Battery Generation

In this episode of the "Battery Generation", we dive deep into the world of AI-powered battery research with Dr. Mohsen Sotoudeh, a leading scientist working at the cutting edge of theoretical modeling for next-generation battery materials.

Dr. Sotoudeh uses artificial intelligence and quantum mechanical simulations to predict promising material combinations. His mission? To provide chemists and experimentalists with the most attractive candidates for future battery breakthroughs - from solid-state electrolytes to novel electrode materials.

💡 What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How AI and theoretical models accelerate battery material discovery
• The workflow from simulation to synthesis and
• The role of interdisciplinary collaboration in battery innovation
• Challenges and opportunities in merging AI with chemistry

Our guest for today's show is Prof. Stefano Passerini. As battery researcher he works for the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Vienna, he is the former director of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) and Senior Distinguished Fellow of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are emerging as a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries, primarily due to the abundance and affordability of sodium compared to lithium. Recent research has focused on enhancing their performance to make them viable for various applications, including stationary battery container parks and light electric vehicles.​

Researchers have made significant strides in developing novel cathode and anode materials to improve the energy density and lifespan of SIBs. Innovations include the use of layered transition metal oxides and hard carbon anodes, which have shown improved capacity and stability. Additionally, advancements in electrolyte formulations have contributed to enhanced conductivity and battery longevity. ​

For Europe, Sodium-ion technology is gaining strategic importance, especially in the context of reducing reliance on lithium, which is predominantly sourced from regions with geopolitical constraints. European battery researchers are investing in the development of SIBs to enhance energy security and reduce dependence on lithium imports. Sodium's abundance within Europe is seen as a potential game-changer for domestic battery production. ​

While SIBs currently offer lower energy density compared to lithium-ion batteries, ongoing research aims to bridge this gap. Researcher's forecast suggests that sodium-ion batteries could capture about 10% of annual global energy storage additions by 2030, particularly in applications where cost-effectiveness and the use of locally sourced materials are prioritized. ​

A seawater sodium-ion (Na) battery is an energy storage device that uses seawater as a key electrolyte, utilizing the abundant sodium ions found in seawater instead of the more expensive and scarce lithium. The battery operates by extracting sodium ions from the seawater during charging and storing them in the anode. During discharge, the ions return to the cathode, releasing energy. Seawater Na batteries are considered environmentally friendly and cost-effective due to the abundance of sodium. However, challenges like improving energy density and longevity remain, with ongoing research aiming to enhance their performance for large-scale energy storage.

Before purchasing a second-hand battery-electric vehicle, every buyer and seller asks themselves how the battery state of health (SoH) can be determined as precisely as possible.

First services, such as the "Aviloo Device", are already being offered in order to externally check the condition of the battery. But wouldn't it be much more interesting if there was a kind of "digital twin" of this exact battery that automatically saves all the information needed? A kind of "universal protocol" that provides the SoH - regardless of the manufacturer?

Here is the kicker: Such a "Battery Twin Model" could not only store all the important information, but also provides useful tips on how to handle this individual battery in real-time and in the future. (1) How to charge, (2) How to use the battery better and even (3) Predict its own service life under certain conditions. Brilliant, if such a thing existed!

Meanwhile, there are countless tips on the internet about the Do's and Don't of battery charging. But even research has not yet been able to provide a universal model that applies to every cell chemistry, every cell format, every charging profile, cooling system and type of use.

Our guest for today is Dr. Billy Wu. He is a Reader (Associate Professor) and Director of Research in the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. He works in the area of electrochemical design engineering.

Our guest for today's episode is John S. Kem, President of American Battery Factory. ABF is currently building up a 4-GWh LFP gigafactory in Tucson, Arizona. A business approach, you wouldnt necessarily see in Europe.

Asking John Kem about strong Chinese battery cell competitors such as BYD or CATL doesn't upset him much: The market for lithium-iron phosphate cells is growing largely within the US. Plus, in times of America-First politics the need for a domestic battery cell production seems to be substantial. So why not ramp-up an LFP line in Arizona?

LFP cells (compared to NMC battery cells) are considered to be much more (1) cost effective, (2) more durable, (3) more environmentally friendly and (4) safer. That's why John Kem is certain that there will be many battery producers in the United States building stationary storage systems in the foreseeable future.

https://americanbatteryfactory.com/

How battery modeling saves unnecessary investments and time! Today, we are talking to Gavin White (CEO About:Energy), a #battery software company from London. About:Energy operates an interesting business model!

