Tesla battery, cobalt-free battery, graphene battery... Who will stand out?

When it comes to electric vehicles , driving range is definitely one of the topics that everyone is most concerned about. The vigorous new energy vehicle revolution has been going on for more than ten years. From the initial driving range of about 200 kilometers, the current mass-produced models have exceeded the 700-kilometer mark; the battery cost has also dropped from more than 1,000 yuan at the beginning to 600-700 yuan/kWh now, and the speed of progress is still considerable. But in fact, judging from the mainstream models on the market, the battery technology itself is not much different, and they generally face fatal problems such as rapid battery performance degradation and poor safety.

Therefore, in recent years, the battery field has become a battleground for many car companies and battery manufacturers. Whoever can come up with a battery with low cost, high energy density and stable performance, how many car companies will kneel down and call it daddy? This is definitely a milestone in the history of automobile electrification and a great thing for the benefit of the people. It is precisely this extremely urgent market demand that has made many companies secretly work hard to develop an ideal battery as soon as possible to surprise the public and beat their competitors. Today, let's take a look at those advanced batteries that have their own halo before they are born and are burdened with the mission of changing the industry.

■ Cobalt-free battery—— Cobalt-free battery that is not lithium iron phosphate battery

Regarding cobalt-free batteries, it is a broad concept. From a literal point of view, there is absolutely nothing wrong with calling lithium iron phosphate batteries

At present, the batteries used in pure electric vehicles on the market are mainly ternary lithium batteries , which are divided into two types: NCM (nickel cobalt manganese) and NCA (nickel cobalt aluminum), which can be collectively referred to as "cobalt-containing batteries". Because cobalt metal has two characteristics, one is that it is non-renewable, and the other is that it is very scarce. "Scarcity makes things valuable", and cobalt is definitely a rare thing in the market. Cobalt-free batteries were born based on this reality, which is equivalent to achieving low-cobalt and cobalt-free ternary lithium batteries. If the cobalt content in the battery is reduced or even eliminated, electric vehicles will be more cost-effective. Therefore, from the very beginning of the concept of "cobalt-free batteries", it has been carrying the mission of reducing battery costs.

On May 18 this year, Honeycomb Energy, a subsidiary of Great Wall Motors, launched two new cobalt-free battery products. The first product is designed based on the 590 module battery cell, with an energy density of 245 Wh/kg and a battery pack capacity of 96 kWh. After installation, the range will reach 600 kilometers. The second is the L6 thin-film cobalt-free long battery cell, with an energy density of 240 Wh/kg and a battery pack capacity of 135 kWh. After installation, the range will be 880 kilometers. Both products are expected to be launched in the second half of 2021.

There are many companies working on the cobalt-free battery technology route, including CATL and Tesla . However, so far, these two industry leaders have not released specific technology and product details. In Mr. Bang's opinion, cobalt-free batteries are most likely the first new type of battery to achieve mass production. From a fundamental technical point of view, cobalt-free batteries only achieve low-cobalt or cobalt-free lithium batteries. They are "improved" on the basis of lithium batteries, which is equivalent to standing on "other people's shoulders". It is a technical route that can quickly achieve results.

■ Tesla's self-developed battery: "million miles" is not a dream

Tesla's self-developed battery has long been a hot topic in the industry, but the legendary "million-mile" battery has only been heard of but not seen.

According to the latest news, Tesla's 2020 annual meeting will be held on September 22, and the Battery Day event will be held immediately after the annual meeting. The core topic of this "Battery Day" is to improve energy density and reduce costs, and dry electrode technology and Roadrunner (million-mile) plan are the highlights of this event.

Tesla's self-developed "million-mile" battery, as the name suggests, is expected to have a service life of 1 million miles (about 1.61 million kilometers). Currently, the battery life of Tesla's models on sale is about 400,000-800,000 kilometers. The "million-mile" battery will extend the service life by 1-3 times, which is simply "adding wings to a tiger" for Tesla, whose sales have been far ahead and setting new records.

In a conference call for earnings analysis on July 22 this year, Musk talked about the need for miners to increase nickel production, and even said that as long as nickel miners' operations remain efficient and environmentally friendly, Tesla will do more business with them. Combined with previous rumors that "Tesla is going to launch cobalt-free batteries", Tesla may also take the cobalt-free lithium battery technology route in the short term.

