The “War of the Currents1,2” a well-documented technology war of the 1880s, with “Edison” & “Westinghouse” on either side of the fence.It is said to be the very first technology war to set standards of power distribution and, involved a series of events. Its end came with the construction of a 3.70 MW powerhouse at Niagara Fall by Westinghouse Electric in 1895 and within the next few years, the DC power system was completely replaced by an AC power system. All of the then-existing ~15 electric companies merged into two; General Electric and Westinghouse Electric. The world of electricity had changed. Later, we saw many more such technology wars e.g. Videotape format war3 (1978~80), Apple IBM war (~the 1980s) & first Browser war4 (~the 1990s), PC Operating System (1988), HD optical disc format war5 (2006~2008) to name which changed the course of technology and world for the better. In EVs market, one such war is already on, for EV charging system amongst four types of charging system – first one known as Tesla’s own Supercharger system, second one is CCS (known as Combined Charging System and is favored by Europe, BMW, Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler, Ford and the Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche), third one CHAdeMO (Charge de Move and developed by Japanese firms including carmakers Nissan and Mitsubishi) and lastly GB/T in China, the world’s biggest electric car market.
In the coming few years, with the rise of EVs, we are probably going to witness a similar War which might later be studied as the “War of The Batteries”. With the meteoric rise of Tesla in the area of EV, THIS UNSAID “WAR OF THE BATTERIES” HAS ALREADY BEGUN.
However, it is interesting to recall that despite multiple fuel options available for ICEVs (e.g. Hydrogen, Natural gas, Conventional gasoline, Conventional diesel, Ethanol, LPG, LNG, CNG, Butane, or Propane), ICEVs had only two known & established technologies to harness the energy from these fuels- spark plug ignition (SI technology for a petrol engine) & Compression Ignition (CI for Diesel engine) and being complementary, they both grew in tandem during the last century depending upon the application and need, supplementing each other. There was no fight for supremacy.
The situation is not the same in the current EVs market which is still evolving. While the main drive technology may remain more or less the same for all EVs, there are multiple options of onboard energy storage & generation for these EVs. While these technologies may have performed well till now in western countries with a limited number of EVs, in diverse & complex Indian mobility market, which has extreme weather conditions (with rains, temperature, dust, humidity, etc.), as well as other complexities e.g. highly unregulated traffic, typical driving habits & conditions, poses a different level of challenge for these EVs and their batteries, affecting the travel range, performance & reliability.
While many of the infrastructure related challenge like reliability & functionality of charging stations [where power is a political tool & power theft is a normal thing (25~27% of total generation)], the EV manufacturers, as well as energy source manufacturers for these EVs, need to look into many such contradictions of Indian mobility world before deciding about the kind of energy source their EVs would be using for Indian roads.
In the “War of The Batteries”, many technology would fall and many underdogs would rise in coming times before few winners take their righteous place however, till the time that happens let’s try to understand the current scenario, starting from the beginning.
The Beginning:
An about 2,200 years clay pot discovered near Baghdad, Iraq, currently known as “Baghdad Battery6” is probably the oldest electricity generation device by chemical reactions (generating 1.1V) indicating the age-old human need to produce, store & use electricity at will. Fast forward to the current time, in which these portable energy storage devices have become an integrated with our daily life and have almost become an extension of every individual himself. Batteries (both rechargeable/ non– rechargeable) are now redefining our lifestyles. From the TV remote to mobile phone to invertors of the house’s batteries have come a long way.
In scientific way, the concept of “battery” in context to energy was first described by Benjamin Franklin, who in 1748, used this term for set of Leyden jars7 using the analogy to a “battery of cannons” used by military which fire in tandem and increase the impact of their attack.
Though, in common terminology, the two words “a cell” & “a battery” are frequently used as synonyms, yet technically they are different. While a “cell” is ‘‘the basic single electrochemical unit providing a source of electrical energy by direct conversion of chemical energy’’, while a “battery” is “combination of multiple cells, connected in an appropriate series/ parallel arrangement to provide the required operating voltage and/or current”. However, for general discussion and as well this article, they are considered at par and mean the same.