(1) The startup is testing numerous commercially available battery cells in order to publish reliable data for European OEMs. Prior to a purchase deal between a car OEM and a cell manufacturer, About:Energy's data is an important external opinion, checking the battery's datasheet. The cell library "Voltt" serves as a cell library, battery producers may get licensed to.

(2) About:Energy helps manufacturers with their cell modelings, directly! By this approach, the lifespan of fresh cells could be prolonged. The cell models suggest different paths in research and development. Plus, they can reveal new unique selling points for the manufacturer.

Moreover, About:Energy offers a Battery #Pack configurator: Apparently, lots of European OEMs still struggle to build their battery packs without any help of modeling. About:Energy's solution, the configurator, provides reliable pack data such as temperatures, current flows, voltage models and physical circuit suggestions, so framework conditions and safety requirements can be met.

Source: https://www.aboutenergy.io

As electric vehicles are getting more popular battery technology has become a focus of interest. EV owners regularly ask themselves how to treat a vehicle’s battery. How should an EV be charged, parked or driven if the inside batteries should be kept in best possible shape?

Prof. David Howey from the University of Oxford researches topics such as the degradation of batteries and battery state of health. This follow-up podcast deals with the following user questions.

1) How to „use batteries better“ with battery lifetime models 2) How can a commercially battery be measured? 3) Battery heating and cooling systems in Chinese EVs 4) Best temperature for LFP home storage battery systems 5) Less battery degradation when keeping your EV in the shade? 6) „Rebooting a battery“ after deep discharging? 7) How to recover a battery’s capacity? 8) Problems with a State of Charge algorithm 9) Charging algorithms for EVs at public charging stations 10) The impact of fast charging on a battery state of health 11) Will we ever see „forever batteries“? 12) Battery Models for grid storage systems: Lifetime vs. expected Revenue

Dear listeners, thank you so much for sending in all your questions. We unfortunately couldnt deal with all of them.

Prof. David Howey at the University of Oxford https://eng.ox.ac.uk/people/david-howey/

Battery manufacturers around the world have been announcing solid-state cells for its groundbreaking characteristics. Yes, we see multiple outstanding (almost-) solid-state lab cells (some of which are already on the market!) but the high expectations have never really met reality: Not a single car manufacturer is currently placing all-solid-state cells in their EVs. So, whats taking them so long?

Our podcast guest Prof. Jennifer Rupp researches solid state materials for sustainable energy storage and conversion. Her research on batteries is currently centered on designing novel classes of lithium solid state conductors, inventing cheap battery solid state synthesis routes for new hybrid and solid cell designs and defining cyber-physical battery synthesis and high throughput analytics.

We ask her how solid-state batteries work and what types of ASSBs (All-Solid-State-Batteries) could deliver tomorrow's best performance. Obviously, like in current lithium-ion batteries, the interplay between anode, cathode and electrolyte is mystery but determinant of success at the same time.

So what material approaches for solid state electrolytes batteries are the experts talking about? Solid electrolytes can be divided into organic and inorganic electrolytes. For inorganic electrolytes, the advantages for safety are predominant as they are non-flammable and do not contain toxic materials. Oxide-based electrolytes usually have good chemical stability and are compatible with high-energy cathode materials. However, the ion conductivity is lower than for sulfide-based electrolytes. Sulfide-based electrolytes generally have a higher ionic conductivity, but are more chemically unstable. For more, click in, tune in and stay charged!

Links: https://www.ch.tum.de/ch/fakultaet/personen/aktive-mitglieder/r/prof-dr-jennifer-rupp/

This podcast episode deals with an energy storage technology that is still underestimated in materials science: Hybrid battery supercaps. Supercaps are installed, for example, for regenerative braking (recuperation) in vehicles such as buses, trains, cranes and trains. These powerful energy storage systems are also found in wind turbines. Now, the Estonian company Skeleton Technologies invented a new hybrid form of "battery supercaps".

Dr. Sebastian Pohlmann is Vice President of Business Development at Skeleton Technologies. Skeleton is a developer and manufacturer of energy storage devices for transport, grid and automotive applications.

There is few, but they do already exist today: Hybrid battery supercaps. The Estonian materials researchers are trying to take advantage of the characteristics of both worlds: The power density of supercaps and the energy density of batteries. This is historically not groundbreaking - but seems more promising than ever.

Skeleton's "SuperBattery" achieve up to 50,000 charging cycles with ultra-fast 1-minute charging. The "SuperBattery" - like every supercapacitor - is said to be free of cobalt, copper, nickel, and soon to be used in public transportation vehicles (i.e., buses, trucks) and charging infrastructure. The company is also hoping to soon equip large mining and off-road machines with its battery.

