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What’s next for batteries

Expect new battery chemistries for electric vehicles and a manufacturing boost thanks to government funding this year.

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Every year the world runs more and more on batteries. Electric vehicles passed 10% of global vehicle sales in 2022, and they’re on track to reach 30% by the end of this decade . 

Policies around the world are only going to accelerate this growth: recent climate legislation in the US is pumping billions into battery manufacturing and incentives for EV purchases. The European Union, and several states in the US, passed bans on gas-powered vehicles starting in 2035 . 

The transition will require lots of batteries—and better and cheaper ones. 

Most EVs today are powered by lithium-ion batteries, a decades-old technology that’s also used in laptops and cell phones. All those years of development have helped push prices down and improve performance, so today’s EVs are approaching the price of gas-powered cars and can go for hundreds of miles between charges. Lithium-ion batteries are also finding new applications, including electricity storage on the grid that can help balance out intermittent renewable power sources like wind and solar. 

But there is still lots of room for improvement. Academic labs and companies alike are hunting for ways to improve the technology—boosting capacity, speeding charging time, and cutting costs. The goal is even cheaper batteries that will provide cheap storage for the grid and allow EVs to travel far greater distances on a charge.

At the same time, concerns about supplies of key battery materials like cobalt and lithium are pushing a search for alternatives to the standard lithium-ion chemistry. 

In the midst of the soaring demand for EVs and renewable power and an explosion in battery development, one thing is certain: batteries will play a key role in the transition to renewable energy. Here’s what to expect in 2023.

A radical rethink

Some dramatically different approaches to EV batteries could see progress in 2023, though they will likely take longer to make a commercial impact.

One advance to keep an eye on this year is in so-called solid-state batteries. Lithium-ion batteries and related chemistries use a liquid electrolyte that shuttles charge around; solid-state batteries replace this liquid with ceramics or other solid materials. 

This swap unlocks possibilities that pack more energy into a smaller space, potentially improving the range of electric vehicles. Solid-state batteries could also move charge around faster, meaning shorter charging times. And because some solvents used in electrolytes can be flammable, proponents of solid-state batteries say they improve safety by cutting fire risk. 

Solid-state batteries can use a wide range of chemistries, but a leading candidate for commercialization uses lithium metal . Quantumscape , for one, is focused on that technology and raised hundreds of millions in funding before going public in 2020. The company has a deal with Volkswagen that could put its batteries in cars by 2025.  

But completely reinventing batteries has proved difficult, and lithium-metal batteries have seen concerns about degradation over time, as well as manufacturing challenges. Quantumscape announced in late December it had delivered samples to automotive partners for testing, a significant milestone on the road to getting solid-state batteries into cars. Other solid-state-battery players, like Solid Power , are also working to build and test their batteries. But while they could reach major milestones this year as well, their batteries won’t make it into vehicles on the road in 2023. 

Solid-state batteries aren’t the only new technology to watch out for. Sodium-ion batteries also swerve sharply from lithium-ion chemistries common today. These batteries have a design similar to that of lithium-ion batteries, including a liquid electrolyte, but instead of relying on lithium, they use sodium as the main chemical ingredient. Chinese battery giant CATL reportedly plans to begin mass-producing them in 2023. 

Sodium-ion batteries may not improve performance, but they could cut costs because they rely on cheaper, more widely available materials than lithium-ion chemistries do. But it’s not clear whether these batteries will be able to meet needs for EV range and charging time, which is why several companies going after the technology, like US-based Natron , are targeting less demanding applications to start, like stationary storage or micromobility devices such as e-bikes and scooters. 

Today, the market for batteries aimed at stationary grid storage is small—about one-tenth the size of the market for EV batteries, according to Yayoi Sekine , head of energy storage at energy research firm BloombergNEF. But demand for electricity storage is growing as more renewable power is installed, since major renewable power sources like wind and solar are variable, and batteries can help store energy for when it’s needed. 

Lithium-ion batteries aren’t ideal for stationary storage, even though they’re commonly used for it today. While batteries for EVs are getting smaller, lighter, and faster, the primary goal for stationary storage is to cut costs. Size and weight don’t matter as much for grid storage, which means different chemistries will likely win out. 

One rising star in stationary storage is iron , and two players could see progress in the coming year. Form Energy is developing an iron-air battery that uses a water-based electrolyte and basically stores energy using reversible rusting. The company recently announced a $760 million manufacturing facility in Weirton, West Virginia, scheduled to begin construction in 2023. Another company, ESS , is building a different type of iron battery that employs similar chemistry; it has begun manufacturing at its headquarters in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Shifts within the standard

Lithium-ion batteries keep getting better and cheaper, but researchers are tweaking the technology further to eke out greater performance and lower costs.

Some of the motivation comes from the price volatility of battery materials, which could drive companies to change chemistries. “It’s a cost game,” Sekine says.

Cathodes are typically one of the most expensive parts of a battery, and a type of cathode called NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) is the dominant variety in EV batteries today. But those three elements, in addition to lithium, are expensive, so cutting some or all of them could help decrease costs. 

This year could be a breakout year for one alternative: lithium iron phosphate (LFP), a low-cost cathode material sometimes used for lithium-ion batteries. 

Recent improvements in LFP chemistry and manufacturing have helped boost the performance of these batteries, and companies are moving to adopt the technology: LFP market share is growing quickly , from about 10% of the global EV market in 2018 to about 40% in 2022. Tesla is already using LFP batteries in some vehicles, and automakers like Ford and Volkswagen announced that they plan to start offering some EV models with the chemistry too.

Though battery research tends to focus on cathode chemistries, anodes are also in line to get a makeover.

Most anodes in lithium-ion batteries today, whatever their cathode makeup, use graphite to hold the lithium ions. But alternatives like silicon could help increase energy density and speed up charging.

Silicon anodes have been the subject of research for years, but historically they haven’t had a long enough lifetime to last in products. Now though, companies are starting to expand production of the materials.

In 2021, startup Sila began producing silicon anodes for batteries in a wearable fitness device. The company was recently awarded a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy to help build a manufacturing facility in Moses Lake, Washington. The factory will serve Sila’s partnership with Mercedes-Benz and is expected to produce materials for EV batteries starting in 2025.

Other startups are working to blend silicon and graphite together for anodes. OneD Battery Sciences , which has partnered with GM, and Sionic Energy could take additional steps toward commercialization this year.  

Policies shaping products

The Inflation Reduction Act , which was passed in late 2022, sets aside nearly $370 billion in funding for climate and clean energy, including billions for EV and battery manufacturing. “Everybody’s got their mind on the IRA,” says Yet-Ming Chiang , a materials researcher at MIT and founder of multiple battery companies.

The IRA will provide loans and grants to battery makers in the US, boosting capacity. In addition, EV tax credits in the law incentivize automakers to source battery materials in the US or from its free-trade partners and manufacture batteries in North America. Because of both the IRA’s funding and the EV tax credit restrictions, automakers will continue announcing new manufacturing capacity in the US and finding new ways to source materials.

All that means there will be more and more demand for the key ingredients in lithium-ion batteries, including lithium, cobalt, and nickel. One possible outcome from the IRA incentives is an increase in already growing interest around battery recycling . While there won’t be enough EVs coming off the road anytime soon to meet the demand for some crucial materials, recycling is starting to heat up.

CATL and other Chinese companies have led in battery recycling, but the industry could see significant growth in other major EV markets like North America and Europe this year. Nevada-based Redwood Materials and Li-Cycle , which is headquartered in Toronto, are building facilities and working to separate and purify key battery metals like lithium and nickel to be reused in batteries. 

Li-Cycle is set to begin commissioning its main recycling facility in 2023. Redwood Materials has started producing its first product, a copper foil, from its facility outside Reno, Nevada, and recently announced plans to build its second facility beginning this year in Charleston, South Carolina.

With the flood of money from the IRA and other policies around the world fueling demand for EVs and their batteries, 2023 is going to be a year to watch.

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Cobalt-free batteries could power cars of the future

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Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs.

MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries).

In a new study, the researchers showed that this material, which could be produced at much lower cost than cobalt-containing batteries, can conduct electricity at similar rates as cobalt batteries. The new battery also has comparable storage capacity and can be charged up faster than cobalt batteries, the researchers report.

“I think this material could have a big impact because it works really well,” says Mircea Dincă, the W.M. Keck Professor of Energy at MIT. “It is already competitive with incumbent technologies, and it can save a lot of the cost and pain and environmental issues related to mining the metals that currently go into batteries.”

Dincă is the senior author of the study, which appears today in the journal ACS Central Science . Tianyang Chen PhD ’23 and Harish Banda, a former MIT postdoc, are the lead authors of the paper. Other authors include Jiande Wang, an MIT postdoc; Julius Oppenheim, an MIT graduate student; and Alessandro Franceschi, a research fellow at the University of Bologna.

Alternatives to cobalt

Most electric cars are powered by lithium-ion batteries, a type of battery that is recharged when lithium ions flow from a positively charged electrode, called a cathode, to a negatively electrode, called an anode. In most lithium-ion batteries, the cathode contains cobalt, a metal that offers high stability and energy density.

