US company launches new battery: cost less than half of lithium battery

On June 21, media reported that Alsym Energy, a US electric vehicle battery startup, launched a battery storage solution that will provide the performance of lithium-ion batteries at a very low cost without the risk of fire. It is said to cost less than half of lithium batteries .

The company has not yet disclosed the specific chemical composition of the new battery, but according to Xiao Lei, the cathode of this battery is mainly manganese oxide, the anode is another metal oxide, and the electrolyte is water-based. The battery company said that the new battery does not use lithium, cobalt or nickel to minimize problems related to material supply and cost.

(Picture from Tesla official)

Everyone knows that, whether it is a hybrid or pure electric vehicle, the current mainstream power battery is mainly lithium-ion battery, the most common of which are lithium iron phosphate and ternary lithium . In fact, various power battery suppliers are also working hard to find solutions to replace lithium batteries, but judging from the current progress, either the stability has not been verified or the energy density has not met the requirements, and there is still a long way to go before formal mass production and commercial use.

Even with the development of lithium batteries, spontaneous combustion and explosions are still unavoidable. Recently, bloggers on social platforms have reported spontaneous combustion of new energy vehicles from time to time , which has made many netizens afraid of new energy vehicles. Although the fire rate of fuel vehicles is also not low, the recent series of electric vehicle fire news will obviously make consumers hesitate.

Xiao Lei once reported that due to the relatively unstable chemical structure of ternary lithium, if the thermal management system of the car is not well done, the probability of fire is higher. As for lithium iron phosphate, it can be almost non-self-igniting, but it does not mean that it will not catch fire at all.

On the other hand, the popularity of new energy vehicles is increasing, and the demand for lithium batteries is also increasing, resulting in a shortage of related raw materials and a surge in cost prices. Many car companies cannot afford the rising battery prices and have raised the prices of new energy vehicles by thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan, which is even more terrible than the price of oil.

To this end, battery manufacturers and car companies have begun to design new batteries, trying to reduce dependence on materials such as lithium ore , cobalt, and nickel, and control costs. Now there is a new type of battery that can get rid of the above materials, with extremely low cost and performance comparable to lithium batteries. Xiao Lei believes that after mass production, it will greatly improve the problem of electric vehicles becoming more and more expensive. I hope it will be put into mass production as soon as possible.