Link: https://www.skeletontech.com/superbattery

As Asian and Western battery manufacturers see India as a super attractive consumer market, India itself is trying to empower its own domestic battery producers. According to Prof. Amreesh Chandra, a growing part of India's young battery industry takes a bet on a specific domestic battery material mix: Sodium-ion batteries.

Subscribe to our Battery Generation Podcast: https://batterygeneration.podigee.io

These cell innovations rely on sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide (electrolyte) as well as aluminum (current collectors), iron phosphate (cathode) and hard carbons (anode). "All of these materials can be mined, produced and deployed by companies in India, says Prof. Amreesh Chandra. His research at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) proves the following advantages of sodium-ion batteries for electric bikes:

India's Sodium-Ion Batteries 1) Enough energy density for electric bikes 2) ~30% cheaper than lithium-ion battery imports 3) Sustainable mining, production and manufacturing 4) Great rechargability power density characteristics

Prof. Dr. Maitane Berecibar is an expert for self-healing cell properties and battery sensors. She is the head of the Battery Innovation Center in the MOBI research group at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). Her expertise of the Battery Innovation Center includes emerging battery technologies, battery manufacturing, self-healing properties, sensor integration, modeling activities (electrochemical, thermal, electrical, lifetime), cooling system development, second life and safety. And that is what she is talking about.

The advantages of self-healing batteries and sensors are obvious: Very stable, sustainable, long-living, smart and safe batteries that provide valuable data for a secondary life. Sounds wonderful! But, Prof. Berecibar is not afraid of hiding the technology's downsides: Right now, scientists are still developing concept lab cells, that are yet quite expensive, complex to build and difficult to understand.

One of the most significant questions for the battery industry remains unclear, though. Is it possible to scale up self-healing battery production while implementing life-time prolonging properties to each and every cell chemistry, individually? And, why would a battery manufacturer actually consider selling "forever batteries" in the first place (serious question!)?

Our podcast guest for this episode is Prof. David Howey. He is a British Professor of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford and holds a Tutorial Fellow at St Hilda’s College. His research is focused on modelling and managing energy storage systems, for electric vehicles (EVs) as well as grid and off-grid power systems.

Battery state of health (SOH) is a measurement that indicates the level of degradation and remaining capacity of the battery. Expressed in a simple way, it describes the difference between the health of a new battery and the health of a used battery. Typically, this is represented as a percentage of its initial capacity and performance.

According to Prof. Howey's expectations, most EV batteries are projected to last hundreds of charging cycles (most LiBs) without a noticeable loss in SOH. However, EV batteries do age over time even if the battery isn't used at all.

Apparently, there are always minor losses in battery capacity: Especially fast charging does harm the battery in case of a bad thermal battery management. At higher temperatures, one of the effects on lithium-ion batteries' is greater charging performance & lower degradation. That's why many EVs heat their batteries up before charging them at higher speeds. In winter times, when temperatures are low outside, this can get quite important when looking at a high life-expectancy of an EV's battery.

As supply chains of battery materials are fragile, raw materials are getting expensive. At the same time vast amounts of old done (cobalt-rich) batteries are available for a circular economy. That's why battery recycling is getting more and more attention! Plus, the EU Battery Regulation now forces battery makers to strictly follow sustainability rules, anyways. Let's have a look at the recycling plans of Sweden's largest battery maker Northvolt.

Our podcast guest on this episode is Prof. Emma Nehrenheim. She is a Professor for Environmental Engineering at Mälardalen University. As an academic researcher and industry innovator she wants to deliver the world's greenest battery for her employer. She summarizes her innovation efforts as follows: “It’s clear to me that batteries are the enabler to so much of [my] vision for electrification, but there are better and worse ways to build a battery from an environmental perspective."

The "better way" of "building a battery" includes a functioning recycling strategy. Fortunately, scienists optimized two very sophisticated paths of how to recycle a useless, done battery: They are based on either (1) pyrometallurgic recycling and/or (2) hydrometallurgic recycling technologies. Pyrometallurgic techniques are already frequently used to get back common battery materials. But this comes with an enormous energy input. Northvolt‘s hydrometallurgical recycling technology on the other side retrieves lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other metals from its black mass. The process produces these metals at a rather high grade so they can be used to create new batteries afterwards. The hydromet technology works with all formats and chemistries of lithium-ion batteries and can recover almost all batteries’ materials. The following high-performing metal products produced from this black mass come with battery-grade purity levels: (1) Lithium carbonate, (2) Cobalt sulfate, (3) Nickel sulfate, (4) Manganese carbonate.