However, cobalt has significant downsides. A scarce metal, its price can fluctuate dramatically, and much of the world’s cobalt deposits are located in politically unstable countries. Cobalt extraction creates hazardous working conditions and generates toxic waste that contaminates land, air, and water surrounding the mines.

“Cobalt batteries can store a lot of energy, and they have all of features that people care about in terms of performance, but they have the issue of not being widely available, and the cost fluctuates broadly with commodity prices. And, as you transition to a much higher proportion of electrified vehicles in the consumer market, it’s certainly going to get more expensive,” Dincă says.

Because of the many drawbacks to cobalt, a great deal of research has gone into trying to develop alternative battery materials. One such material is lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), which some car manufacturers are beginning to use in electric vehicles. Although still practically useful, LFP has only about half the energy density of cobalt and nickel batteries.

Another appealing option are organic materials, but so far most of these materials have not been able to match the conductivity, storage capacity, and lifetime of cobalt-containing batteries. Because of their low conductivity, such materials typically need to be mixed with binders such as polymers, which help them maintain a conductive network. These binders, which make up at least 50 percent of the overall material, bring down the battery’s storage capacity.

About six years ago, Dincă’s lab began working on a project, funded by Lamborghini, to develop an organic battery that could be used to power electric cars. While working on porous materials that were partly organic and partly inorganic, Dincă and his students realized that a fully organic material they had made appeared that it might be a strong conductor.

This material consists of many layers of TAQ (bis-tetraaminobenzoquinone), an organic small molecule that contains three fused hexagonal rings. These layers can extend outward in every direction, forming a structure similar to graphite. Within the molecules are chemical groups called quinones, which are the electron reservoirs, and amines, which help the material to form strong hydrogen bonds.

Those hydrogen bonds make the material highly stable and also very insoluble. That insolubility is important because it prevents the material from dissolving into the battery electrolyte, as some organic battery materials do, thereby extending its lifetime.

“One of the main methods of degradation for organic materials is that they simply dissolve into the battery electrolyte and cross over to the other side of the battery, essentially creating a short circuit. If you make the material completely insoluble, that process doesn’t happen, so we can go to over 2,000 charge cycles with minimal degradation,” Dincă says.

Strong performance

Tests of this material showed that its conductivity and storage capacity were comparable to that of traditional cobalt-containing batteries. Also, batteries with a TAQ cathode can be charged and discharged faster than existing batteries, which could speed up the charging rate for electric vehicles.

To stabilize the organic material and increase its ability to adhere to the battery’s current collector, which is made of copper or aluminum, the researchers added filler materials such as cellulose and rubber. These fillers make up less than one-tenth of the overall cathode composite, so they don’t significantly reduce the battery’s storage capacity.

These fillers also extend the lifetime of the battery cathode by preventing it from cracking when lithium ions flow into the cathode as the battery charges.

The primary materials needed to manufacture this type of cathode are a quinone precursor and an amine precursor, which are already commercially available and produced in large quantities as commodity chemicals. The researchers estimate that the material cost of assembling these organic batteries could be about one-third to one-half the cost of cobalt batteries.

Lamborghini has licensed the patent on the technology. Dincă’s lab plans to continue developing alternative battery materials and is exploring possible replacement of lithium with sodium or magnesium, which are cheaper and more abundant than lithium.

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Researchers at MIT have developed a cathode, the negatively-charged part of an EV lithium-ion battery, using “small organic molecules instead of cobalt,” reports Hannah Northey for Energy Wire . The organic material, "would be used in an EV and cycled thousands of times throughout the car’s lifespan, thereby reducing the carbon footprint and avoiding the need to mine for cobalt,” writes Northey. 

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Harvard researchers design long-lasting, stable, solid-state lithium battery to fix 40-year problem

Long-lasting, quick-charging batteries are essential to the expansion of the electric vehicle market, but today’s lithium-ion batteries fall short of what’s needed — they’re too heavy, too expensive and take too long to charge.

For decades, researchers have tried to harness the potential of solid-state, lithium-metal batteries, which hold substantially more energy in the same volume and charge in a fraction of the time compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries.

“A lithium-metal battery is considered the holy grail for battery chemistry because of its high capacity and energy density,” said Xin Li, associate professor of materials science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). “But the stability of these batteries has always been poor.”

Now, Li and his team have designed a stable, lithium-metal, solid-state battery that can be charged and discharged at least 10,000 times — far more cycles than have been previously demonstrated — at a high current density. The researchers paired the new design with a commercial high energy density cathode material.

This battery technology could increase the lifetime of electric vehicles to that of the gasoline cars — 10 to 15 years — without the need to replace the battery. With its high current density, the battery could pave the way for electric vehicles that can fully charge within 10 to 20 minutes.

The research is published in Nature.

“Our research shows that the solid-state battery could be fundamentally different from the commercial liquid electrolyte lithium-ion battery,” said Li. “By studying their fundamental thermodynamics, we can unlock superior performance and harness their abundant opportunities.”

The big challenge with lithium-metal batteries has always been chemistry. Lithium batteries move lithium ions from the cathode to the anode during charging. When the anode is made of lithium metal, needle-like structures called dendrites form on the surface. These structures grow like roots into the electrolyte and pierce the barrier separating the anode and cathode, causing the battery to short or even catch fire.

To overcome this challenge, Li and his team designed a multilayer battery that sandwiches different materials of varying stabilities between the anode and cathode. This multilayer, multimaterial battery prevents the penetration of lithium dendrites not by stopping them altogether but rather by controlling and containing them.

Think of the battery like a BLT sandwich. First comes the bread — the lithium metal anode — followed by lettuce — a coating of graphite. Next, a layer of tomatoes — the first electrolyte — and a layer of bacon — the second electrolyte. Finish it off with another layer of tomatoes and the last piece of bread — the cathode.

The first electrolyte (chemical name Li 5.5 PS 4.5 Cl 1.5 or LPSCI) is more stable with lithium but prone to dendrite penetration. The second electrolyte, (Li 10 Ge 1 P 2 S 12 or LGPS) is less stable with lithium but appears immune to dendrites. In this design, dendrites are allowed to grow through the graphite and first electrolyte but are stopped when they reach the second. In other words, the dendrites grow through the lettuce and tomato but stop at the bacon. The bacon barrier stops the dendrites from pushing through and shorting the battery.

“Our strategy of incorporating instability in order to stabilize the battery feels counterintuitive but just like an anchor can guide and control a screw going into a wall, so too can our multilayer design guide and control the growth of dendrites,” said Luhan Ye, co-author of the paper and graduate student at SEAS.

“The difference is that our anchor quickly becomes too tight for the dendrite to drill through, so the dendrite growth is stopped,” Li added.

The battery is also self-healing; its chemistry allows it to backfill holes created by the dendrites.

“This proof-of-concept design shows that lithium-metal solid-state batteries could be competitive with commercial lithium-ion batteries,” said Li. “And the flexibility and versatility of our multilayer design makes it potentially compatible with mass production procedures in the battery industry. Scaling it up to the commercial battery won’t be easy and there are still some practical challenges, but we believe they will be overcome.”

Harvard’s  Office of Technology Development  has protected a portfolio of intellectual property relating to this project, which is being advanced toward commercial applications with support from Harvard’s  Physical Sciences and Engineering Accelerator  and the  Harvard Climate Change Solutions Fund .

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Charging lithium-ion cells at different rates boosts the lifetimes of battery packs for electric vehicles, Stanford study finds

The secret to long life for rechargeable batteries may lie in an embrace of difference. New modeling of how lithium-ion cells in a pack degrade show a way to tailor charging to each cell’s capacity so EV batteries can handle more charge cycles and stave off failure.

Stanford University researchers have devised a new way to make lithium-ion battery packs last longer and suffer less deterioration from fast charging.

Stanford researchers have devised a new way to make lithium-ion battery packs last longer and suffer less deterioration from fast charging. (Image credit: Getty Images)

The research, published Nov. 5 in IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology , shows how actively managing the amount of electrical current flowing to each cell in a pack, rather than delivering charge uniformly, can minimize wear and tear. The approach effectively allows each cell to live its best – and longest – life.

According to Stanford professor and senior study author Simona Onori , initial simulations suggest batteries managed with the new technology could handle at least 20% more charge-discharge cycles, even with frequent fast charging, which puts extra strain on the battery.

Most previous efforts to prolong electric car battery life have focused on improving the design, materials, and manufacturing of single cells, based on the premise that, like links in a chain, a battery pack is only as good as its weakest cell. The new study begins with an understanding that while weak links are inevitable – because of manufacturing imperfections and because some cells degrade faster than others as they’re exposed to stresses like heat – they needn’t bring down the whole pack. The key is to tailor charging rates to the unique capacity of each cell to stave off failure.

“If not properly tackled, cell-to-cell heterogeneities can compromise the longevity, health, and safety of a battery pack and induce an early battery pack malfunction,” said Onori, who is an assistant professor of energy science engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability . “Our approach equalizes the energy in each cell in the pack, bringing all cells to the final targeted state of charge in a balanced manner and improving the longevity of the pack.”