Depending upon their ability to get recharged, these electrochemical cells/batteries are further classified as primary (non-rechargeable) or secondary (rechargeable) cells/ batteries. These batteries have one biggest advantage over IC engines – unlike IC engines, they are NOT subject to the limitations of the Carnot cycle dictated by the second law of thermodynamics and hence they can convert chemical energy into electric energy, with higher energy conversion efficiencies.
Application of Primary & Secondary Batteries
The chart below shows the application range of primary and secondary batteries. As the power requirement of the application increases the size of the battery also increases leading to a rise in replacement cost, hence the battery choice also shifts from the “primary battery” to the “secondary battery” as instead of replacement, they could be recharged and used multiple times.
With this background this article tries to explore the current and future possibility of present energy sources which are being successfully deployed in many of modern EVs in Indian perspective.
Battery Options for EVs:
Despite the fact, the EVs had early comers advantage over ICEVs & ruled the mobility world before the rise of ICEVs, yet the rechargeable batteries back then were not efficient, difficult to handle, and were not economical. The rise of Henry Ford’s mass-produced affordable & reliable ICEVs pulled the plugs for the EVs which by the 1950s slowly died their natural death. With EVs gone, went the associated battery development for EVs. Fortunately, the quest for stored portable energy never died and with the rise of the semiconductor & electronics industry in 1970, the need for long-serving, low cost safe & high performance batteries was more seriously felt. While the battery technology grew rapidly, serious environmental impacts of burning the fossil fuel in ICEVs also started becoming prominent (global warming, ozone layer depletion, fall of AQIs in cities, etc.). With the development of many new battery technologies in the last few decades as well as the miniaturization of electronics, the beginning of the 21st century was ripe for EVs to bounce back for their righteous place.
Unlike early 1900, this time the situation was much different as while the battery segment by itself had grown rapidly offering multiple technologies, almost all giants in the ICEV makers were also investing heavily in developing their energy technologies.
While each of these technologies has its own set of advantages & challenges. Let us try to briefly understand some of them as The “War of the Batteries”, has just begun.
Classification/ Application of Various Batteries Used in EVs:
The current batteries which are used in current EVs can be broadly classified as below:
A. Secondary Batteries – Rechargeable
Lead Acid Battery (LAB)
These are the cheapest energy source and, in the past, most commonly used batteries in EVs like forklifts, golf carts or e-
rickshaws. Being heavy LABs, they increase the vehicle weight by 25% to 50%. They also have much lower specific energy than petroleum fuels (30–50 Wh/kg) as well as their storage capacities decreases with lower temperatures. These batteries have powered early modern EVs e.g. General Motors’ EV1 electric car produced between from 1996 to 1999. However with much better options available the LABs are not used in modern EVs
Nickel Metal Hydride Battery (NiMH)
These batteries now have mature technology. Though they are less efficient (60–70%) in charging and discharging than even LAB they have far higher specific energy ratio of 30~80 Wh/kg and despite proving their longevity in Toyota’s first-generation RAV4 EVs that still operate well after 100,000 miles (160,000 km) and over a decade of service as well GM using them in its second generation EV-1, NiMH did not become a popular choice of EV makers due to poor efficiency, high self-discharge, very tricky charge cycles, and poor performance in cold weather. As per news Toyota is also now planning to shelve this technology.
Sodium (Na) Nickel Chloride Battery (ZEBRA Battery)
IN 1985, this battery was developed by Zeolite Battery Research Africa, hence the name ZEBRA which was later expanded
differently as Zero Emission Battery Research Activities. It contained electrolyte of molten Sodium tetrachloro- aluminate (NaAlCl4) salt and has with a specific energy between 90-120 Wh/kg. Pre heating of Sodium salt is must. These cells are proved to be highly reliable with cell failures virtually to be non-existent. Though they have been used in few EVs produced by now closed MODEC Inc. (Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Company Inc.) from UK yet due to many inherent factors they could not become a favored choice of EV makers & the development refocused almost exclusively on the higher voltage variants.
