Batteries for e-cars: the battery revolution is already taking place in China

E-mobility
Car batteries: The battery revolution is already taking place in China

Battery system from Nio – the changing nations should also come to Europe.

© PR

The electric car is more powerful than a combustion engine. This is what new batteries made in China promise. They load quickly, last forever and should only cost a third of today’s prices.

Two factors determine the future success of a car. One is the software including the central control unit, the other is the battery. The race for the greatest possible range and the shortest possible charging time is known. In addition, there is a long service life and sustainability. Rare raw materials must be replaced in battery technology, otherwise it will not be possible to build the electricity storage devices required worldwide.

And China is currently setting the pace in the race when it comes to the production of new technologies. A year ago, the automaker BYD made headlines with the one million kilometer battery. This type of battery lasts significantly longer than the basic vehicle. So you don’t have to be afraid of having to get by with ever shorter range at the end of the car’s life.

Stability in the cold

For this purpose, the batteries from Nio were designed as an interchangeable system. If you want to get ahead quickly, you can drive to a Nio charging station. There, robots swap the empty battery for a charged one in just a few minutes. Now Nio has presented the next battery revolution. The new battery comes in two sizes (75 kWh and 100 kWh). This system reduces the loss of range in extremely cold weather by up to 25 percent. The new cell-to-pack technology is also used in this battery, which makes it possible to accommodate more battery power per volume and weight of the pack.

However, the system has been further optimized. In the new pack, ternary lithium and lithium iron phosphate cells are mixed in. This mix of different cells improves the overall performance of the battery at low temperatures. In addition, the battery is tempered by a heater. The cell-to-pack technology simplifies production and assembly and increases the energy density by 14 percent to 142 Wh / kg. These batteries are to be delivered in China as early as November.

Extreme cost reduction

The largest battery manufacturer in China, CATL, recently presented the first sodium-ion batteries. Their cathode consists of sodium. The performance data is 160 watt hours per kilogram, charging to 80 percent takes 15 minutes and a capacity of around 90 percent is achieved at minus 20 degrees Celsius. That is more than remarkable, but the real highlight is the manufacturing costs of 25 to 35 euros per kilowatt hour. To put it into perspective: at the end of 2020, costs of 100 US dollars per kilowatt hour were reached for the first time. CATL wants to practically third this price. Large-scale production is scheduled to begin as early as the end of next year, in 2022.

Graphene technology in production

The Chinese car manufacturer GAC has also announced that batteries with graphene technology will be installed in the new Aion V. The so-called graphene technology, in which the molecules are connected to one another in a honeycomb structure, is not new, but was previously unaffordable. GAC claims to have reduced manufacturing costs to a tenth. A 100-kilowatt-hour battery could be charged to a capacity of 80 percent within eight minutes with a 600-ampere high-performance charger.

The electric sports car Piëch “Mark Zero” also owes its 500 km range to a Chinese company, Desten. Its batteries should not heat up more than 15 degrees even under extreme load. There is therefore no need for expensive and heavy cooling. Desten also develops balance batteries (Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition). Here, an ultra-thin atomic coating is intended to significantly improve the flow of ions between the anode and the cathode. The battery can be charged faster and the service life is increased significantly at the same time.

Kra / Pressinform

source site