Inspired to build a million-mile battery

Part of the impetus for the new research traces back to a 2020 announcement by Tesla, the electric car company, of work on a “million-mile battery.” This would be a battery capable of powering a car for 1 million miles or more (with regular charging) before reaching the point where, like the lithium-ion battery in an old phone or laptop, the EV’s battery holds too little charge to be functional.

Such a battery would exceed automakers’ typical warranty for electric vehicle batteries of eight years or 100,000 miles. Though battery packs routinely outlast their warranty, consumer confidence in electric vehicles could be bolstered if expensive battery pack replacements became rarer still. A battery that can still hold a charge after thousands of recharges could also ease the way for electrification of long-haul trucks, and for adoption of so-called vehicle-to-grid systems, in which EV batteries would store and dispatch renewable energy for the power grid.

“It was later explained that the million-mile battery concept was not really a new chemistry, but just a way to operate the battery by not making it use the full charge range,” Onori said. Related research has centered on single lithium-ion cells, which generally don’t lose charge capacity as quickly as full battery packs do.

Intrigued, Onori and two researchers in her lab – postdoctoral scholar Vahid Azimi and PhD student Anirudh Allam – decided to investigate how inventive management of existing battery types could improve performance and service life of a full battery pack, which may contain hundreds or thousands of cells.

A high-fidelity battery model

As a first step, the researchers crafted a high-fidelity computer model of battery behavior that accurately represented the physical and chemical changes that take place inside a battery during its operational life. Some of these changes unfold in a matter of seconds or minutes – others over months or even years.

“To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has used the kind of high-fidelity, multi-timescale battery model we created,” said Onori, who is director of the Stanford Energy Control Lab .

Running simulations with the model suggested that a modern battery pack can be optimized and controlled by embracing differences among its constituent cells. Onori and colleagues envision their model being used to guide development of battery management systems in the coming years that can be easily deployed in existing vehicle designs.

It is not just electric vehicles that stand to benefit. Virtually any application that “stresses the battery pack a lot” could be a good candidate for better management informed by the new results, Onori said. One example? Drone-like aircraft with electric vertical takeoff and landing, sometimes called eVTOL, which some entrepreneurs expect to operate as air taxis and provide other urban air mobility services over the next decade. Still, other applications for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries beckon, including general aviation and large-scale storage of renewable energy.

“Lithium-ion batteries have already changed the world in so many ways,” Onori said. “It’s important that we get as much as we possibly can out of this transformative technology and its successors to come.”

Azimi is now a staff researcher at Gatik, a B2B short-haul logistics company in Mountain View, California. Allam is now a battery researcher at Archer Aviation, an eVOTL aircraft company based in San Jose, California.

This research was supported by LG Chem (now LG Energy Solution).

To read all stories about Stanford science, subscribe to the biweekly Stanford Science Digest .

Fast charging over 10,000 cycles: For future electric vehicles, Harvard engineers’ solid-state battery technology points to a leap in performance and reliability

Startup adden energy granted technology license from harvard to scale innovative lithium-metal battery technology for commercial deployment.

Harvard’s Office of Technology Development has granted an exclusive technology license to Adden Energy, Inc ., a startup developing innovative solid-state battery systems for use in future electric vehicles (EVs) that would fully charge in minutes. Adden Energy has closed a seed round with $5.15M in funding led by Primavera Capital Group, with participation by Rhapsody Venture Partners and MassVentures.

The license and the venture funding will enable the startup to scale Harvard’s laboratory prototype toward commercial deployment of a solid-state lithium-metal battery that may provide reliable and fast charging for future EVs to help bring them into the mass market. 

Developed by researchers in the lab of Xin Li , PhD, Associate Professor of Materials Science at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the lab-scale coin-cell prototype has achieved battery charge rates as fast as three minutes with over 10,000 cycles in a lifetime, with results published in Nature and other journals. It also boasts high energy density and a level of material stability that overcomes the safety challenges posed by some other lithium batteries. 

Adden Energy was co-founded in 2021 by Li, along with William Fitzhugh, PhD ’20, and Luhan Ye, PhD ’22, both of whom contributed to the development of the technology as graduate students in Li’s Harvard lab. Fred Hu, PhD ’93, founder and Chairman of Primavera Capital, is also a founder of Adden Energy.

The startup aims to scale the battery up to a palm-sized pouch cell, and then upward toward a full-scale vehicle battery in the next three to five years. “If you want to electrify vehicles, a solid-state battery is the way to go,” said Li, who is a scientific advisor to Adden Energy. “We set out to commercialize this technology because we do see our technology as unique compared to other solid-state batteries. We have achieved in the lab 5,000 to 10,000 charge cycles in a battery’s lifetime, compared with 2,000 to 3,000 charging cycles for even the best in class now, and we don’t see any fundamental limit to scaling up our battery technology. That could be a game changer.”

Fitzhugh, CEO of Adden Energy, noted that in 2019, 29% of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions were produced by transportation. “Complete electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the most meaningful steps we can take to fight climate change,” he said. “However, broad adoption of electric vehicles requires batteries that can meet a diverse set of consumer needs. For example, 37% of Americans don’t have garages at home, so at-home overnight charging is not possible. In order to electrify this segment, EVs need to recharge at comparable times to internal combustion vehicles, essentially in the time you’d currently spend at the gas pump.”

The technology developed at Harvard, which includes core innovations in solid-state battery design and electrolyte production methods, may offer other crucial advantages.

“Typically, lithium-metal anodes in other solid-state designs develop dendrites, twig-like growths that can gradually penetrate through the electrolyte to the cathode. We defeat the growth of dendrites before they can cause damage, by novel structural and material designs ,” said Ye, who is now CTO of Adden Energy. “As a result, the device can sustain its high performance over a long lifetime. Our recent study shows that this nice feature can also be maintained at scale-up.” 

“Climate change is the defining challenge facing the world. It is more important than ever to accelerate the transition to clean energy and zero-emission transportation,” said Hu, who also serves on the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy. “Adden Energy’s mission is to develop cutting-edge battery technologies, thereby enabling mass adoption of electric vehicles and contributing to a greener and more sustainable global economy.” 

“Electric vehicles cannot remain a luxury fashion, literally the ‘one percent’ of vehicles on the road, if we are to make progress toward a clean energy future, and the U.S. won’t have a used-car market if EV batteries last only 3 to 5 years,” added Li. “The technology needs to be accessible to everyone. Extending the lifetime of the batteries, as we’re doing here, is an important part of that.” 

The solid state battery research advances in Li’s Harvard lab that have been licensed to Adden Energy were enabled in part by funding from the University’s Climate Change Solutions Fund , which supports research and policy initiatives addressing climate change, the transition to clean energy, and related health impacts; and from Harvard OTD’s Physical Sciences and Engineering Accelerator , which advances researchers’ most commercially promising innovations toward the launch of new startups and industry engagements. Li’s lab has also received funding in support of solid-state battery research from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Catalyst Program, the Harvard Data Science Initiative, the Harvard FAS Dean’s Competitive Fund for Promising Scholarship, and the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Trends in batteries

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• International initiatives and pledges
• Electrification plans by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)
• Global spending on electric cars
• Finance, venture capital and trade
• Electric mobility scenarios
• Outlook for EVs
• Shrinking implementation gap
• OEM targets versus projections
• Battery demand
• Charging infrastructure
• Impact on energy demand and emissions

Cite report

IEA (2023), Global EV Outlook 2023 , IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2023, Licence: CC BY 4.0

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Battery demand for evs continues to rise.

Automotive lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery demand increased by about 65% to 550 GWh in 2022, from about 330 GWh in 2021, primarily as a result of growth in electric passenger car sales, with new registrations increasing by 55% in 2022 relative to 2021.

In China, battery demand for vehicles grew over 70%, while electric car sales increased by 80% in 2022 relative to 2021, with growth in battery demand slightly tempered by an increasing share of PHEVs. Battery demand for vehicles in the United States grew by around 80%, despite electric car sales only increasing by around 55% in 2022. While the average battery size for battery electric cars in the United States only grew by about 7% in 2022, the average battery electric car battery size remains about 40% higher than the global average, due in part to the higher share of SUVs in US electric car sales relative to other major markets, 1 as well as manufacturers’ strategies to offer longer all-electric driving ranges. Global sales of BEV and PHEV cars are outpacing sales of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), and as BEV and PHEV battery sizes are larger, battery demand further increases as a result.

Battery demand by mode, 2016-2022

Battery demand by region, 2016-2022.

The increase in battery demand drives the demand for critical materials. In 2022, lithium demand exceeded supply (as in 2021) despite the 180% increase in production since 2017. In 2022, about 60% of lithium, 30% of cobalt and 10% of nickel demand was for EV batteries. Just five years earlier, in 2017, these shares were around 15%, 10% and 2%, respectively. As has already been seen for lithium, mining and processing of these critical minerals will need to increase rapidly to support the energy transition, not only for EVs but more broadly to keep up with the pace of demand for clean energy technologies. 2 Reducing the need for critical materials will also be important for supply chain sustainability, resilience and security. Accelerating innovation can help, such as through advanced battery technologies requiring smaller quantities of critical minerals, as well as measures to support uptake of vehicle models with optimised battery size and the development of battery recycling.

