New Energy-Dense Battery Could Enable Long-Distance Electric Cars
Material changes enable a new battery to store more electricity--and could boost the driving range of electric vehicles
By David Biello | February 27, 2012 |
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.A company founded in the Palo Alto public library has taken a dose of government money and technology and turned it into the most energy-dense battery ever. Envia System's new lithium-ion battery packs roughly twice as much energy per gram as present batteries, the company will announce here at the third annual summit of the Advanced Research Projects AgencyEnergy (ARPAe).
"We achieved 400 watt-hours per kilogram," explains materials scientist Sujeet Kumar, Envia co-founder and chief technology officer. "We have made a 40 ampere cell in a large format that automakers can recognize and use," and one that has been validated by independent energy density tests at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Ind.
With a $4 million grant from ARPAe, the Envia technology builds on work done at Argonne National Laboratory that found that including manganese in a mix of materials for the cathodethe electrode to which the lithium ions flockbetter energy densities could be achieved. The team then switched focus to the anodethe electrode from which lithium ions flow to produce the electric currentand boosted its performance by incorporating silicon along with the typical graphite.
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