things – no joke. The development comes from a US laboratory and could one day even power aircraft.

In addition, Chinese electric cars with inexpensive sodium batteries are expected to come onto the local market in 2024 for around $10,000 (9,300 euros). But first things first:

This is what Gerbrand Ceder – materials scientist at the University of California, Berkeley – tells nature. And it probably has to, because consumers have high expectations of electric cars:

• Enough power for acceleration
• Fast loading times
• Long service life (at least 1,000 full charging cycles)
• Temperature-independent functionality
• Realistic price

This is what Linda Nazar says in an interview with nature. She is a researcher at the University of Waterloo, Canada. But there are different approaches that could combine many of these points.

Will there be a real battery revolution in the future?

This question is not that easy to answer. The currently most commonly used batteries are lithium-ion batteries. This will probably stay that way for a while:

This is what Winfried Wilcke tells nature. He is a recently retired scientist in Los Altos, California, who led an IBM Research project from 2009 to 2015.

• Advantage of lithium-ion batteries: If research is carried out on better electrodes, enormous energy densities can theoretically be achieved. According to nature, a lithium metal anode achieved more than 700 Wh per kg in the laboratory.
• Disadvantage: The lifespan and safety of the cells is literally a hot topic.

For assessment: The energy density at Tesla is currently around 322 Wh per kg.

But there is an approach that could eliminate many disadvantages and perhaps even revolutionize the battery world. The alternative may be solid instead of liquid as before. More on that in a moment.

Another construction site: Of course, the infrastructure for electric cars also needs to be further expanded. Tesla shows how we could theoretically charge quickly and easily:

0:38

The future of e-mobility? Tesla demonstrates the company's supercharging network

Solid state batteries or sodium?

Solid instead of liquid: A ceramic or solid polymer is used here as an electrolyte, allowing lithium ions to pass through.

Advantages of solid instead of liquid:

• High energy density
• Avoid flammable, organic liquids
• Simpler cell architecture
• Also work at low and high temperatures

Sticking points:

• New manufacturing processes must be developed (will be expensive)
• Transport of ions in the solid state is slower = performance is limited
• Producing flawless interfaces between layers is complex

Wilcke mentions this to nature. In addition to lithium batteries – whether liquid or solid – scientists are also researching an alternative to lithium itself: sodium.

This is available in significantly larger quantities and is therefore cheaper than lithium, whose costs are currently exploding. This is a major point of contention when it comes to electric cars Price:

This is what Ceder says in the nature article. Sodium batteries are already being produced and will soon be used in the Chinese electric cars mentioned above

But there is a catch here too: Sodium weighs more and therefore the energy density per kg is lower. According to nature, sodium batteries have been around since 2021 and have an energy density of 160 Wh per kg. This means that ultra-compact electric cars can currently only travel 250 to 300 km. A Tesla model can travel up to 600 km with conventional batteries.

This is what we will probably expect in the future

Wide-ranging e-mobility will probably arrive at some point – regardless of the battery type. So that we can maintain the level of our current mobile but fossil-free freedom, new limits in terms of range and energy density are constantly being tested.

Loud electrive.net There is an approach from US materials researcher Larry Curtiss and his team that caused a stir in 2023. They experimented with a lithium-air solid-state battery that achieved 685 Wh per kg – with the prospect of a theoretical 1,200 Wh per kg.

According to nature magazine, this corresponds to an energy density that is starting to make it worthwhile to think about electric flight mobility. At least this battery is mentioned in the context of air taxis – so we can be excited to see whether we will even take off with it one day.

It will still take some time before a large proportion of the technologies mentioned in the text reach series production maturity. At the end of the article, nature makes a forecast for the various technologies:

• Sodium or LFP batteries are suitable for shorter range cars, forklifts or special vehicles
• Improved lithium-ion batteries for mid-size cars – perhaps solid-state lithium batteries will take over this class
• Lithium-air cells for luxury cars or air taxis

What do you think about these developments? Which alternative could have potential, which do you think is cheese? Could such a cheap sodium battery car based on the Chinese model also be possible in Germany? Do you perhaps know other battery alternatives that weren't mentioned here? Feel free to write us your thoughts and ideas in the comments and discuss what the battery future has in store for us.