Transportation Storage

PolyPlus Battery Company is developing the world's first commercially available rechargeable lithium-air (Li-Air) battery. Li-Air batteries are better than the Li-Ion batteries used in most EVs today because they breathe in air from the atmosphere for use as an active material in the battery, which greatly decreases its weight. Li-Air batteries also store nearly 700% as much energy as traditional Li-Ion batteries. A lighter battery would improve the range of EVs dramatically.

Applied Materials is developing new tools for manufacturing Li-Ion batteries that could dramatically increase their performance. Traditionally, the positive and negative terminals of Li-Ion batteries are mixed with glue-like materials called binders, pressed onto electrodes, and then physically kept apart by winding a polymer mesh material between them called a separator. With the Applied Materials system, many of these manually intensive processes will be replaced by next generation coating technology to apply each component.

Planar Energy Devices is developing a new production process where lithium-ion batteries would be printed as a thin film onto sheets of metal or plastic. Thin-film printing methods could revolutionize battery manufacturing, allowing for smaller, lighter, and cheaper EV batteries. Typically, a battery’s electrolyte—the material that actually stores energy within the cell—is a liquid or semi-liquid; this makes them unsuitable for use in thin-film printing. Planar is working with a ceramic-based gel electrolyte that is better suited for printing.

Scientists at 24M Technologies are crossing a Li-Ion battery with a fuel cell to develop a semi-solid flow battery. This system relies on some of the same basic chemistry as a standard Li-Ion battery, but in a flow battery the energy storage material is held in external tanks, so storage capacity is not limited by the size of the battery itself. The design makes it easier to add storage capacity by simply increasing the size of the tanks and adding more paste. In addition, 24M's design also is able to extract more energy from the semi-solid paste than conventional Li-Ion batteries.

Stanford University is developing an all-electron battery that would create a completely new class of energy storage devices for EVs. Stanford’s all-electron battery stores energy by moving electrons rather than ions. Electrons are lighter and faster than the ion charge carriers in conventional Li-Ion batteries. Stanford’s all-electron battery also uses an advanced structural design that separates critical battery functions, which increases both the life of the battery and the amount of energy it can store.

Pellion Technologies is developing rechargeable magnesium batteries that would enable an EV to travel 3 times farther than it could using Li-ion batteries. Prototype magnesium batteries demonstrate excellent electrochemical behavior, delivering thousands of charge cycles with very little fade. Nevertheless, these prototypes have always stored too little energy to be commercially viable. Pellion Technologies is working to overcome this challenge by rapidly screening potential storage materials using proprietary, high-throughput computer models.

Recapping is developing a capacitor that could rival the energy storage potential and price of today's best EV batteries. When power is needed, the capacitor rapidly releases its stored energy, similar to lightning being discharged from a cloud. Capacitors are an ideal substitute for batteries if their energy storage capacity can be improved. Recapping is addressing storage capacity by experimenting with the material that separates the positive and negative electrodes of its capacitors. These separators could significantly improve the energy density of electrochemical devices.

ReVolt Technology is developing a rechargeable zinc-air battery that could offer 300-500% more storage capacity than today’s Li-Ion batteries at half their cost. Zinc-air batteries could be much more inexpensive, lightweight, and energy dense than Li-Ion batteries because air—one of the battery’s main reactants—does not need to be housed inside the battery. This frees up more space for storage. Zinc-air batteries have not been commercially viable for use in EVs because they typically cannot be recharged, complicating vehicle “refueling”.

Sion Power is developing a lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery, a potentially cost-effective alternative to the Li-Ion battery that could store 400% more energy per pound. All batteries have 3 key parts—a positive and negative electrode and an electrolyte—that exchange ions to store and release electricity. Using different materials for these components changes a battery's chemistry and its ability to power a vehicle. Traditional Li-S batteries experience adverse reactions between the electrolyte and lithium-based negative electrode that ultimately limit the battery to less than 50 charge cycles.