Overall supply and demand of cobalt for batteries by sector, 2016-2022 

Overall supply and demand of lithium for batteries by sector, 2016-2022, overall supply and demand of nickel for batteries by sector, 2016-2022, new alternatives to conventional lithium-ion are on the rise.

In 2022, lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) remained the dominant battery chemistry with a market share of 60%, followed by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) with a share of just under 30%, and nickel cobalt aluminium oxide (NCA) with a share of about 8%.

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode chemistries have reached their highest share in the past decade. This trend is driven mainly by the preferences of Chinese OEMs. Around 95% of the LFP batteries for electric LDVs went into vehicles produced in China, and BYD alone represents 50% of demand. Tesla accounted for 15%, and the share of LFP batteries used by Tesla increased from 20% in 2021 to 30% in 2022. Around 85% of the cars with LFP batteries manufactured by Tesla were manufactured in China, with the remainder being manufactured in the United States with cells imported from China. In total, only around 3% of electric cars with LFP batteries were manufactured in the United States in 2022.

LFP batteries contrast with other chemistries in their use of iron and phosphorus rather than the nickel, manganese and cobalt found in NCA and NMC batteries. The downside of LFP is that the energy density tends to be lower than that of NMC. LFP batteries also contain phosphorus, which is used in food production. If all batteries today were LFP, they would account for nearly 1% of current agricultural phosphorus use by mass, suggesting that conflicting demands for phosphorus may arise in the future as battery demand increases.

Electric LDV battery capacity by chemistry, 2018-2022

With regards to anodes, a number of chemistry changes have the potential to improve energy density (watt-hour per kilogram, or Wh/kg). For example, silicon can be used to replace all or some of the graphite in the anode in order to make it lighter and thus increase the energy density. Silicon-doped graphite already entered the market a few years ago, and now around 30% of anodes contain silicon. Another option is innovative lithium metal anodes, which could yield even greater energy density when they become commercially available.

Material content in different anode and cathodes

In recent years, alternatives to Li-ion batteries have been emerging, notably sodium-ion (Na-ion). This battery chemistry has the dual advantage of relying on lower cost materials than Li-ion, leading to cheaper batteries, and of completely avoiding the need for critical minerals. It is currently the only viable chemistry that does not contain lithium. The Na-ion battery developed by China’s CATL is estimated to cost 30% less than an LFP battery. Conversely, Na-ion batteries do not have the same energy density as their Li-ion counterpart (respectively 75  to  160  Wh/kg compared to 120 to 260 Wh/kg). This could make Na-ion relevant for urban vehicles with lower range, or for stationary storage, but could be more challenging to deploy in locations where consumers prioritise maximum range autonomy, or where charging is less accessible. There are nearly 30 Na-ion battery manufacturing plants currently operating, planned or under construction, for a combined capacity of over 100 GWh , almost all in China. For comparison, the current manufacturing capacity of Li-ion batteries is around 1 500 GWh.

Multiple carmakers have already announced Na-ion electric cars, such as the Seagull by BYD , which has an announced range of 300 km and is sold for USD 11 600 (with possible discounts bringing the price down to USD 9 500), and the Sehol EX10, produced by the VW-JAC joint venture, with a 250 km range. While these first models are likely to be slightly more expensive than the cheapest small BEV models in China – such as the Wuling Mini BEV, sold for as little as USD 5 000 to 6 500 – they are still cheaper than equivalent options with similar driving range. To compare, the Wuling Mini BEV’s range stands at 170 km, but BYD’s Dolphin BEV, the second best-selling small BEV in China in 2022, with a similar range to the announced Na-ion cars, can cost more than USD 15 000. BYD plans to progressively integrate Na-ion batteries into all its models below USD 29 000 as battery production ramps up. These announcements suggest that electric vehicles powered by Na-ion will be available for sale and driven for the first time in 2023-2024, hence bringing the technology to a readiness level (TRL 3 ) of 8-9, between first-of-a-kind commercial and commercial operation in the relevant environment. In 2022, it was assessed at TRL 6 (full prototype at scale) in the IEA Clean Technology Guide , compared to only TRL 3-4 (small prototypes) in the assessment from 2021, highlighting quick technological progress.

Critical mineral prices can have an impact on chemistry choice

The variability in price and availability of critical minerals can also explain some of the developments in battery chemistry from the last few years. NMC chemistries using an equal ratio of nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC333 or NMC111) were popular until 2015. Since then, cobalt price increases and concerns affecting public acceptance of cobalt mining have contributed to a shift towards lower-cobalt ratios, such as NMC622, and then NMC811, which are nevertheless more difficult to manufacture. In 2022, the price of nickel increased, reaching a peak twice as high as the 2015-2020 average. This created incentives to use chemistries that are less reliant on nickel, such as LFP, despite their lower energy density.

Lithium carbonate prices have also been steadily increasing over the past two years. In 2021, prices multiplied four- to five-fold, and continued to rise throughout 2022, nearly doubling between 1 January 2022 and 1 January 2023. At the beginning of 2023, lithium prices stood six times above their average over the 2015-2020 period. In contrast to nickel and lithium, manganese prices have been relatively stable. One reason for the increase in prices for lithium, nickel and cobalt was the insufficient supply compared to demand in 2021. Although nickel and cobalt supply surpassed demand in 2022, this was not the case for lithium, causing its price to rise more strongly over the year. Between January and March 2023, lithium prices dropped 20%, returning to their late 2022 level. The combination of an expected 40% increase in supply and slower growth in demand, especially for EVs in China, has contributed to this trend. This drop – if sustained – could translate into lower battery prices.

Beyond those materials, global commodity prices have surged in the last few years, as a result of supply disruptions in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, rising demand as the global economy started to recover, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, among other factors.

Price of selected battery materials and lithium-ion batteries, 2015-2023

In 2022, the estimated average battery price stood at about USD 150 per kWh, with the cost of pack manufacturing accounting for about 20% of total battery cost, compared to more than 30% a decade earlier. Pack production costs have continued to decrease over time, down 5% in 2022 compared to the previous year. In contrast, cell production costs increased in 2022 relative to 2021, returning to 2019 levels. This can be explained in part by the increasing prices of materials, which account for a significant portion of cell price, and of electricity, which affects manufacturing costs, whereas efficiency gains in pack manufacturing help decrease costs. Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) sees pack manufacturing costs dropping further, by about 20% by 2025, whereas cell production costs decrease by only 10% relative to their historic low in 2021. This warrants further analysis based on future trends in material prices.

The effect of increased battery material prices differed across various battery chemistries in 2022, with the strongest increase being observed for LFP batteries (over 25%), while NMC batteries experienced an increase of less than 15%. Since LFP batteries contain neither nickel nor cobalt, which are relatively expensive compared to iron and phosphorus, the price of lithium plays a relatively larger role in determining the final cost. Given that the price of lithium increased at a higher rate than the price of nickel and cobalt, the price of LFP batteries increased more than the price of NMC batteries. Nonetheless, LFP batteries remain less expensive than NCA and NMC per unit of energy capacity.

The price of batteries also varies across different regions, with China having the lowest prices on average, and the rest of the Asia Pacific region having the highest. This price discrepancy is influenced by the fact that around 65% of battery cells and almost 80% of cathodes are manufactured in China.

For more information on the climate impact of SUVs, refer to the IEA’s 27 February 2023 commentary on the subject. 

For more information on the future of supply and demand of critical minerals, refer to the Energy Technology Perspective 2023 report. 

Technology Readiness Level (TRL) provides a snapshot of the maturity of a given technology. It has 11 steps ranging from initial idea at step 1 to proof of stability reached at step 11. For more information, refer to the IEA Clean Technology Guide . 

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26 Projects and Partnership with Argonne Lab Will Advance the Development of Lithium Batteries and Bridge Existing Gaps in Domestic Battery Supply Chain

WASHINGTON, D.C. —  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced $209 million in funding for 26 new laboratory projects focusing on electric vehicles, advanced batteries and connected vehicles. Advanced, lithium-based batteries play an integral role in 21st century technologies such as electric vehicles, stationary grid storage, and defense applications that will be critical to securing America’s clean energy future. Additionally, DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory announced the Li-Bridge, a new public-private partnership to bridge gaps in the domestic lithium battery supply chain. Both announcements support the Biden-Harris administration goals to make America a global leader in electric vehicle and battery innovation, advance the development of these technologies to save families money, lower carbon pollution, and create high-quality jobs. 

Li-Bridge alliance industry members will join Deputy Secretary of Energy David Turk for a virtual roundtable,  Building Bridges Across the Battery Ecosystem , on October 29, 2021.  RSVP here

“President Biden’s Administration wants to make it easier for millions of American families and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles,” said  Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm . “By developing smarter vehicle batteries, we can make these technologies cheaper and more accessible, while positioning America to be become a global leader of EV infrastructure production and clean energy jobs.” 

