The days of the lithium-ion battery as the juice and power in electric vehicles may be numbered. New and potentially revolutionary types of batteries are on the way from laboratories to mass production. But what can they do, when will they arrive, and how environmentally friendly will they be? Together with two of the leading experts on this topic, we take a closer look at four superb batteries in the making.

It is already a big and difficult decision – whether one dares to make the leap to an electric car.

Now, the choice may become even harder, as several major car manufacturers, including Toyota and VW, have announced that they are on the way with “super batteries” that can significantly extend the range and reduce both charging time and environmental footprint.

Should You Buy an EV Now?

But what is hype, what is reality, and when can you buy an affordable mid-range electric car that doesn’t weigh as much as an Indian elephant, and can devour over 1,000 kilometers of asphalt before needing to be “refueled”?

With the help of experts, we guide you through the jungle of upcoming battery technology for electric cars – one of them outright futuristic. But first, a bit of background.

Practically all of today’s electric cars are equipped with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. It is a technology that was developed over 30 years ago. They first found use in mobile phones and other handheld electronics, and from there spread to modern electric cars.

Even though both efficiency, safety, and environmental impact have dramatically improved over the years – and continue to do so – there are still a number of challenges with lithium-ion batteries:

  • In the worst case, they can catch fire, because the so-called electrolyte that conducts the electricity is an organic and therefore flammable liquid.
  • Even though the amount has been continuously reduced, they lay claim to environmentally harmful and in some cases quite rare and expensive raw materials such as cobalt, graphite, and lithium.
  • Lithium-ion batteries are relatively heavy. For example, the battery in a Tesla Model 3 weighs up to half a ton – more than half of a typical mini car, for example, a Toyota Aygo.

But then there are the new batteries in the making. In this regard, I ally myself with two experts, an engineer, lecturer and energy researcher, and an energy professor.

The Solid-State Battery

Since the automotive giant Toyota launched the world’s first mass-produced hybrid car, the Prius, in 1997, the world has been waiting for the Japanese to also revolutionize the pure electric car. This has not yet happened, and in the meantime, especially Tesla and Chinese manufacturers have heavily dominated the rolling electric market.

However, the Japanese are known for being thorough and patient, and now many are pinning their hopes on Toyota once again taking the high-tech lead.

Around 2027-28, Toyota is expected to begin mass-producing solid-state batteries, which can be charged in about ten minutes and ensure a range of about 1,200 kilometers. The explanation is that Toyota has allegedly made a technological breakthrough that increases the durability of solid-state batteries.

Similarly, German VW has announced that, in collaboration with the American battery manufacturer QuantumScape, they have developed a solid-state battery that only loses five percent of its capacity after 1,000 charges.

A solid-state battery is in principle the same as a traditional lithium-ion battery, but with the crucial difference that the electrolyte is not liquid, but a solid substance. This can be a form of crystalline powder or a special ceramic material – thus, a non-flammable material.

At the same time, the use of graphite as an anode material is avoided, creating a highly sought-after independence from China, which heavily dominates the global graphite market.

But should one wait three to four years to buy an electric car in the hope that by then it could be equipped with a fabulous solid-state battery? Not according to one of the experts:

“I don’t think it will be the big breakthrough where one will talk about a before and after solid state. But perhaps in ten years, the battery can certainly make a difference, not least in the mini-car area.”

Solid-state batteries have a higher energy density as a starting point, allowing more energy to be packed into each kilo of battery. This could extend the range of the smaller and traditionally popular car models, which have been challenged by lower range than the larger and SUV-like models, where weight matters less.

The energy professor doubts that the first solid-state batteries for cars will be fully genuine of that kind. Instead, he believes that we will have a sort of hybrid batteries in a transition period, which will still contain some liquid. This is because it is inherently more difficult to get ions and thus electricity to move in a solid than in a liquid.

He also assesses that even though the energy density in a solid-state battery is greater, it is unlikely to revolutionize the total battery weight.

“My guess would be that we are going to wait a handful of years or more for mass-produced solid-state batteries, and initially they will most likely be expensive. At the same time, they have to compete with an extremely successful battery type that is just getting cheaper and better, namely classic lithium-ion,”

The professor further emphasizes that even though the range can be improved with the new technology, range is not the be-all and end-all.

“I don’t think we are going to see ordinary electric cars with a 1,000-kilometer range anytime soon. You will be driving around with much more than you need in daily life. The essential thing is still the charging time. The biggest immediate advantage of solid state, in my eyes, is the improved safety.”

The Salt Battery

From 2020 to 2022, the price of lithium – a main component in traditional car batteries – increased tenfold. But just around the corner, a battery that could put a big and bold full stop to the environmental and resource problems associated with this element is waiting. At least in principle.

This is what could popularly be called the salt battery, or more correctly, the sodium-ion battery. This means a battery where lithium is replaced by sodium, which we find in salt and thus in ordinary seawater, of which there is an almost infinite amount.

This could make salt battery electric vehicles cheaper – and more environmentally friendly. However, this comes at the cost of range. Sodium ions are significantly heavier than lithium ions and also larger. This has the consequence that a salt battery becomes both heavier and larger in volume if it is to contain the same amount of energy as a lithium-ion battery.

Still, the battery is on its way into especially Chinese-produced urban electric vehicles, where range is less important. Mass production is underway, and the price in China is expected to be low for the cars, which, however, must make do with a range of less than 250 kilometers.

“I believe it will take a long time before we get sodium-ion batteries into the broader electric car market. On the other hand, they can be of great importance as storage for green energy when the sun is not shining, and the wind is not blowing. There, the weight almost means nothing.”

But at the same time, there is less lithium than before in a modern lithium-ion battery. The same is true for the amount of cobalt, which is further problematic due to the use of child labor in some of the smaller cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The amount of problematic metals in rechargeable batteries has steadily decreased over the years. At the same time, processes have been developed where one can extract over 90 percent of all the basic elements from the batteries and recycle them. It’s not done extensively yet, but it’s coming, and it can extend the life of traditional lithium-ion batteries.”

The Sulfur Battery

For many years, there has been much talk about sulfur batteries – or more correctly, lithium-sulfur batteries. They offer two main advantages from the outset. The first is that they replace the highly problematic cobalt with ordinary sulfur. The second is that they are relatively light, which means capacity can be increased – perhaps to double or triple that of lithium-ion.

The challenge so far has been that sulfur batteries cannot withstand many charging cycles before they break down. However, in the fall of 2023, an Australian research group claimed that they have solved this issue with a new coating and can simultaneously reduce the amount of lithium used.

One of the experts acknowledges the potential perspectives of sulfur batteries but points out that they have problems with durability and what is called power density. This refers to the amount of electricity that can be drawn from them.

The Air Battery

Imagine being able to drive at least 10,000 kilometers in your electric car before it needs recharging. That’s the scale of the potential offered by lithium-air batteries due to their staggeringly high energy density.

This means that, in principle, this type of battery can come close to the energy density found in liquid fossil fuels, making the prospect of actual electric airplanes feasible.

However, the experts caution against believing that this is a battery type we will have in just a few years. The chemical challenges are enormous when using air, or more precisely oxygen, as the key element at a battery’s anode and cathode, which the current runs between.

The experts compare the technology to the holy grail of energy production – fusion power. For decades, the prediction has been that the world would have commercial fusion power plants in 30 years. However, this prediction has never been fulfilled, even though there have been quite significant advancements in recent years.

The energy professor notes that American researchers have allegedly achieved a technological breakthrough in developing a solid-state lithium-air battery.

“It is in principle a very promising technology, but it’s also very challenging,”

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