Are You Willing to Charge More Frequently for Extra Range?

[TruckElectric]

Batteries in electric cars have come a long way. The Tesla Model S, for example, has broken the 400-mile barrier while the upcoming Lucid Air and its 113 kWh battery back will offer as much as 4.58 miles per kWh or more than 500 miles of range With that in mind, it looks like the Lucid Air’s claim to fame might be short-lived as a new battery tech has been developed and it could offer up more than double the driving range and enable fast charging to more than 80-percent in just five minutes. But, there’s a catch (as there always is), and you might not like it.

SILICON IS THE KEY TO EVS – IT ALWAYS HAS BEEN

This news comes straight from a team of researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.

That team has been working with a new carbon-silicon material that has the capability of not only doubling the usable driving range of EVs but enable outrageously fast charging to the tune of 80-percent in just 5 minutes.

How does it work, though? Well, apparently, the team of researchers wants to replace the graphite anodes in current EV battery tech with these carbon-silicon anodes. These carbon-silicon anodes have 10-times the capacity of their graphite counterparts, and that’s where the double driving range and fast charging claims come into play. But, there’s a twist – the work great in this way, but fail miserably at holding their capacity over time. It’s this instability with carbon-silicone anodes that limits a battery’s usability.

However, the Korean research team discovered that by using the same thermal process used for frying food, they can keep these carbon-silicon anodes stable. Believe it or not, they used a mixture of water, oil, and starch. In the end, the results were impressive, with the battery at the end of the experiment having four times the capacity of a similar battery with graphite anodes. The battery also remained stable of 500 cycles, which is far from enough for real-world usability in EVS, but it’s a good start. On that note, the team also says that the silicon in these new anodes doesn’t expand, which is a common problem with this technology

Leader of the Korean research team, Hun-Gi Jung, said in a statement:

"We were able to develop carbon-silicon composite materials using common, everyday materials and simple mixing and thermal processes with no reactors."

He went on to say that the new composites perform so well that they’re "highly likely to be commercialized and mass-produced." Now, the question is when that’s going to happen. An electric car with, say, 1,000 miles of range on a single charge – and with the capability of sucking in 800 miles of juice in a matter of 5 minutes – should be more than enough to eliminate range anxiety. Perhaps, it would even be enough to encourage expanded and expedited development of charging infrastructure on a global scale. Well, here’s to hoping, right?


Source: Topspeed

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[HaulingAss]

This looks like a solution in search of a problem. The article notes there are still a number of major disadvantages with the technology that haven't been overcome yet. It's important to keep in mind real needs vs. needs that sound good. I would argue with the current speed of charging that is already available at fast DC chargers on a trip, there is still a need for for the charging networks to continue to expand, but not for breakthrough battery technologies. It's a lot easier to expand existing charge networks than it is to develop a new and still unproven battery technology. Said another way, it's much more certain that the Supercharger network will continue to rapidly expand into underserved areas than it is that this new battery technology will measure up and actually be deployed over the same timeframe. As long as there are DC fast chargers properly spaced, your charging stops can be kept to 15 minutes which is just a nice stretch/drink break after driving for over a couple of hours.

It's true that a lot of media narritives continually repeat the idea that EV battery technology isn't quite ready for prime time. But that is misrepresenting the current state of battery technology to protect legacy interests who are not fully ready make the transition to electric and lose their ICE sales. In other words, it's a false narritive. The battery technology in both our 2018 Model 3's is amazing with only two notable negatives:

1) The Supercharger network still has rural highways with no Supercharger presence.

2) Cheaper batteries would reduce the upfront cost of getting into a long-range EV.

And that battery technology is at least 8 years old, and prices continue to fall as the charge network continues to expand.

I am not against further battery research and development and the improvements that will bring, I'm simply saying it's not necessary to enjoy the benefits of going electric right now. Cheaper is happening. So is the growth of chargers. But if your needs are typical, it's pretty damn good already. Much better than one might imagine by reading articles in the MSM (mainstream media).

 

[Cybertruck Hawaii]

Electric Viking says that LFP batteries can be charged to 100%.

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