The U.S. currently relies heavily on importing advanced battery components from abroad, which exposes the nation to supply chain vulnerabilities that threaten to disrupt the availability and cost of these technologies. The 26 national laboratory projects announced today will address four critical goals:

• Significantly reducing the cost and size of next generation battery technology
• Advancing extreme fast charging to allow for batteries to be fully charged in less than 15-minutes
• Mitigating potential grid impacts of tens of millions of vehicles being charged across the nation
• Streamlining cooperative vehicle-to-vehicle communications and controls that reduce energy use and emissions 

To review the full list of the selected projects, visit DOE’s  Vehicle Technologies Office .  

“NREL and the state of Colorado continue to lead the development of innovative energy storage and battery technologies that reduce our carbon emissions,” said  U.S. Senator Michael Bennet (CO) . “These projects are exactly the type of research the federal government should invest in to decarbonize our energy system, modernize our infrastructure, support the growing domestic clean energy industries, and combat climate change.”  

“As we focus on building back better, we have to prioritize cutting-edge technology that is cleaner, safer, and responsive to today’s domestic supply chain needs,” said  U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) . “I am proud to have fought for this vital DOE funding to bring innovation home to New York State and our world-class Brookhaven National Laboratory. This investment is a down payment on a greener, more prosperous future for all of us, and I look forward to supporting more of these projects in the future.” 

“Colorado is at the forefront of clean energy innovation. This funding will quicken our transition to zero-emissions transportation,” said  U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper (CO) . 

“California has long been at the forefront of developing electric vehicles, and we must continue to innovate this technology,” said  U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (CA) . “I’m proud to support this DOE funding that will provide tens of millions of dollars to support research at California labs working on the latest in energy storage and electric vehicle batteries. Developing this technology and unlocking its potential in the United States will help us address the climate crisis, while strengthening our economy.” 

“I’m very proud that important research on battery storage and electrification of transportation is happening in my District and pleased that the federal funds I voted for are going to these important projects,” said  U.S. Representative Anna G. Eshoo (CA-18) . “Electric vehicles and new battery technology are the future of clean energy and transportation. It is through consistent investment in these innovative technologies that we will combat the devastating climate crisis and ensure the U.S. remains competitive in the global economy.” 

“We need to act fast to electrify the transportation sector, strengthen our domestic manufacturing, and keep jobs at home by building the vehicles of the future and the batteries that support them here in America,” said  U.S. Representative Debbie Dingell (MI-12) . “Building a charging infrastructure and making this transition to zero emissions vehicles takes collaboration across sectors, and I’m thankful for Secretary Granholm’s leadership and the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to a cleaner future, while also supporting the United States supply chain and good-paying American jobs.”

The Li-Bridge, led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, will work with the entire National Laboratory complex to accelerate the development of a robust and secure domestic supply chain for lithium-based batteries. Argonne will engage with the federal sector through the Federal Consortium for Advanced Batteries (FCAB), which was established by DOE to put the U.S. on a path to long-term competitiveness in the global battery value chain.

Learn more about the  FCAB  and the  National Blueprint for Lithium Batteries 2021-2030 .

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Next-gen electric vehicle batteries: These are the questions we still need to answer

University of michigan researchers lay out hurdles for tech that could double ev range.

• [email protected]

The next generation of electric vehicle batteries, with greater range and improved safety, could be emerging in the form of lithium metal, solid-state technology.

But key questions about this promising power supply need to be answered before it can make the jump from the laboratory to manufacturing facilities, according to University of Michigan researchers. And with efforts to bring electric vehicles to a larger part of the population, they say, those questions need answering quickly.

Jeff Sakamoto and Neil Dasgupta , U-M associate professors of mechanical engineering, have been leading researchers on lithium metal, solid-state batteries over the past decade. In a perspective piece in the journal Joule, Sakamoto and Dasgupta lay out the main questions facing the technology. To develop the questions, they worked in close collaboration with leaders in the auto industry.

Major automakers are going all-in on electric vehicles this year, with many announcing plans to phase out internal-combustion engine cars in the coming years. Lithium-ion batteries enabled the earliest EVs and they remain the most common power supply for the latest models coming off assembly lines.

Michael Wang, materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate, uses a glove box to inspect a lithium metal battery cell in a lab at the University of Michigan in 2020. Image credit: Evan Dougherty/University of Michigan Engineering

Those lithium-ion batteries are approaching their peak performance in terms of the EV range on a single charge. And they come with the need for a heavy and bulky battery management system—without which there is risk of onboard fires. By utilizing lithium metal for the battery anode along with a ceramic for the electrolyte, researchers have demonstrated the potential for doubling EV range for the same size battery while dramatically reducing the potential for fires.

“Tremendous progress in advancing lithium metal solid-state batteries was made over the last decade,” Sakamoto said. “However, several challenges remain on the path to commercializing the technology, especially for EVs.”

Questions that need to be answered to capitalize on that potential include:

• How can we produce ceramics, which are brittle, in the massive, paper-thin sheets lithium metal batteries require?
• Do lithium metal batteries’ use of ceramics, which require energy to heat them up to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit during manufacturing, offset their environmental benefits in electric vehicles?
• Can both the ceramics and the process used to manufacture them be adapted to account for defects, such as cracking, in a way that does not force battery manufacturers and automakers to drastically revamp their operations?
• A lithium metal solid-state battery would not require the heavy and bulky battery management system that lithium-ion batteries need to maintain durability and reduce the risk of fire. How will the reduction in mass and volume of the battery management system—or its removal altogether—affect performance and durability in a solid-state battery?
• The lithium metal needs to be in constant contact with the ceramic electrolyte, meaning additional hardware is needed to apply pressure to maintain contact. What will the added hardware mean for battery pack performance?

Sakamoto, who has his own startup company focused on lithium metal solid-state batteries, says the technology is having a moment right now. But the enthusiasm driving the moment, he says, must not get ahead of itself.

Rigorous testing and data analysis, along with transparency in research, are needed, according to the U-M team. That group includes Michael Wang, now a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, and Eric Kazyak, a research fellow in mechanical engineering at U-M.

More information:

• Study abstract: Transitioning solid-state batteries from lab to market: Linking electro-chemo-mechanics with practical considerations
• The Sakamoto Group
• The Dasgupta Group

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Nasa’s solid-state battery research exceeds initial goals, draws interest.

• Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate

Diana Fitzgerald

New developments, partnerships and future.

NASA researchers are making progress with developing an innovative battery pack that is lighter, safer, and performs better than batteries commonly used in vehicles and large electronics today.

Their work – part of NASA’s commitment to sustainable aviation – seeks to improve battery technology through investigating the use of solid-state batteries for aviation applications such as electric propelled aircraft and Advanced Air Mobility .

Unlike industry-standard lithium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries do not contain liquids, which can cause detrimental conditions, such as overheating, fire, and loss of charge over time – issues that may sound familiar to anyone who uses large electronics.

Solid-state batteries do not experience these harmful conditions, and can hold more energy and perform better in stressful environments than standard lithium-ion batteries.

Now, after a few years of successful work by a NASA activity called the Solid-state Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) the research has generated substantial interest from government, industry, and academia.

SABERS researchers have partnered with several organizations, as well as other projects within NASA Aeronautics , to continue developing its more resilient battery. “SABERS continues to exceed its goals,” said Rocco Viggiano, principal investigator for SABERS at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “We’re starting to approach this new frontier of battery research that could do so much more than lithium-ion batteries can. The possibilities are pretty incredible.”  

Battery performance is a key aspect in the development of more sustainable electric aircraft . These batteries must effectively store the huge amount of energy required to power an aircraft all while remaining lightweight – a key requirement in aviation.

However, the amount of energy a battery can store is only one side of the equation. A battery must also discharge this energy at a rate sufficient to power large electronics, such as an electric aircraft or unmanned aerial vehicle.

Put another way: a battery could be described like a bucket. A battery’s energy (or capacity) is how much the bucket can hold, while its power is how fast the bucket can be emptied. To power an electric aircraft, the battery must discharge its energy, or empty its bucket, at an extraordinarily fast rate.

To that end, SABERS has experimented with innovative new materials yet to be used in batteries, which have produced significant progress in power discharge. During the past year, the team successfully increased their battery’s discharge rate by a factor of 10 – and then by another factor of 5 – inching researchers closer to their goal of powering a large vehicle.

These new materials enable additional design changes.

The SABERS team realized solid-state architecture allowed them to change the construction and packaging of their battery to save weight and increase the energy it can store – the size of the battery’s bucket from the earlier analogy.

Instead of housing each individual battery cell inside its own steel casing, as liquid batteries do, all the cells in SABERS’s battery can be stacked vertically inside one casing. Thanks in part to this novel design, SABERS has demonstrated solid-state batteries can power objects at the huge capacity of 500 watt-hours per kilogram – double that of an electric car.

“Not only does this design eliminate 30 to 40 percent of the battery’s weight, it also allows us to double or even triple the energy it can store, far exceeding the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries that are considered to be the state of the art,” Viggiano said.

