Swedish researchers have developed a revolutionary battery material with the potential to massively increase electric vehicle range. Developed by scientists at Chalmers University of Technology, the novel electric vehicle battery material could help to mitigate one of the largest barriers to EV adoption; range anxiety.
EVs generally can’t travel as far as petrol and diesel cars on a single charge (or a full tank). One of the reasons the average electric car has significantly less range than a comparable internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle is its massive weight.
Electric cars weigh around 30% more than ICE vehicles, largely due to their bulky batteries, and a decent chunk of their energy is spent propelling all this mass forward.
The novel material may alleviate this key issue in quite an interesting way. Chalmers University of Technology researchers say their material can boost electric vehicle range by a whopping 70%. Interestingly, this boost in range comes from the material being lighter, not more energy-dense than conventional EV battery materials.
It has an energy density of 30 Wh/kg (Watt-hour per kilogram) compared to 150-250 Wh/kg for nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries and 90-160 Wh/kg for lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries.
Also referred to as a ‘structural battery,’ the material is made of a carbon fiber composite with aluminum-level tensile strength. This means that in addition to serving as energy storage, it also offers structural support and can be integrated into the vehicle’s overall structure for support.
The material’s exceedingly lightweight and high tensile strength, coupled with its energy storage capabilities, give it a dual structural and energy role that could make it a game changer if it is applied to production model electric cars. Automakers could integrate it into an electric car’s structure, cutting the vehicle’s overall weight, increasing efficiency, and providing a massive boost in range.
It could finally help carmakers fix an issue that has plagued electric vehicle development for over a decade. The energy gains made from increasing an EV battery’s size are canceled out by the commensurate increase in weight. With most of the additional range being used to propel the extra weight, increasing an EV battery’s size rarely yields any tangible benefits.
Since the battery accounts for up to a quarter of an electric vehicle’s weight, using a lightweight battery material that also provides structural support to the car can help manufacturers cut EV weight by a wide margin and increase efficiency drastically.
Adopting this new material could help carmakers develop lighter electric cars with energy-dense batteries and potentially massive ranges. Lighter EVs will also put less strain on their tires, resulting in less wear and tear on the wheels and lower maintenance costs. However, the technology is still in its infancy and still has a long way to go.
It would be interesting to see how this new battery material would help major EV makers like Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) to reach even more market segments that their pricey models had been unable to penetrate.
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