Link: https://northvolt.com/articles/meet-emma-nehrenheim/

Today we are talking to James Eaton. He is the CEO of a British tier one battery pack company, named Ionetic. His company manufactures packs, modules and designs custom-made solutions for minor automotive OEMs. James Eaton spent four years working in battery pack research at Imperial College London. Ionetic‘s goal is to „help automotive companies make the electrification transition with great engineering solutions at a price point they can afford."

Ionetic uses its ARC battery pack design platform in order to file their customer's needs and requirements. The plattform then delivers suggestions of electronic architectures, number of cells, chemistries and all other characteristics in terms of height, width and length. With this approach, Ionetic reaches a plus in performance and a decrease in volume.

Many existing commercially available battery packs have energy densities of around 150 Wh/kg. A Tesla Model 3 for example has a module energy density of 197Wh/kg and a pack energy density of 156Wh/kg. That is considered high-price battery technology. With its efforts to decrease unused volume waste Ionetic states to have constructed a battery module with "an energy density of 226Wh/kg." And a "pack energy density of at least 180Wh/kg is targeted.“

"Cell to Pack" vs. "Cell to Vehicle"

Ionetic's business of "Cell to Pack Design“ is based on not wasting packaging matrial and using as much space as possible within the battery module/pack. "Cell to Vehicle (so, filling up every inch of the vehicle‘s body with cells) requires much more communication between engineers", says James Eaton, "and is more expensive and potentially more difficult for maintenance and safety."

New battery materials must indisputably improve sustainability standards with respect to mining, transport, processing and recycling. This is where "multivalent batteries" come into play!

Multivalent batteries are electrochemical storage technologies that employ "multivalent ions", e.g., Mg2+, Ca2+, Zn2+, Al3+ as the active charge carrier in the battery electrolytes as well as in the battery anodes & cathodes. Materials such as magnesium, calcium, zinc or aluminum are much more abundant compared to materials inside a traditional lithium-ion battery.

Our podcast guest is emphasizing another aspect: Multivalent batteries theoretically even provide greater energy density and storage capacity! This is due to their greater valency. Our guest expert, Prof. Dr. M. Rosa Palacín Peiro is a Spanish battery researcher at the "Institute of Materials Science" of Barcelona. She is a member of the "Alistore ERI" Network of Excellence, the President of the "International Battery Association" (IBA) and a member of the Governing Board for "Batteries Europe" (European Commission). She explains why multivalent batteries will be driven by the speed of research, sustainability, supply chains and price!

Multivalent Charge Carriers - Download a chapter on multivalent batteries for the Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry: https://hiu-batteries.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Encyclopedia_Electrochemistry.pdf

Headlines on multivalent battery cell chemistries:

1) https://www.engineering.com/story/amid-record-lithium-prices-battery-researchers-turn-to-calcium

2) https://www.newscientist.com/article/2336296-battery-made-of-crab-shell-and-zinc-is-rechargeable-and-biodegradable/

3) https://www.deccanherald.com/science-and-environment/revving-up-energy-storage-systems-1137548.html

4) https://www.intelligentliving.co/battery-made-of-salt-sulfur-and-aluminum/

Fastned is a Dutch company that operates a network of over 100 EV charging stations in the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Switzerland. A large majority of its stations are located at Dutch highway rest areas.

Roland van der Put is Fastned's Head of Charging Technology. In this podcast he explains why Scandinavia, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany and France are making such great process - and why other countries are not. Van der Put displays the interaction between the charger, EV batteries and the onboard battery management system (BMS). Apparently every EV model provides a specific charging protocoll for the battery that decides on how fast the EV is being charged. He talks about AC/DC differences and how high occuring currents at charging points are being managed. And why induction charging and the concept of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) still lies far ahead.

The interview was recorded in July 2022. All information given in the podcast relates to this point in time.

This is a follow-up podcast of Prof. Passerini's previous talk on Sodium Ion Batteries: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuZ9CrTnYLA

Momentum is on the side of Sodium Ion Batteries! As prices are rising for lithium ion battery materials, such as Nickel, Cobalt and Lithium among a few others, demand for alternative materials is getting louder. The first manufacturers (CATL, Tiamat, Faradion, Natron Energy) all claim to have found a unique way of substituting lithium ion batteries with SIB cell chemistry. In fact, these batteries dont show any great downsides at all: Lifespan, Performance, Capacity are comparable to LIB technology. So, the major driving factors are safety and costs. Plus, sustainability issues such as material sourcing, abundance and mining are supposedly much less problematic compared to lithium-based batteries. Production expenses are as well pretty similar to those ones existing. Only drop of bitterness: Some cathode materials could be toxic in some forms. And: The less valuable electrode materials are designed, battery recycling doesnt really pay off.