Safety is another key requirement for the use of batteries in electric aircraft. Unlike liquid batteries, solid-state batteries do not catch fire when they malfunction and can still operate when damaged, making them attractive for use in aviation.

SABERS researchers have tested their battery under different pressures and temperatures, and have found it can operate in temperatures nearly twice as hot as lithium-ion batteries, without as much cooling technology. The team is continuing to test it under even hotter conditions.

This year, the main objective for SABERS was to show the battery’s properties meet its energy and safety targets while also demonstrating it can safely operate under realistic conditions and at maximum power.

SABERS has collaborated with several partners, including Georgia Tech, Argonne National Laboratory, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, to further this leading-edge research.

For example, the collaboration with Georgia Tech allowed researchers to utilize some different methodologies in their work and discover how they can improve their battery for practical use.

“Georgia Tech has a big focus on micromechanics of how the cell changes during operation. That helped us look at the pressures inside the battery, which then helped us improve the battery even more,” said Viggiano. “It also led us to understand from a practical standpoint how to manufacture a cell like this, and it led us to some other improved design configurations.”

SABERS also has engaged the expertise of multiple NASA centers and projects to achieve its objectives. 

“We’ve had a lot of productive discussions on how others at NASA could leverage our work and potentially use our battery,” said Viggiano. “It’s been extremely rewarding to think about what could possibly come from it. We’ve seen SABERS grow from an idea we had at lunch one day to, potentially, an energy solution for aeronautics.”

SABERS is part of the  Convergent Aeronautics Solutions  project, which is designed to give  NASA researchers  the resources they need to determine whether their ideas to solve some of aviation’s biggest technical challenges are feasible, and perhaps worthy of additional pursuit within NASA or by industry.

About the Author

John Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation.

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State of Research & Development in Electric Vehicle Battery Technology

This Report is part of the  Climate . Reach out to Ulka Kelkar for more information.

• Ulka Kelkar

Sustainable storage solutions are crucial to achieving deep decarbonization of the transport sector in the future, and substantial investment is being poured into research and development of battery based solutions worldwide. Efforts directed at reducing battery cost, increasing energy density, improving durability and lifetime, among other improvements, are being ramped up in a bid to rapidly enhance battery performance and affordability. This report presents a summary of commercially available EV battery technologies in India, as well as battery research focused on developing alternative technologies, and provides recommendations on how to strengthen industry–academia collaboration in the country.

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Research team unveils groundbreaking technique to mass-produce crucial component of EV batteries: 'We have achieved enhanced battery stability'

S cientists at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea have developed a new technique for mass-producing a crucial component of electric vehicle batteries.

Polymer solid electrolytes are a part of the EV battery that conduct ions through polymer chains. While the traditional method of mass-producing them involved melt casting, the new method developed by the researchers at UNIST consists of horizontal centrifugal casting — the same process used to create iron pipes.

"By adapting the iron pipe manufacturing process, we have developed a method capable of mass-producing uniform and high-performance solid electrolytes," said Professor Seok Ju Kang, who led the research.

The researchers reported that the new method ensured minimal raw material wastage, as well as providing superior electrochemical performance, and, on top of all that, was cheaper. 

The new process for creating the polymer solid electrolytes was reportedly also a whopping 13 times faster than conventional methods.

"Through this method, we have achieved enhanced battery stability and performance without altering the material composition," Professor Hyunwoo Kim, the study's lead author, said . "The elimination of the time-consuming and energy-intensive vacuum heat treatment process is a key aspect of this study, enabling efficient mass production of polymer solid electrolytes."

Watch now: What's the true environmental impact of renewable energy?

While that is all a bit technical and science-y for the layperson, the good news is that you don't have to be a polymer scientist to eventually take advantage of this new breakthrough. Any advancements to the process of creating the batteries for electric vehicles — by far the most expensive component of any EV — could go toward making these cars more accessible and widespread.

And the more EVs that replace traditional gas-powered cars, the better for our planet. According to calculations from the Department of Energy, the average battery-electric vehicle produces 10,000 fewer pounds of planet-overheating air pollution per year compared with the average gas-powered car.

Research team unveils groundbreaking technique to mass-produce crucial component of EV batteries: 'We have achieved enhanced battery stability' first appeared on The Cool Down .

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New research finds electric vehicles depreciate faster than gas cars, but the trend is changing

by George Washington University

Thinking of buying an electric vehicle but unsure about its resale value? New research finds that while older electric vehicle models depreciate in value faster than conventional gas cars, newer electric vehicle models with longer driving ranges are holding their value better and approaching the retention rates of many gas cars.

The study examined more than nine million car listings at over 60,000 dealerships between 2016 and 2022. It found that older battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles with shorter driving ranges depreciated at faster rates than conventional cars and hybrid electric cars, the one exception being Tesla, whose older battery electric vehicle model held its value better.

However, the study also showed the trend is changing—as newer model electric vehicles with higher driving ranges come online, they are retaining their value better than the older models with smaller driving ranges. The research also found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected vehicle affordability, with mean listing prices for gas cars and battery electric vehicles rising 37% and 39%, respectively, in inflation-adjusted 2019 dollars from January 2020 to March 2022.

John Paul Helveston, an Assistant Professor of Engineering Management and Systems Engineering at George Washington University and the study's corresponding author, says this is a double-edged sword.

"While a higher resale value in the future is better for new car buyers, it also means the end of lower cost used electric vehicles, which was an important source of affordable electric vehicles," Helveston explains. He notes that the new $4,000 subsidy for used electric vehicles provided by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) might offset some of the burden in the used market.

The paper is published in the journal Environmental Research Letters .

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Nissan says it will make next-generation EV batteries by early 2029

A facility that is set to be a plant for electric vehicles powered by all-solid-state batteries is seen during a media tour in Yokohama, Japan, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by 2028, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

A Nissan worker shows a facility that set to be a plant for electric vehicles powered by all-solid-state batteries in Yokohama, Japan, Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by 2028, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

Nissan Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto speaks with reporters during a tour of what is set to be a plant for electric vehicles powered by all-solid-state batteries in Yokohama, Japan Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by 2028, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

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YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — Nissan expects to mass produce electric vehicles powered by advanced next-generation batteries by early 2029, the company said Tuesday during a media tour of an unfinished pilot plant.

Japan’s legacy automakers have fallen behind newer rivals like America’s Tesla and China’s BYD in the emerging all-electric auto sector.

But Nissan, like other companies, sees a chance to catch up and perhaps leap ahead with a new kind of battery that promises to be more powerful, cheaper, safer and faster to charge than the lithium-ion batteries in use today.

Solid-state batteries, which replace the corrosive liquids found in conventional batteries with solid metals, are widely seen as the next step for EVs, and leading automakers are racing to develop versions that can be mass produced.

Rivals like Volkswagen and Toyota have also announced efforts to produce solid-state EVs, with Toyota setting a date of 2027-28 to begin bringing them to market.

But substantial challenges remain before the technology reaches commercial mass production.

The sprawling facility Nissan showed off Tuesday was still mostly empty, but company officials said it’s scheduled to begin operating a pilot production line by March 2025, with commercial production of EVs there set to start in fiscal year 2028, which runs from April 2028 to March 2029.

“Once electric vehicles get going, costs will come down compared to the internal combustion engine. They will also be so convenient. For one, you won’t ever have to go to a gas stand,” Executive Vice President Hideyuki Sakamoto told reporters at a tour of the sprawling facility southwest of Tokyo.

“The engineers at Nissan are all working hard to create this new world,” said Sakamoto.

Nissan officials offer few details about many aspects of the technology, as well as the amount of investment and global production plans.

They said the company had come up with key, unique materials for the batteries, including a metal form of lithium.

Nissan was an EV pioneer, introducing the all-electric Leaf in 2010. The company said it plans to offer solid-state batteries in a range of models, including pickup trucks.

“We are finally in the phase of scaling up on our all-solid-state battery line,” said Shunichi Inamijima, corporate vice president.

“Our all-solid-state battery technology is a game-changer for making EV sales grow explosively.”

Yuri Kageyama is on X https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

New long-life electric car battery with 1.5m-kilometre warranty could spell end of longevity concerns

Chinese battery giant catl announces long-lasting ev battery.

A CATL production facility in Shanghai. CATL’s latest battery is warrantied for 1.5 million kilometres and up to 15 years of operation. Photograph: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

China’s gigantic battery making company, CATL (or, to give it its full title, the Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Limited) has announced a new type of battery which could spell the end of concerns about how long a vehicle battery might last.

CATL’s latest battery is warrantied for 1.5 million kilometres, and up to 15 years of operation. To put that in perspective, most electric cars currently on sale have warranties assuring customers that their batteries will not degrade past 70-80 per cent of their original energy capacity over eight years, or 160,000km.

These new ultra-long-life batteries have been developed for the Yutong Bus Company, and are destined for service – lots of service, it would seem – in that company’s buses and trucks. According to CATL, this new battery design shows no degradation at all over 1,000 power cycles. If you fully charged and discharged your car’s battery every day, that would give you almost three years of use with no reduction in performance. The design is the result of a collaboration between CATL and Yutong dating back to 2012. The two companies also revealed another battery pack with a 1m-kilometre service life, and a 10-year warranty.

