Dozens of companies are striving to create a new type of battery: improve energy consumption, service life, accelerate the charging and make sure that the battery is discharged as slowly as possible. Huge sums are invested in new energy storage technologies - about $ 3 billion per year. According to estimates by the Swiss bank UBS, the energy storage market could grow to $ 426 billion over the next decade. High-tech talks about the development of energy storage technologies and why everything depends on the extraction of expensive elements.
What tasks do new technologies solve?
For the creation of lithium-ion technology, three scientists received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019. Indeed, thanks to their invention, the possibilities for the use of portable equipment (laptops, smartphones, tablets) have expanded. Today, more and more demands are placed on energy storage devices, and this prompts the search for new technologies. The balance between size, energy performance and price is important. The first two parameters can be adjusted in a wide range, but the price remains a serious obstacle. And the technologies that use lithium run up against a limitation: there is not so much lithium in nature, and its extraction is quite expensive. Progress in recent years is more about energy efficiency than quality. Although there are many developments, innovations do not reach the mass market as quickly.
The development of batteries for electric transport, warehouse equipment and the space industry is happening much faster. A technological breakthrough will also occur in the mass market, but for this, mobile manufacturers must choose device autonomy as a key element of added value. However, the wait will be long. The International Energy Agency estimates that lithium batteries will remain the main technology in the coming decades. New developments are expected to enter the market no earlier than 2025. But the foundation for future changes is already being laid, with the main trends being associated with fast charging technology, downsizing and increasing battery life.
Startups for fast charging
Fast charging technology includes three main points: charge algorithms, energy parameters, and conductor cross-section. If we are talking about mobile equipment, then its charging does not involve a variety of connectors and cables. Type-C has become the industry standard, so charging algorithms such as Power Delivery and Quick Charge come to the fore.
Their main task is to ensure that more energy is transmitted over the same wire, without exceeding the permissible current values (up to 3 A). But the device should not overheat during charging, so today they focus not only on increasing the charging voltage, but also on developing special algorithms that gradually reduce the power (as the battery restores the charge level). In addition, fast charging technology is becoming one of the points that ensure the" binding " of the consumer to the ecosystem of a particular manufacturer.
The canadian startup GBatteries is trying to solve the problem of fast charge replenishment using artificial intelligence. Fast charging takes place thanks to sequential micro-pulses of constantly changing current. There are smart algorithms that are built into charging stations: they determine when to send the next pulse and determine the voltage level so as not to harm the batteries. The technology is planned to be combined with the current generation of lithium-ion batteries. It is planned that thanks to the idea, the batteries of electric cars will be able to replenish the charge in 5-10 minutes. Canadians are also developing charging stations for other equipment.
Fast charging technology is also offered by the Israeli startup StoreDot. Instead of modifying how the charger works, they turned to the chemistry of the battery itself. Instead of graphite, tin, germanium, and silicon are used in combination with organic compounds. The battery charge used in the electric scooter was replenished in just five minutes. Experts are developing a battery for the phone that can replenish the charge just as quickly. The startup's investors include Mercedes Daimler and Samsung. However, again, the question is the price - initially the batteries will definitely not be cheap.
Startups promising super thin batteries
If we talk about lithium batteries, then the task of producing a battery with a thickness of about 1 mm is quite feasible. But if it is necessary to maintain capacity, the physical volume of the active substance in the battery must remain unchanged. The result is a slim but very wide battery. At the same time, the indicators of the energy efficiency of the device will be lower than that of its standard "counterparts".
Therefore, ultra-thin lithium batteries are in demand only in specific areas of instrumentation. When it comes to the mass market, compact devices are always in demand. For example, in the line of external batteries of the federal distribution network Energon, the Revolter 5000 model is only 5 mm thick, and such dimensions are already perceived by consumers as a super-thin format.
Among the technologies that will allow you to preserve battery capacity while reducing size are startups from Japan. For example, 3Dom (a startup that started in 2014 at the University of Tokyo). By 2022, the plans include the production of lithium metal batteries, which, with the same dimensions, are more efficient than modern lithium-ion batteries.
Japanese technology is based on replacing carbon materials with metallic lithium. This chemistry provides a higher energy density, but at the same time increases the risk of short circuits and fires.
Startups: for long service
There are many electrode materials that provide outstanding Cycling resistance — for example, LTO or NMC. But because of the cost, such batteries are not available for the General consumer market. And so far there are no prerequisites that the situation will change soon.
But changes are taking place — not only in the field of device chemistry, but also in controllers, charge management, and device energy efficiency. Working together, they significantly extend the life of batteries. Even Elon Musk, who likes to make bold promises, admitted that improving lithium-ion batteries is more promising than searching for completely new technologies.
Among the new technologies that are going to be offered to the market are batteries, where expensive metals are replaced by cheap and common substances. For example, the American startup Conamix promises to remove cobalt-an element that is mined in the Congo. The government of this Republic constantly raises the tax on raw materials. Current developments will reduce the content of this metal in batteries for electric vehicles from 20% to 4%.
How batteries slow down the development of promising technologies
Unfortunately, slow progress in the field of batteries largely limits the development of related industries. Smartphones, laptops, and electric cars are becoming more and more technologically "stuffed" and require more and more energy. For example, for an active smartphone user, the battery lasts for 6-8 hours. And on average, a Russian opens 10-12 apps every day. In this regard, the developers of the smartphones pick up energy-saving programs. Some manufacturers embed applications in the firmware by default, while others leave the choice to the user and offer to download them. If you get efficient batteries, you will be able to use the software more effectively.
Another direction is solar energy. Most installations take up a lot of space, and their cost is high. A well-known fact: the lion's share of the cost of deploying solar systems is associated with the purchase of batteries that will store energy. Therefore, cheaper and more energy-efficient storage devices would provide a much wider use of green technologies.
The search for efficient energy storage is also taking place in the field of solar energy. For example, researchers at Stanford University suggest an alternative - the use of biological systems. The technology involves the extraction of methane using the bacteria Methanococcus maripaludis. Then it is planned to be converted into electricity thanks to the existing infrastructure.
There are several reasons that are holding back more efficient new batteries. One of them is the extremely high development cost. According to Lux Research, on average, it takes up to $ 40 million over eight years to keep a startup looking for new energy storage and transportation solutions running. For example, the Japanese company New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization has allocated 90 million to create a new type of battery. But more often, startups have to seek funding. For example, StoreDot turned to crowdfunding, where it managed to attract $ 6.25 million in investments.
Replication of new developments will cost even more. It is estimated that about $ 500 million is required to create a new production line and solve related problems alone. Therefore, technologies that seem like miracles are not always developed quickly.
The introduction of new technologies is not quick. Indeed, more than 10 years have passed since the creation of stable lithium-ion batteries to the start of mass production.