Our guest Dr. Doron Myersdorf is one of the founders of StoreDot, an Israeli developer of lithium-ion batteries. When researching StoreDot as a company, one cannot get past the profound history of breakthrough announcements claiming to have developed disruptive battery materials. These battery materials were supposedly able of being rechargeable within a few minutes by 2020, latest. Plus, performance, capacity, lifespan, safety, sustainability and prices pointed out great research results. Unfortunately, the company's plans were thwarted time and time again.

In 2019, StoreDot started developing silicon-based batteries. The company has publically tested that material in April 2022: A corporate video shows a standard pouch cell's capability of charging 100 miles in 5 minutes, and 200 miles in 10 minutes. In this podcast we talk about this innovation and display StoreDot's vision to co-invent green battery materials with its partners and investors.

StoreDot was in negotiations in March 2021 for a SPAC merger at a $3.5 billion valuation. A further funding round of 70 million dollars in 2022 gave the company a $1.5 billion valuation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoCSw6LODCM https://www.hiu-batteries.de/en/ https://www.celest.de/en/

The Swedish Battery Manufacturer Northvolt has become one of the biggest European battery supplier for EV markets. In June 2021, companies such as the BMW Group, Volkswagen Group, among other European OEMs, have announced they would invest in the company. In total, the investments sum up to 1 billion US dollars - or more.

The company is currently building a battery gigafactory in Skellefteå, Sweden. The first #battery from Skellefteå Gigafactory was assembled in December 2021, the production for commercial uses is planned to start in 2022. Northvolt's plan is to increase production capacity as large as 32 gigawatt-hours by 2023. The factory will be "the largest in Swedish history", creating challenges for newcomers and the existing community.

Northvolt also recently announced to build a secondary gigafactory in Heide, Germany. Powered by the cleanest electricity grid in Germany, Northvolt "Drei" is supposedly positioned to produce the cleanest batteries in continental Europe with capacity up to 60 GWh, #Northvolt stated.

https://www.hiu-batteries.de/en/ https://www.celest.de/en/

Bam! In July 2021 the largest Chinese manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries CATL ("Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited") unveiled its latest breakthrough technology by releasing its first generation of sodium-ion batteries (SIBs).

Based on a series of innovations in the chemistry system, CATL’s first generation of SIBs has the advantages of comparatively high-energy density, fast-charging capability, great low-temperature performance and high-integration efficiency, among others.

The energy density of CATL’s SIB cell can supposedly achieve up to 160Wh/kg, and the battery can charge in 15 minutes to 80% at room temperature. Moreover, in a low-temperature environment of -20°C, the sodium-ion battery has a capacity retention rate of more than 90%, and its system integration efficiency can reach more than 80%. These are impressive results when comparing to nowadays lithium-ion battery performance numbers.

We asked our guest Prof. Dr. Stefano Passerini to take a stand regarding the latest research findings on SIBs. What are the main differences concerning the abundance of the used materials, sustainability, recycling, price, energy density and safety issues.

https://www.hiu-batteries.de/en/ https://www.celest.de/en/

Electric Vehicle markets in Europe are rapidly growing. Many manufacturers are already building gigafactories to soon produce millions of batteries for electric vehicles! Nevertheless, there are still critics who do not "believe" in the overall benefits that come with EVs: The range of these vehicles is still too short, safety issues unsolved, battery recycling seems to be a problem, cost development is uncertain - and especially sustainabily matters remain unanswered. Is that true?

Well, our guest Prof. Dr. Maximilian Fichtner has a clear opinion on all these myths. "An electric vehicle is surely not the ultimate solution of all the world's current climate problems. But, most of the popular disadvantages of EVs, that are still being told, are fairy tales that might have been true 10 or 15 years ago", he states. "Neither safety, nor costs, nor material shortages nor charging issues will hinder emobility from prospering. EVs are simply environmentally more friendly than combustion engine cars: "When you buy an electric vehicle today, you are most certain to less harm the environment in a very short amount of range and time - compared to an ICE car."

In this episode we ask our guest Prof. Dr. Maximilian Fichtner which hurdles the emobility has yet to take and of course, we wondered which cell chemistries are being used in future batteries.

https://www.hiu-batteries.de/en/ https://www.celest.de/en/