File photo: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry Hildegard Mueller and Bavarian premier Markus Soeder look at display at CATL booth at the 2023 Munich Auto Show IAA Mobility in Germany on Sep 5, 2023. is its battery. The high cost of energy-dense batteries has meant EVs have long been more expensive than their fossil fuel equivalents.
But the promised price cuts are also a sign of progress. Researchers have made great strides in finding new battery chemistries. CATL and BYD now make EV batteries without any, an expensive, scarce metal linked to child labour and dangerous mining practices in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Economies of scale and new supplies of lithium make it possible to sell batteries more cheaply.
Until recently, the main EV battery chemistry has been built on four of these, lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. These are also known as NMC batteries. What about lithium? Prices of lithium carbonate, the salt form of the ultra light silvery-white metal, shot up sixfold between 2020 and 2022 in China before falling last year.The world’s huge demand for lithium has led to strong growth in supply, as miners scramble to find new sources. CATL, for instance, is spending A$2.1 billion on lithium extraction plants in Bolivia.
But this is changing. Toyota is now focused heavily on making solid-state batteries a reality. These do away with liquid electrolytes to transport electricity in favour of a solid battery. In September last year, the company announced a breakthrough which it claims will enable faster recharging times and a range of 1,200km before recharge. If these claims are true, these batteries would effectively double the range of today’s topline EVs.
After all, the energy needs of a prime mover truck will be different to city runabout EVs. And as electric aircraft go from dream to reality, these will need different batteries again. To get battery-electric aircraft off the ground, you need batteries with a huge power density.