Lithium-Ion Battery (LIB)
Lithium is the lightest of all metals and has the greatest electrochemical potential to provide the largest energy density for weight but Lithium metal also has inherent instability during charging when used in the battery. In early 1970, M. Stanley Whittingham discovered the process to control this charging instability. However, he could not make this rechargeable lithium battery a practical one. During 1974~76, a process of reversible intercalation in graphite and intercalation into cathodic oxides was discovered by J. O. Besenhard who proposed its application in lithium cells. The research work continued on these cells and in 1991 when a Japanese team at Sony, led by Yoshio Nishi who successfully released the first commercialized lithium-ion battery. The development of LIB technology was considered to be so revolutionary that in 2019,
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to John Good enough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino “for the same. Though these batteries are called LIBs, in real terms they do not have any Lithium as metal but as intercalated8 lithium compound. These LIBs are extensively used in modern EVs, however battery technology analyst Mark Ellis of Munro & Associates sees three distinct LIB form factors & their combination that would be used in future EVs: a) cylindrical cells (e.g., Tesla), b) prismatic pouch (e.g., from LG), and c) prismatic can cells (e.g., from LG, Samsung, Panasonic, and others).
Lithium Polymer Battery (LPB)
The lithium-polymer battery the electrolyte is made of a polymer resembling a plastic-like film that does not conduct electricity but allows ions to flow freely. The polymer resembling film offers simple fabrication with ruggedness & safety as well as a thin-profile geometry. With a cell thickness measuring as little as one millimeter (0.04 inches), equipment designers are left with their imagination in terms of form, shape, and size. Unfortunately, the dry lithium-polymer suffers from poor conductivity & the internal resistance is too high which cannot deliver the current bursts needed to power modern EVs. Lithium-ionpolymer has not caught on as quickly as some analysts had expected. Its superiority to other systems and low manufacturing costs has not been realized. No improvements in capacity gains are achieved the capacity is slightly less than that of the standard lithium-ion battery. Lithium-ion-polymer finds its application only in a niche market
requiring waferthin geometries, such as batteries for credit cards and other such applications. Some car manufacturer’s e.g. Hyundai Motor Company & Kia Motors also used this type of battery in their BEVs & HEVs.
Solid State Battery (SSB):
A SSB is a rechargeable battery that uses solid electrodes (made of materials like ceramics e.g. oxides, sulfides, phosphates) and solid electrolytes (made of solid polymers) instead of using liquid or polymer gel electrolytes that are found in LIB or LPB. Despite that the solid electrolytes were first discovered by Michael Faraday between 1831 and 1834, it had several shortcomings e.g. low energy densities, low cell voltages, and high internal resistance which allowed their use for limited application like pacemakers, RFID, and wearable devices. Improvement of the technology in the late 20th and early 21st century brought back interest in SSB battery technologies, especially when EVs are becoming the new normal.
With more than 1,000 patents, Toyota stands at the top of the global chart when it comes to SSB technology development and is already working introduce an EV driven by these SSB by this year end to cover 500 km range on a single charge with fast charging capability of zero to full in 10 minutes, all with minimal safety concerns. Ford and BMW have also announced to invest $130 million in SSB driven EVs. While Nissan too has plans to develop its own SSB by 2028.
B. Primary Batteries – Non Chargeable/ Mechanically Rechargeable
Metal Air Battery (MAB)/ Al-Air Battery (AAB)
Another category of aqueous battery systems is the MAB which is an electrochemical cell with high specific energy, utilizing ambient air as the positive active material, and light metals (Li, Ca, Mg, Al, Zn or Fe), most commonly Al or Zn, as the negative active material, typically with an aqueous or aprotic electrolyte. The first Metal-Air battery was designed by Maiche in 1878 (Zn-Air) yet its commercial products started to appear in the market only in 1932. Following this development, other aqueous Fe-Air, Al-Air, and Mg-Air batteries were developed in the 1960s. It took another two decades for the first nonaqueous metal-air batteries to emerge (initially for Li-air and more recently Na-Air, K-Air & Al-Air). The specific capacity and energy density of MAB/ AAB cells are higher than that of LIB, making them a prime candidate for use in EVs. It has the potential of providing up to eight times the range of a LIB with a significantly lower total weight. Also aluminum is the most abundant metallic element (8.23% by mass in Earths’ crust and the third most abundant of all elements after oxygen and silicon). Since India ranks 5th in the world Aluminium reserves, the AlBs seem to be the most suitable for the Indian EV market.