It’s not the only way in which CATL has been making battery waves of late. Recently, the company showed off 900-volt charging technology which allows its lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) battery design to charge at super-fast speeds, adding 400km of range in as little as 10 minutes. CATL also said it expects to be able to reduce the cost of making LFP batteries – which are already simpler and cheaper than the more common lithium-ion design – by half by the middle of this year.

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It’s also possible that CATL might be on the verge of solving one of the biggest dilemmas in battery design – weight.

[  How are car makers responding to the slowdown in electric car sales?  ]

A battery can only hold so much energy relative to its weight. This figure is called its energy density, and to illustrate how that works, compare the Opel Corsa-e with its 1.2-litre petrol counterpart. The petrol Corsa weighs 1,090kg and can travel for about 700km on a full tank of fuel – a little further if you’re being careful. The all-electric Corsa-e weighs 1,530kg – almosty half a tonne more – and can go for a maximum of 350km on the WLTP cycle with a full charge of its 50kWh battery.

Current conventional electric car battery designs have an energy density of about 260-watts per kilo. If CATL’s figures for its prototype “condensed” battery are to be believed, then it has managed to design a battery which can hold 500-watts per kilo.

In other words, an Opel Corsa-e fitted with a battery such as this would either weigh about 1,200kg for the same range (and would actually likely go further thanks to being lighter), or if you were prepared to put up with the same weight, could potentially travel 700km on a full charge (these are very much dinner-napkin sketches of the maths involved, but give you some idea of the potential on offer).

[  Chinese-made electronic vehicles will account for 25% of EU sales in 2024  ]

Indeed, it’s been estimated that CATL’s new technology could lead to ultra-long-range battery packs, with 100kWh of energy storage, that weigh just 200kg. For comparison, a current Mercedes EQS , with a 120kWh battery pack, can go for up to 770km on a charge, but its battery weighs about 650kg.

So, when will you be able buy a car with these new miracle batteries? Not quite yet. CATL Has previously said it plans to put an “automotive grade” version of the new tech into production soon, and the batteries will be expensive, so in the medium-term expect them to be reserved for high-performance models and sports cars.

A CATL vehicle charging station in Fuzhou, China. Recently, the company showed off 900-volt charging technology which allows its lithium-iron phosphate battery design to charge at super-fast speeds. Photograph: Qilai Shen/New York Times

There’s another wrinkle to this, though, and it’s in the sphere of aviation. CATL has actually designed these condensed batteries for aircraft, reckoning that the doubling of energy density could actually finally square the circle for electric aircraft. While prototype electric aircraft have flown already, up till now, the weight of the batteries needed for anything other than a short-hop range have meant any electric aircraft designed in the style of a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 would be too heavy to get off the ground. That may no longer be the case, and CATL says it is “co-operating with partners in the development of electric passenger aircrafts and practising aviation-level standards and testing in accordance with aviation-grade safety and quality requirements”.

“Meeting customers’ requirements is the core driving force that drives technological innovation for CATL,” says Wu Kai, chief scientist with CATL. “As electrification extends from the land to the sky, aircrafts will become cleaner and smarter. The launch of condensed batteries will usher in an era of universal electrification of sea, land and air transportation, open up more possibilities of the development of the industry, and promote the achieving of the global carbon neutrality goals at an earlier date.”

However, CATL, and the rest of the Chinese battery-making industry, may have to watch their step, as they seem to have been put on notice by the ruling Chinese Communist Party , whose general secretary Xi Jinping has been quoted as saying he is “both pleased and concerned” by China’s, and especially CATL’s, market dominance. Chinese industry insiders say these softly-softly remarks are very much an iron fist in a velvet glove, warning China’s battery makers they must act cautiously and not saturate the market.

[  Which electric car battery is best? EV battery types explained  ]

Then again, CATL is not the only one playing this game. Mercedes-Benz is working on new-technology battery packs for cars, and it’s already demonstrated what it can do with the remarkable Vision EQXX concept car.

This low-slung and slipper saloon has already proven it can go for more than 1,000km (including lapping the Silverstone race track) on a full charge of its 100kWh battery, and that battery is half the size and two-thirds the weight of the equivalent battery from the in-production EQS saloon, weighing just 495kg.

Mercedes leaned on the expertise of its Formula One team, including High Performance Powertrains (HPP), based in Brackley in the UK, to create this ultra-efficient battery. “In effect, we fitted the energy of the EQS into the vehicle dimensions of a compact car,” says Adam Allsopp, advanced technology director of HPP.

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• Published: 24 August 2022

Material science as a cornerstone driving battery research

• Jean-Marie Tarascon   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7059-6845 1 , 2  

Nature Materials volume  21 ,  pages 979–982 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Materials and surface sciences have been the driving force in the development of modern-day lithium-ion batteries. This Comment explores this journey while contemplating future challenges, such as interface engineering, sustainability and the importance of obtaining high-quality extensive datasets for enhancing data-driven research.

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• What's My Car Worth?
• Buyer's Guide

2025 Mercedes-Benz EQS Debuts New Look, Improved Range

Mercedes's EQS electric luxury sedan gets a welcome improvement in range, thanks to more battery capacity and updated regenerative braking software.

• The updated EQS features a new 118.0-kWh battery pack and redesigned regenerative braking software that should improve the EQS's range by more than 10 percent.
• While pricing for the 2025 EQS will have to wait, Mercedes did confirm the lightly refreshed model will begin arriving at dealerships later this year.

Mercedes-Benz's sumptuous EQS electric luxury sedan is preparing to enter its fourth model year with an updated front end and a new battery pack to improve on its already competitive range. While the EQS featured a 108.4-kWh battery pack for the first three years of its life, the 2025 model sees that figure increase to 118.0 kWh.

Increased Range

Car and Driver reached out to Mercedes-Benz for updated EPA figures, but unfortunately we'll have to wait until closer to launch to see those numbers. The last EQS we put through our real-world 75-mph highway fuel-economy test managed an impressive 350 miles.

According to Mercedes, the increase in battery size pairs with freshly updated regenerative braking software to further improve the electric sedan's range. Using the more forgiving European WLTP range figures, Mercedes calculated a more than 11 percent increase in driving range. Assuming that translates to the U.S., we can expect the 2025 EQS sedan's range to be closer to 390 miles.

Updated Design and Standard Features

In addition to the increased driving range, Mercedes also redesigned the front end of the EQS. The updated design is noticeable, but not in your face. The sea of Mercedes-Benz stars plastered to the front of previous models has been replaced by a more traditional-looking grille design with chrome slats contrasting against a black background. Additionally, the flat Mercedes-Benz crest has been replaced by the more traditional standing-star hood ornament.

Inside the 2025 car, Mercedes has introduced a series of changes focused on opulence and comfort for the rear passenger. The climate control vents on the B-pillar now feature chrome accents, while the rear seat pillows now earn contrast stitching and nappa leather piping. If that's not enough, customers with extra cash to spend can spring for the Pinnacle trim and Executive Interior package. The package features a rear seat that can lean back up to 38 degrees and allows the rear passenger to fold the front passenger seat forward for improved legroom. We'll have to wait a bit longer for updated specs and pricing information on the 2025 EQS, but Mercedes did confirm the lightly refreshed model will begin arriving at dealerships later this year.

Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver . His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.

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Hardware simulator of DC–AC inverters for electric compressors

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• Published: 12 April 2024

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• Yeongsu Bak   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6252-1862 1  

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This paper presents development of a hardware simulator for the DC–AC inverters of electric compressors (e-compressors). In general, early-release EVs often feature a nominal battery voltage of around 400 V. However, EVs with a 400 V battery have drawbacks such as slow battery charging speeds and limited driving distances. To overcome these drawbacks, the nominal battery voltage has recently been increased from 400 V to around 800 V. Accordingly, research on electrical components applicable to EVs with an 800 V battery has been conducted. However, research on the DC–AC inverter used in the e-compressor, as a core component of an electric air conditioning system for EVs with 800 V battery, is insufficient. Therefore, the development of a hardware simulator of DC–AC inverters for the e-compressors used in EVs with an 800 V battery is proposed in this paper. The validity of the proposed hardware simulator is verified by experimental results.

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Current measurement and control method of HVAC integration systems through DC link single current sensor

Hyeong-Jin Kim, Jae-Man Kim & Jang-Mok Kim

Inverter prototype development for HLFC compressor applications

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Acknowledgements

Following are results of a study on the "Leaders in INdustry-university Cooperation 3.0" Project, supported by the Ministry of Education and National Research Foundation of Korea.

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Bak, Y. Hardware simulator of DC–AC inverters for electric compressors. J. Power Electron. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43236-024-00816-2

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I yeeted an electric bicycle battery into a tub of water to see what happens

I test a lot of electric bicycles. It’s kind of my whole thing . People tell me I test more e-bikes than anyone else on the internet, but who’s counting, right? Yet here’s the thing: most of my e-bike testing involves just riding around on e-bikes to see how well they perform.

