Automotive Engineering - May 2024 - 28

Are we
stuck
with
LITHIUMION?
As
companies continue to trumpet their next-gen EV battery tech, it seems like
new chemistries face more momentum from the established champ, lithium-ion.
by Chris Clonts
T
here's no shortage of alternatives to lithium-ion EV batteries
in development. From lithium-iron phosphate to sodium-ion
to multiple solid-state chemistries, companies are racing to
perfect these technologies and figure out how to manufacture
them at scale.
But to an outside observer, it can feel like breathless coverage of
future battery technology is much ado about not much. Lithium-ion
batteries seem to have all the momentum, seeing as they're the power
supply of choice for most EV manufacturers. And if there's anything
that's true in the automotive industry, it's how hard it is to buck
momentum. Here are just a few of the big issues lithium-ion batteries
have in their favor:
* Already built factories that manufacture batteries and face tremendous
costs to retool for a different technology.
* An economy of scale that has driven down the cost per kilowatthour
from $732 in 2013 to $139 in 2023.
* The vehicle development curve can be seven or more years before
hitting production. That means betting on a technology and a mining
and manufacturing ecosystem that hasn't been fully tested.
* Some companies are slowing EV launches and reconsidering investment
in new technologies given the recent slowdown in the
growth of EV sales.
At the same time, it's strategically important to the industry to diversify
its power sources, as China effectively controls the lithium-ion
battery market.
Keith Norman, chief sustainability officer for battery maker Lyten,
said that the same lithium-ion momentum in the mobility industry
is also being experienced by the home and industrial-energy-storage
industry (such as Tesla's Powerwall). Norman said lithium-ion
chemistry is probably not the ideal solution for either, but it's the
easiest for now.
" When you get a solution like lithium-ion that meets the market
28 May 2024
demands for tolerances that you have to show to play
in the space, you can grow very, very rapidly, " Norman
said. " Our view is that you're going to see something
a little bit similar [in alternate chemistries]. There
probably won't be tens of chemistries. It's going to be
a small number that will find their place and grow
very rapidly. "
Lyten's Li-S ramp
While Lyten is all-in on lithium-sulfur chemistry due in
large part to the fact that sulfur is one of the most
widely available and lowest-cost minerals available, it
is another material that sets the company's batteries
apart. " The real innovation is a new material, a threedimensional
graphene material that is ultra-highstrength
and high conductivity that allows us to tune
structural and permeability properties...to go deliver
performance gains in industrial products, " Norman
said. Like some companies in the e-motor business,
Lyten is focusing on other applications, such as
drones, satellites and other defense applications before
homing in on mobility.
The biggest challenge on the table is increasing the
rechargeability of the cells, which the company is already
producing in San Jose, California.
Compared to today's most common lithium-ion
chemistries, Norman said Lyten, with its Li-S battery, is
targeting an energy density of 20% to 25% above NMC
batteries and two times that of LFP batteries. The other
calling card of Lyten's batteries: a lack of weight,
which, in addition to energy density, is another way to
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Automotive Engineering - May 2024

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