Who’s Ahead in the Battery Race? - lithium ion battery pack

In the competition for the next generation of batteries, lithium-
In recent years, the ion technology has made a great leap.
But the power sets still have drawbacks: they use raw materials that are mined in unstable countries, they can be dangerous if they break, and they can pack more power supplies.
Solving these problems is the focus of hundreds of companies and thousands of scientists around the world.
In this crowded area, Tesla
A French billionaire and a Massachusetts-based startup are struggling.
Jeff Chamberlain, chief executive of Volta energy technologies LLC, said: "The next step is to improve performance, maintain more energy, and last longer at a lower cost . " Investment funds focused on the next generation
Generation storage.
"Hundreds of millions, if not billions, are used for research.
Here's a list of the most promising players and the technology to make and sell these future batteries today.
To control costs and reputational risks, battery manufacturers are working to minimize the cobalt content in their equipment.
The problem with Cobaltis is that it is mainly mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country that has been a conflict zone for decades.
According to Denton commodities Co. , Ltd. , while most of the material was extracted in commercial mines, about 15 percentage estimates come from manual mines that often use child labor
As a result, companies are under increasing pressure to be able to track where their cobalt is coming from and prove that it is a source of ethics.
This is easier said than done, because most minerals are processed in China, where materials from different mines are mixed together without distinction.
"Unfortunately, cobalt is good at maintaining the structure of the material, just like the cement of the battery," said James Frith, energy storage analyst at Bloomberg NEF.
"It prevents the deterioration of chemicals during the charging and discharge phases.
The Congolese government recently said it would raise producer taxes for the second time this year.
Instability in the supply chain, coupled with rapidly growing material demand
The growth in the electric vehicle industry has led to a peak of $44 in cobalt prices.
In late April, the pound more than doubled from $10.
60 in early 2016.
The metal is currently trading at $34 a pound.
According to the company, Tesla's current batteries for its Model 3 cars and power walls currently contain less than 3% of cobalt.
This is less than what leading Asian manufacturers are targeting for the future.
The company began production in last June, increasing production according to its Model 3 production, which is scheduled to reach 500,000 units in 2018.
Tesla said in August that it would produce 20 gigawatts-
It takes several hours of battery every year.
"The cobalt content of our nickel --Cobalt-
The cathode chemistry of aluminum has been lower than that-
"Other battery producers will produce a generation of cathode," Tesla CEOElon musk said at a recent shareholder call . ".
"We don't think we can get cobalt almost anything.
"While there are some smaller companies that are working on and making batteries that don't have any cobalt, from lithium Werks in the Netherlands to the United StatesS.
Conamix, a startup, did not produce products close to Tesla's size.
LG Chemical Co. , Ltd. Korea chemical giant
20% cobalt batteries are currently produced.
It aims to halve it between 2020 and 2021.
SK Innovation Co. , Ltd.
According to a spokesman, Seoul has completed the development of a battery with 10% cobalt, but it has not yet succeeded.
Battery failure is often News as the power pack catches fire.
The Samsung smartphone and Boeing Dreamliner events are hard to forget.
Electric vehicle batteries are also vulnerable to this effect when they hit the power pack.
This is because of the liquid electrolyte.
This is a flammable solution that transfers the charge from one end of the battery to the other.
It can ignite if it leaks.
To avoid this, battery manufacturers are trying to switch it to solid material.
Blue Solutions is a division of the bolllore Group, a French company owned by billionairevenent bolllore, leading in the field of solid-state batteries and already has two factories
This sector has attracted nearly $0. 4 billion in capital in recent months.
Ion materials, a start-up based in the United StatesS.
Committed to replacing liquid with plastic, raised $65 million in Series C financing earlier this year.
Renault-Nissan-
Investors include Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Total and Hitachi.
This summer, Volkswagen will invest $100 million in QuantumScape, a California company that develops similar equipment.
The automaker says it hopes to build a production line for the technology by 2025.
Blue Solutions have produced solid state batteries on a commercial scale.
Its plants in northern France and Canada are producing 500 megawatts of electricity.
The annual packaging time is enough to power 10,000 electric vehicles.
It has established partnerships with automakers such as Daimler and Citroen and engineering company manusin Manugistique.
A spokesman for Blue Solutions said in an email that the company is working to "introduce our battery technology into existing products ".
"We still have to convince new customers that it's right for them to choose the first solid-state lithium metal battery available.
"Blue Solutions plans to launch an upgraded version of its solid-state battery, which is expected to store more than 40% of its energy in the second half of 2019.
The ultimate goal of the battery is to encapsulate the maximum power into a very small and light space.
This is the source of energy density.
The more power the battery stores, the longer the car's battery life, the more time the phone or laptop will last between charging.
Weight is also the key.
The lighter the machine, the less energy it needs to push.
This is particularly important for the automotive, drone and emerging electric aircraft industries.
Pellion Technologies, a startup based in Massachusetts, produces a battery that says can store twice the power of a traditional battery pack.
The company started shipping to customers last quarter and plans to increase production by 10-fold next year.
Battery manufacturers are trying to increase the energy density by making an anode with other materials, which is part of the battery with negative electricity.
Now it's graphite, something in a pencil.
Researchers are replacing parts of it with silicon and a lithium called lithium metal.
Conventional batteries contain this element in the form of salt, but there is also a form of metal, which is often less stable.
"When you switch from graphite to silicon, you can significantly reduce the amount of material you need to make these anode," said Ravi Manghani, energy storage director at Wood Mackenzie limited . ". Research on GTM
"Turning it into lithium metal, we're talking about twice or three times the energy density.
"The battery of Pellion Technologies Inc. only uses lithium metal when it is charged, which makes manufacturing safe, according to chief executive David igersham.
Earlier this year, the company began selling it and ordered it for the first time in April.
Since then, it has made about 30,000 cells and is expected to increase to thousands next year.
Pellion's battery "can be made of any lithium --
"Ion manufacturing plant," said Ion lesham . ".
"We have a contractual manufacturing partnership that gives us the ability to expand capacity. ”—