In addition, according to Musk, Tesla is expected to mass-produce batteries with longer life and energy density of 400 Wh/kg within 3-4 years. At the same time, Tesla also released a trailer with a special pattern, which according to relevant people's analysis may indicate the emergence of silicon nanowire anode batteries. According to the current plan, Tesla Battery Day has been arranged and will be announced in less than a month. I hope that Boss Ma will not postpone this auspicious day... It's better to become famous as early as possible.

■ Graphene battery – 80% full in 8 minutes, 300km range after 10 minutes of charging

As a new type of nanomaterial, graphene has super high thermal and electrical conductivity and is called "incredible material". Some scientists have said that graphene "will change the 21st century to a great extent", which shows how magical this new material is. With the birth of graphene materials, graphene batteries have also been pushed to the forefront of the industry. Its biggest advantage is that it charges very quickly, is small in size, light in weight, and safer.

Among domestic enterprises, GAC has been trying to find a breakthrough in the field of graphene batteries. According to official propaganda, GAC Group has been studying the large-scale preparation of graphene since 2014, and has independent intellectual property rights for 3DG graphene preparation technology. Based on the excellent conductivity and special three-dimensional structure of graphene materials, GAC has developed a super fast charging battery, which has preliminarily verified graphene-related technologies from multiple levels such as battery cells, modules, and vehicles. But so far, the official has not disclosed any technical details, and the only thing announced to the public is "80% of the power in 8 minutes", and it does not specify how much this 80% power is; in addition, the official also announced that the graphene battery can achieve "charging in 10 minutes and a range of 200-300 kilometers", and the charging speed is indeed fast enough.

Graphene batteries are good, but as a product material with huge market demand, graphene has a fatal problem - expensive! It is understood that the current market price of graphene is as high as 600 yuan per gram, and it is called "black gold". It is estimated that in the short term, electric vehicles that are affordable to the public can only sigh at it. However, in the long run, graphene batteries do have enough inherent advantages, and we expect that technological progress will significantly reduce their R&D and production costs.

■ Fluoride ion battery - energy density is 7 times that of traditional lithium batteries, and can travel 1,000 kilometers on a single charge

You may be unfamiliar with fluoride ion batteries, but you may be relatively more familiar with solid-state batteries. You should first know that fluoride ion batteries are a type of solid-state batteries.

In terms of working principle, fluoride ion batteries use fluoride ions to conduct electricity and generate electricity by transferring fluoride ions from one electrode to another. The anode is composed of fluorine, copper and cobalt, and the cathode is mainly composed of lanthanum. In addition, researchers replaced the liquid electrolyte used in lithium-ion batteries with a solid electrolyte . Another advantage of this solid-state battery is its high thermal stability and no risk of fire. Engineers can significantly increase the battery's charge and discharge power without worrying about the battery overheating and catching fire.

Of course, fluoride ion batteries also have fatal shortcomings, one of which is that fluoride ions will only move to the electrodes after the solid electrolyte is fully heated in a high-temperature environment. In other words, the battery can only work under high-temperature conditions, and high-temperature environments may cause the battery electrodes to expand due to heat. According to foreign media reports, the Kyoto University and Toyota research team said they have found a way to prevent electrode expansion, that is, to make electrodes with an alloy of cobalt, nickel and copper. However, the specific improvements have yet to be verified by experiments. As for when mass production can be achieved, it depends on the subsequent verification.

■  Hydrogen fuel cell - the eternal "big brother" in the field of power batteries

At present, hydrogen fuel cells have begun to take shape in the field of commercial vehicles and are gradually being used in the field of passenger vehicles. In Europe, the BMW Group first announced the technical details of the BMW i Hydrogen NEXT power system in April and will produce hydrogen fuel cell power systems on a small scale in 2022. BMW executives said that hydrogen fuel cell technology will become the fourth pillar of the BMW Group's power system product portfolio. In addition, Mercedes-Benz also launched its first hydrogen car, the GLC F-Cell, at the 2019 CES Asia.