Many efforts are underway to develop a ‘‘mechanically’’ rechargeable AIB where the discharged Alelectrode is physically removed and replaced with a fresh one, however, the recycling of removed discharged Al-electrode has to be done in dedicated plants where Aluminium is recovered from it, which is an energy-intensive process.
Work on EV powered by Al-Air battery has also been going on since 1989 when road tests of a hybrid Al-Air/LAB EV were reported while another Al-Air/plug-in hybrid minivan was demonstrated in Ontario in 1990. Phinergy9 in March 2013 released a video demonstration of an EV using an Al-Air battery being driven for 330 km while on May 27, 2013, the Israeli channel claimed that a car with a Phinergy battery in the back, traveled for 2,000 km before replacement of the Al anodes. In India, while Log910 is a Bangalore that has roots in the IIT Roorkee incubation center, is indigenously working on Al-Air batteries since 2015, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Phinergy have recently formed a JV (in 2021) to build these ultra-lightweight Al-Air batteries for electric vehicles (EVs).
Fuel Cell (FC):
The concept of the FC was first demonstrated by Humphrey Davy in 1801, but the invention of the first working FC is credited to William Grove, a chemist, lawyer, and physicist who in 1842 called it a “gas voltaic battery”. More work followed between 1939 and 1949 to create various Alkaline FCs. FCs are similar to batteries except that the active materials are not the integral part of the cell (as in a battery), but they are fed into the cell from storage whenever power needs to be generated by FCs, and Oxygen or air is the predominant oxidant and is fed into the cathode side of the FC.
However, the FCs differ from the battery in one way i.e. it can produce electrical energy as long as the active materials are fed to the electrodes or the electrodes do not fail. The electrode materials of the FCs are inert in that they are not consumed during the cell reaction, but have catalytic properties which enhance the electro reduction or electrooxidation of the reactants (the active materials). The anode active materials used in FCs are generally gaseous or liquid and are fed into the anode side of the FC. As these anode materials are more like the conventional fuels used in heat engines, the term ‘‘Fuel Cells’’ has become popular to describe these devices.
A Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) is an EV that uses a FC, sometimes in combination with a small battery to power its on-board electric motor. FCs of these FCEVs generate electricity generally using oxygen from the air and compressed hydrogen stored in taken mounted on a vehicle. Most FCEVs are classified as zero-emissions vehicles that emit only water and heat.
FCs have been used in various kinds of vehicles including forklifts, especially in indoor applications where their clean emissions are important to air quality, and in space applications. However, the first commercially produced hydrogen FC automobile, the Hyundai Tucson FCEV, was introduced in 2013, Toyota Mirai followed in 2015 and then Honda entered the market. The new generation of FCs are being developed and tested in trucks, buses, boats, motorcycles, and bicycles, among other kinds of vehicles.
Some of Other Batteries Technologies Currently Evolving:
- Graphene Aluminium Battery: Graphene-based batteries have exciting potential and while they are not fully commercially available yet. Many companies are already working on it with the combination as Metal-Air Battery or to improve LIB performance (Log 9 Materials, Samsung & Huawei) while in June 2014, US-based Vorbeck Materials announced the Vor-Power battery providing 7,200 mAh and is probably the world’s first graphene-enhanced battery.
- Cobalt-Free Lithium-Ion Battery: Researchers at the University of Texas have developed a LIB that doesn’t use cobalt for its cathode.
- Silicon Anode Lithium-Ion Batteries In 2015, Tesla founder Elon Musk claimed that silicon in Model S batteries increased the car’s range by 6%.
- Lithium-sulfur Batteries: The invention dates back to the 1960s, when Herbert and Ulam patented in 1962, a primary battery employing lithium or lithium alloys as anodic material, sulfur as cathodic material, and an electrolyte composed of aliphatic saturated amines.