This time though, I got the chance to try something entirely different. That’s right, I chucked an e-bike battery from the new Velotric Discover 2 into a tub full of water just for the hell of it.

I mean, it wasn’t purely without cause. Technically, it was for science.

Basically, I wanted to see just how waterproof a “waterproof” battery could be. And in a time when battery safety is more important than ever , the results actually matter. Not that most people are taking their e-bike snorkeling with them. But water ingress into e-bike batteries is a leading cause of the still-rare fires we tend to see on the news, and so improving waterproofing of batteries is critical.

The Velotric Discover 2 commuter e-bike, which was released late last month , comes with an impressive level of waterproofing. The bike is rated at IPX6, meaning you can pressure wash it without worrying about water getting into the electronics or damaging anything.

But the battery is even more waterproof, rated at IPX7. That means it can survive swimming in up to one meter (39 inches) of water. Theoretically, you could toss it in the shallow end of your neighborhood swimming pool, fish it back out, and it should work just fine.

So that’s what I did.

Except that to avoid getting my family in trouble with their local HOA, I decided not to use their actual neighborhood pool. Instead, I recreated the local pool with a tub of water. I probably didn’t achieve the exact ratio of kiddie pee, but this is more of an art than a science at this point.

So there I was. With the Velotric Discover 2 battery in my hands, hoisted aloft Simba-on-Pride-Rock-style, and while wearing a seriously worried look on my face, I let ‘er rip.

In what felt like slow-motion in my mind, the battery fell through the air and crashed into the water face-first, sinking quickly to the bottom of the tub and hitting the table below it.

In hindsight, I probably should have just gently placed it into the tub of water, since the dramatic fall from above my head that I sent it on resulted in an even more dramatic smacking sound as it bottomed out quickly on the, well, bottom.

It may be IPX7-rated for water resistance, but I don’t know how high of a fall it’s supposed to handle. Whoops.

Anyway, what’s done was done, and the only way out was back up the way it came. So I fished around and yanked the battery back out of the tub as water poured out of the electrical connectors and from the charging port. This was starting to feel all sorts of wrong.

I shook off the excess water from the connector, figuring it’s probably good if I don’t just dump a handful of water into the connections on the bike. Then I gave it a cursory wipe on my shirt and slotted the battery back into the Discover 2 e-bike. An unnecessary slap-on-the-back confirmed for me that it was locked and loaded.

All that was left was to push the ‘On’ button and hold my breath. A second later, “VELOTRIC” flashed across the e-bike’s bright yellow display.

And then the display immediately died. Uh oh.

I pushed the power button again, and again the display lit up. And then it shut back down.

Putting the idiot adage to the test, I repeated the exact same thing for a third time, hoping for different results.

And this time it worked! Enough water must have drained from the battery connections in the time it took during the previous two attempts to clear whatever electrical short was erroring-out the startup sequence. I mashed the throttle and the bike’s rear wheel sprung to life, whirring up to full speed like a sopping wet golden retriever splashing back out of the pool with a hard-earned tennis ball in its mouth.

A mere 10 seconds after the battery had been sleepin’ with the fishes, so to speak, it was back in an e-bike and powering me up to 20 mph!

This shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me, that’s exactly what the battery is built for. This was the whole reason I was even doing the test, mind you.

And yet, I was still just a bit shocked. Tossing an e-bike battery into a bucket of water has a real ‘cuddling an iron in the bathtub’ vibe to it. Nevertheless, here I am, still kicking.

This is a pretty amazing feat, and I don’t know of any other electric bike batteries that can do this. But I sure hope the industry is taking note and working to achieve this level of waterproofing.

We’ve seen some modest advancement in batteries over the past few years, but as scrutiny over battery safety continues to grow, it’s these kinds of innovations that are going to continue pushing the industry forward towards safer and more effective e-bikes. And that’s a benefit for everyone.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Micah Toll is a personal electric vehicle enthusiast, battery nerd, and author of the Amazon #1 bestselling books DIY Lithium Batteries , DIY Solar Power,   The Ultimate DIY Ebike Guide  and The Electric Bike Manifesto .

The e-bikes that make up Micah’s current daily drivers are the $999 Lectric XP 2.0 , the $1,095 Ride1Up Roadster V2 , the $1,199 Rad Power Bikes RadMission , and the $3,299 Priority Current . But it’s a pretty evolving list these days.

You can send Micah tips at [email protected], or find him on Twitter , Instagram , or TikTok .

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Boliden, Epiroc and ABB make first battery-electric trolley truck system for underground mining a reality

Images show the battery-electric trolley truck, going up ramp in the 800 meter long test track in Rävliden, Kristineberg mine.

April 22, 2024

“Over the past three years, we have worked in close collaboration with the ABB and Epiroc teams to bring the electric mine of the future one step closer,” said Peter Bergman, General Manager Boliden Area, Boliden. “The most important thing for us is of course that the technology works in our own operations, but we also see added value that we together with our partners can drive technology development so that the system can be used in other mines. We are proud to have taken this concept to a live installment.” 

The achievement of the collaboration in Boliden’s Kristineberg mine in northern Sweden marks a critical moment for the mining industry as it continues to face rising pressures to balance increased outputs of critical minerals and metals with lower carbon emissions and energy usage. Demand for minerals critical to society’s clean-energy transformation is predicted to increase between 1.5 to seven times by 2030, according to the IEA 1 , making electrification a priority.

Boliden intends to implement a full scale, autonomous electric-trolley system in the Rävliden mine, a satellite orebody and extension of the Kristineberg mine, and has placed an order for four (4) Minetruck MT42 SG Trolley trucks from Epiroc. The total distance will be 5 km at a depth of 750 meters. Once achieved, not only will Rävliden have significant less carbon emissions compared to a mine using conventional technology, it will also be part of setting a standard for new mines. 

In tandem with reducing carbon emissions, the electrification of mining also promises improved health and safety for the industry’s workforce. By deploying this system, the collaboration partners aim to prove that the underground working environment can be significantly improved, with less emissions, noise, and vibration throughout while reducing the total cost per ton.

Each partner has provided a unique set of expertise to this development process, clearly demonstrating the value of industry collaboration. Epiroc has added dynamic charging to its proven battery-electric Minetruck MT42 SG and battery system, and the trolley system is equipped with ABB’s DC converter, HES880 inverter and AMXE motors to enhance the power. The mine truck features a trolley pantograph connected to an overhead catenary line, a concept which is highly suitable for long haul ramps. 

The electric trolley line gives additional assistance to the battery-electric mine truck on the most demanding stretches up-ramp while fully loaded, enabling further reach and battery regeneration during drift, which increases productivity drastically for a mining operation. 

ABB created the infrastructure from grid to wheel, including the electric trolley system design and the rectifier substation for the test track. The definition of standards and vehicle interface was jointly developed by the project partners.

“Together, in close partnerships we can accelerate the transformation and reach a steep curve in mining technology innovation like we have done in Kristineberg,” said Wayne Symes, President Epiroc Underground division. “In a short space of time, we have implemented and delivered technology to not only reduce CO2 emissions, but substantially extend travel distance for battery-electric driven vehicles on heavy ramp haulage, reduce operating costs, and improve the health and safety of mining environments.” 

“We are passionate and committed to creating real progress for the mining industry” said Max Luedtke, Global Business Line Manager Mining, ABB. “Seeing the industry’s first battery electric trolley truck system live is not only the result of a collaborative achievement with Boliden and Epiroc, but it is truly an industry milestone. We launched the ABB eMine™ concept of methods and solutions to bring electrification to the whole mining operation, from the grid to the wheel, and the installation at Kristineberg demonstrates the power of these capabilities.” 

This project is supported by funding from the Swedish innovation agency Vinnova, Sustainable industry, and will contribute to Boliden’s vision to be the most climate friendly and respected metals provider in the world.

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Electric field distribution regulation of zinc anode toward long cycle life zinc metal battery.

Zinc ion batteries are expected to be the next generation of rechargeable aqueous metal ion batteries, but their application is limited by its severe dendrite growth caused by inhomogeneous plating during the plating/stripping process. Herein, we designed a zigzag structured Zn anode using a simple hydrochloric acid etching method to regulate the electric field distribution on the surface. It is shown by finite element simulations that zigzag Zn anode surface allows for a more uniform current distribution during cycling, and the symmetric cell can exhibit a small overpotential of 42.1 mV under 0.5 mA cm-2/0.5 mAh cm-2 cycling condition. Furthermore, the assembled zigzag Zn/V2O5 battery still deliver a high discharge capacity of 305 mAh g-1 and show 83.3% capacity retention after 3000 cycles at a current density of 2 A g-1. The construction of special structured surfaces can offer simple and effective method to regulate the electric field distribution on the surface of Zn anode, leading to homogenized Zn plating process and suppressed hydrogen evolution reaction as well as inhibited dendrite growth, holding great promises for the practicalization of aqueous zinc ion batteries.

• This article is part of the themed collection: Journal of Materials Chemistry A HOT Papers

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X. Long, Y. Liu, D. Wang, Y. Nie, X. Lai, D. Luo and X. Wang, J. Mater. Chem. A , 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4TA00629A

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