A New Lithium-Metal Battery Takes Flight in Drones
SolidEnergy Systems, a spin-out from MIT, has developed a battery that it says has double the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. That means that a battery from SolidEnergy Systems could be half the size of a standard lithium-ion battery and hold the same amount of energy, or it could be the same size as a lithium-ion battery and hold twice as much energy.
From article, (A Massachusetts-based startup says it’s doing something that no other company has been able to pull off: selling lithium-metal batteries commercially.
And they’re appearing first in drones.
SolidEnergy Systems, a spin-out from MIT, has developed a battery that it says has double the energy density of current lithium-ion batteries. That means that a battery from SolidEnergy Systems could be half the size of a standard lithium-ion battery and hold the same amount of energy, or it could be the same size as a lithium-ion battery and hold twice as much energy.
The company, founded in 2012, has raised $50 million to date. That’s not a lot of capital to get a battery from the lab into a factory. The new funding will be spent on improving the battery tech and expanding manufacturing.
SolidEnergy System’s energy storage innovation is packed into a thin lithium-metal foil for the negative electrode, replacing the graphite that is commonly used in lithium-ion batteries.
The company’s batteries also use a semi-solid material for the electrolyte, replacing the flammable liquid usually found in lithium-ion batteries. The two-part breakthrough creates a battery with an energy density of 450 watt-hours per kilogram and 1,200 watt-hours per liter.
A recent report in the journal Nature, written by government scientists, suggests that the combination of the lithium-metal battery and a solid electrolyte could lead to a successor to the lithium-ion battery. The paper predicts that such batteries are at least a decade away.
However, SolidEnergy Systems is already selling batteries in low volumes today. Hu said the Nature paper is focused on the “perfect” battery, while batteries that are “good enough” are already arriving.
SolidEnergy System’s battery is more expensive than a lithium-ion battery. That’s largely because the new batteries are made in small volumes, said Hu. But drone makers are paying the premium in order to boost their flying times.
Down the road, Hu said the company’s lithium-metal battery will be the same cost as a lithium-ion battery. The Nature paper finds that with the right low-cost parts, lithium-metal battery cells could reach a cost of $100 per kilowatt-hour.)
No comments:
Post a Comment