- Sand Battery: This alternative type of lithium-ion battery uses silicon to achieve three times better performance than current graphite Li-ion batteries.
- Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Electrode: NAWA Technologies has designed and patented an Ultra-Fast Carbon Electrode, which can be a game-changer in the battery market. It uses a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) design which can boost battery power (10X), energy storage (3X), and the lifecycle of a battery (5X). The technology could be in production as soon as 2023.
- Gold Nanowire Batteries: Researchers at the University of California Irvine have cracked nanowire batteries that can withstand plenty of recharging.
- Battery As EV’s Structural Component: Research at the Chalmers University of Technology are working on new batteries not as a power source, but also as a structural component & once developed would be making batteries strong enough to get integrated into vehicle’s structure to become an integral part of vehicles serving a dual purpose, weight reduction, and power supply.
- Batteries Free From Heavy Metals like nickel and cobalt (IBM’s is developing a and could potentially out-perform lithium-ion)
- Foam Batteries: Prieto11 is a company that has managed to make 3-D batteries, using copper foam substrate. This means these batteries will not only be safer, but they will also offer longer life, faster charging, five times higher density, be cheaper to make, and be smaller than current offerings. New Foam Batteries Promise Fast Charging, Higher Capacity in an almost limitless variety of shapes, they could offer energy storage applications previously unimaginable.
- Ryden Dual Carbon Battery: Power Japan Plus has already announced this new battery technology called Ryden dual carbon. Not only will it last longer and charge faster than lithium but it can be made using the same factories where lithium batteries are built.
- Sodium-Ion Batteries: Scientists in Japan are working on new types of batteries that don’t need lithium like your smartphone battery. These new batteries will use sodium, one of the most common materials on the planet rather than rare lithium – and they’ll be up to seven times more efficient than conventional batteries.
Epilogue
With so many players in the battery market eying for future EVs, it would be interesting to watch as to in whose favor this “War of The Battery” tilts finally to capture the Global Market as well as the Indian EV market. Though in current times we do not have legends like Edison & Westinghouse/ Nikola Tesla, still in present times we do have Elon Musk, China, and the rest of the world to fight this “War of The Battery”. This may take many years before the dust settles down and one/few winners emerge, which may not be with the best of technology but a technology with is environment friendly, has mass acceptance, ease of operation, longevity range, reliable and is low cost, reliable & safe. We need to wait and watch for the ends result of this WAR keeping in mind following key learnings from all the previous technology/ standards wars:
Prabhat Khare
BE (Electrical), Gold Medalist, IIT Roorkee Automotive & Engineering Consultant, Energy & Safety Auditor, Trainer Auto Sector Expert (Tata Motors, Honda Cars & Ashok Leyland).
Energy Sector Expert (Cement & Fertilizers).
Energy Manager (Bureau of Energy Efficiency).
Life Member of National Safety Council of India Lead Assessor for ISO 9K, 14K, 45K & 50K (BSI).
Mob: +00-91-9910490088
Email: prabhatkhare22659@gmail.com/ prabhat.pkmail@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prabhatkhare2/
Ref:
1. Handbook of Batteries by David Linden
2. Handbook Lithium-Ion Batteries by Masaki Yoshio, Ralph J Broadd & Akiya Kozawa
3. Towards the battery of the future Publication by European Commission
4. Recent Progress of Meal-Air Batteries-A Mini Review (MDPI)
5. Lithium-ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles: The US Value Chain
6. Metal-air-Batteries-to-INREP-10122014-YEE
7. A Brief History of Non-Aqueous Metal-Air Batteries
8. Metal-air batteries by Joan Gómez Chabrera, Alejandro Andreu Nácher, Pablo Bou Pérez
9. Brief History of Early Lithium-Battery Development (MDPI)
10. Lead-acid-white-paper Published by All Cell Technologies LLC (March 2012)
11. Battery 2030+ Road Map: Inventing the Sustainable Batteries of The Future Research Needs And Future Actions by Kristina Edstrom (Executive Editor)
12. Book The Savage Tale of the First Standards War by Tom McNichol
