Join each day information updates from CleanTechnica on electronic mail. Or observe us on Google Information!
EV batteries have been coasting on the identical liquid-electrolyte know-how ever for the reason that early 2000s, with some important tweaks resulting in improved efficiency and decrease prices through the years. Nonetheless, a sea change within the method to battery design is required in an effort to convey the price of electrical automobiles right down to the purpose of assembly — and even beating — gasmobiles on value, and power storage innovators are banking on new solid-state ceramic know-how to show the tide.
Prologium Reinvents EV Batteries, With Excessive Tech Ceramics
Ceramic batteries — typically known as “glass batteries” — change the flammable liquid electrolyte in typical lithium-ion EV batteries totally or partly with a steady, extra environmentally pleasant strong materials.
The evolution of the solid-state battery has been a very long time coming. One breakthrough was reported by Hitachi again in 1985, however the concept didn’t acquire a lot traction till 2017. That’s when a crew on the College of Texas Cockrell Faculty of Engineering reported an electrolyte primarily based on glass, constructing on the work of the legendary lithium-ion battery innovator Professor John Goodenough and senior analysis fellow Maria Helena Braga.
Shifting as much as 2024, we discover the Taiwanese firm ProLogium on the forefront of innovators commercializing EV batteries with ceramic electrolytes. The corporate has been shifting its R&D timeline into excessive gear.
Within the newest information, on December 12, ProLogium introduced that its next-generation lithium ceramic battery was awarded a brand new certification by the unbiased security and efficiency inspection agency TÜV Rheinland. The achievement follows an preliminary certification earned in March.
Delivering Outcomes Sooner Than Anticipated
“The TÜV Rheinland certification confirms that ProLogium’s next-generation lithium ceramic battery delivers an industry-leading power density of 811.6 Wh/L (volumetric) and 359.2 Wh/kg (gravimetric),” ProLogium defined in a press assertion, including that the brand new milestone was achieved on a battery off the corporate’s pilot-scale manufacturing line.
Situated in Taouyan, Taiwan, the demonstration facility began operation earlier this 12 months to supply EV batteries with a gigawatt-scale purpose in its sights. ProLogium additionally notes that automakers all over the world have already got 1000’s of its ceramic batteries of their fingers for testing and growth (most likely together with EV up-and-comer Vinfast, for one).
The earlier certification from TÜV Rheinland in March concerned a battery with an power density of 749 Wh/L and 321 Wh/kg. Doing the mathematics (which ProLogium did), the brand new certification of 811.6 Wh/L and 359.2 Wh/kg represents enhancements of 8.36% and 11.90%, respectively, outpacing the corporate’s personal forecast from October.
This 12 months’s burst of timeline-breaking exercise didn’t come out of nowhere. “This milestone…displays 18 years of relentless efforts in addressing key battery challenges and optimizing manufacturing processes,”noticed ProLogium founder and Chairman Vincent Yang, who listed the corporate’s separator-free ceramic layer and its 100% composite silicon anode amongst different key breakthroughs.
Apparently we ain’t see nothing but. Within the December 12 announcement, ProLogium teased “additional groundbreaking improvements” to be unveiled at CES 2025. The annual, and influential, tech showcase might be held in Las Vegas in January.
Subsequent Steps For Ceramic EV Batteries
ProLogium additionally states that its new EV batteries beat different market-ready applied sciences on efficiency, with an power density of as much as 79.6% greater than the rising lithium-iron-phosphate and nickel-manganese-cobalt formulation.
“This interprets to smaller, lighter battery packs with longer vary and improved power effectivity,” ProLogium notes. The brand new EV batteries are additionally able to delivering 300 kilometers (about 186 miles) vary in 5 minutes, based on the corporate.
To be clear, commercially profitable EV batteries should not essentially those with the very best power density. Value, manufacturability, and provide chain elements additionally go into the equation. Nonetheless, strong and semi-solid ceramic EV batteries are having a second, and there may be nonetheless room for added enchancment.
Researchers at McGill College in Canada, for instance, not too long ago reported on a technique for enhancing the efficiency of ceramic EV batteries by changing a dense ceramic plate with a porous plate, filling the holes with a polymer.
“Through the use of a polymer-filled porous membrane, we are able to enable lithium ions to maneuver freely and eradicate the interfacial resistance between the strong electrolyte and the electrodes,” explains analysis crew chief Professor George Demopoulos of the college’s Division of Supplies Engineering.
“This not solely improves the battery’s efficiency but additionally creates a steady interface for high-voltage operation, one of many {industry}’s key objectives,” he provides.
Observe The Cash To Higher EV Batteries
Right here within the US, regulate new EV batteries from the startup Ion Storage Programs. In December of 2023 the College of Maryland spinout connected with the main French supplies specialist Saint-Gobain to ship the specialised powder wanted to formulate the battery’s ceramic “mind.”
ION obtained a vote of investor confidence final 12 months from Toyota Ventures, amongst different non-public sector stakeholders, in addition to public funding together with grants to the College of Maryland.
One other large thumbs-up got here this summer season, when the Division of Vitality’s ARPA-E funding workplace tapped ION for a $20 million award by means of its SCALEUP “Seeding Vital Advances for Main Vitality applied sciences with Untapped Potential” program, geared toward accelerating the know-how into EV batteries for the business market. To qualify for SCALEUP funding, an applicant wants to determine a de-risked and viable path to business deployment.
ION is placing its SCALEUP {dollars} to work on organising a ceramic electrolyte separator manufacturing pilot line together with 5 different key components resulting in business manufacturing. The grant additionally appears to have caught the attention of Leonid Capital Companions, which introduced a debt funding of $10 million in ION on November thirteenth.
“Not like conventional designs, ION’s know-how eliminates flammability dangers, reduces the necessity for intensive cooling techniques, and offers industry-leading power density attributes,” Leonid Capital defined, indicating that the protection and aerospace sectors would be the low hanging fruit for business software.
“Our early performance-driven prospects might be battery customers who’ve a necessity that isn’t met by current know-how resembling excessive temperature functions like autoclavable battery-powered medical gadgets or fire-sensitive functions like underwater army automobiles and space-based techniques,” ION notes on its ARPA-E web page.
As with ProLogium, ION is one other instance of persistence paying off. The corporate places the beginning date for its core know-how on the College of Maryland 14 years in the past, again in 2012, earlier than spinning out as a startup in 2105.
EV batteries have come a good distance for the reason that Nineties, when the preliminary model of GM’s EV-1 electrical car sported 32 rechargeable lead-acid batteries. Lithium-ion EV batteries with liquid electrolytes have dominated the roost since then, and now it’s time for a brand new wave of power storage innovation to enter the sector.
Observe me by way of LinkTree, or @tinamcasey on LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Picture (cropped): A brand new wave of high-performing, fast-charging strong state EV batteries with ceramic electrolytes is coming into the market, with the Taiwanese agency ProLogium among the many leaders (courtesy of Prologium).
Chip in just a few {dollars} a month to assist assist unbiased cleantech protection that helps to speed up the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Wish to promote? Wish to counsel a visitor for our CleanTech Discuss podcast? Contact us right here.
Join our each day e-newsletter for 15 new cleantech tales a day. Or join our weekly one if each day is just too frequent.
CleanTechnica makes use of affiliate hyperlinks. See our coverage right here.
CleanTechnica’s Remark Coverage