New type of battery could outlast EVs and still be used for grid energy storage

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.lightsource.ca/public/news/2024-25-q2-oct-dec/new-type-of-battery-could-outlast-evs-and-still-be-used-for-grid-energy-storage.php

New type of battery could outlast EVs and still be used for grid energy storage
Inside of battery with single crystal electrode still like new after 20,000 cycles -- the equivalent of powering an EV 8 million kms

By GREG BASKY
Dec 9, 2024

There’s a big push underway to increase the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries powering EVs on the road today. By law, in the US, these cells must be able to hold 80% of their original full charge after eight years of operation.

However, many industry experts believe we need batteries that last decades – so that once they’re no longer robust enough for use in EVs, we can put them to use in “second-life applications” – such as bundling them together to store wind and solar energy to power the electrical grid.

Video: New type of battery could outlast EVs, still be used for grid energy storage

Researchers from Dalhousie University used the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan to analyze a new type of lithium-ion battery material – called a single-crystal electrode – that’s been charging and discharging non-stop in a Halifax lab for more than six years. It lasted more than 20,000 cycles before it hit the 80% capacity cutoff. That translates to driving a jaw-dropping 8 million kms. As part of the study, the researchers compared the new type of battery – which has only recently come to market – to a regular lithium-ion battery that lasted 2,400 cycles before it reached the 80% cutoff.

…

Bond attributes the near absence of degradation in the new style battery to the difference in the shape and behaviour of the particles that make up the battery electrodes. In the regular battery, the battery electrodes are made up of tiny particles up to 50 times smaller than the width of a hair. If you zoom in on these particles, they are composed of even tinier crystals that are bunched together like snowflakes in a snowball. The single crystal is, as its name implies, one big crystal: it’s more like an ice cube. “If you have a snowball in one hand, and an ice cube in the other, it’s a lot easier to crush the snowball,” says Bond. “The ice cube is much more resistant to mechanical stress and strain.”

…

http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ad88a8

[ffr]

1. But I didn't grow up with it, nor did my parents. I'm not changing away from my fossil fuel vehicles.

I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!
I'm not!







It's what we're up against. Tradition - traditionalists.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. We're also up against people who have made up their minds, and will not entertain alternatives.

For example, some people believe that renewable sources of energy are simply useless, nuclear (fission) is the only acceptable energy source, while some feel that no amount of nuclear power is ever acceptable. Then there are the people who chant “Drill Baby! Drill!” as if that is an answer to anything…

If we are to survive this crisis, there is no single solution. We must stop screwing around and take advantage of multiple, diverse technologies which work and are deployable today.

[NNadir]

7. There is theory; there is wishful tinking; there are e perimental results.

I have no doubt, none whatsoever, that the experimental results are in; the planetary atmosphere is collapsing.

The theory, widely held, that throwing trillions upon trillions of dollars at solar and wind energy will have any effect other than accelerating the degradation of the atmosphere, has been subject to experiment. The results are in. Are we living in happy land, the oft predicted but never realized so called "renewable energy" nirvana or are we burning more fossil fuels than ever?

Anyone claiming that they are aware of the solution and that it is to continue a failed experiment of scattered "solutions" is in my view incompetent to offer anything at all in any reasonable approach to addressing reality.

The data after all is clear. One would have to be in some kind of cult to hold on to doing the same thing over and over when it clearly doesn't work.

This is particularly true of anyone who cannot grasp, even for a New York second, the difference between primary energy and thermodynamically degraded stored energy.

If one cannot understand that storing energy wastes energy, especially given that almost all of the primary energy now used by humanity comes from fossil fuels, one is active in making things worse, not better. The laws of thermodynamics are not subject to happy face chants.

Every single reference to energy storage when almost all energy that is not nuclear energy is dirty, is just fossil fuel apologetics and greenwashing.

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. You're so predictable

…

The new batteries are already being produced commercially, says Bond, and their use should ramp up significantly within the next couple of years. “I think work like this just helps underscore how reliable they are, and it should help companies that are manufacturing and using these batteries to plan for the long term.”

[NNadir]

13. That I am: Predictable. The laws of thermodynamics are, after all, about prediction. Predictably...

...every single battery on the planet needs something called primary energy to charge it, and 100% of the time, charging takes place with the destruction of exergy, the ability to recover energy as useful work. Batteries are devices that destroy exergy.

This is predictable from the laws of physics, using mathematical physical laws.

If one manufactured a pile of batteries the size of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, without a way to charge them, they're just landfill. In fact, that's what batteries become after a time in use, landfill.

Why, this obvious thing is hard to grasp by any person pontificating on the subject of energy, making uneducated and absurd claims that one is competent to judge issues in energy, is about the only thing that's mysterious in any of this.

Dunning-Kruger, I guess.

[Festivito]

5. Don't worry. They got over riding reliable horses, wagons, and crocheting their light bulbs.

[Silent Type]

2. Significantly longer battery life, if affordable, will help buyers get over concern for charging stations.

Even those who love spirited driving will be awed by the performance of electric vehicles.

[ffr]

6. For those with range anxiety. I hear this all the time and I don't think people are understanding it

For those curious about how it is you don't see EVs stranded all over the world.

EV drivers have a secret. It's understanding that all EVs, that I know of, have a GPS navigation system that automatically figures out all the charging stuff for them. Just tell the vehicle your destination. Problem solved! It also shows you your expected battery level upon arrival at each charging waypoint too, often established within the 10 - 20% battery level range.

Shhhh! Don't tell fossil fuel vehicle (putt putt putt putt) drivers this, because their navigation systems, that I know of, don't do this. The driver has to figure it out when the low-fuel light comes on. Not so with an EV, it determines where you will need to stop, check that the EV station has availability, then reserves your future spot at that location as best it can, so that later vehicles coming along won't clog up the chargers. But shhhhh!!! Don't tell them that most charging locations anymore only fill up about half way, even on weekends and holidays. Don't ruin their preconceived notions about being inconvenienced if a charging station is full of EVs with a few waiting during such times. Oh no!!! Having to wait 10 minutes for one of the chargers to become available may make them go postal or because they won't drive 5 miles up the road to the next one that has available charging stalls, but isn't near their favorite coffee house. Can't be inconvenienced to do that, should that be the case!

What about during your EV trip? How will you know you'll make it? Because the navigation system already calculates what it expects you to use up if you travel at a reasonable speed, hills & curves be damned, it's all factored in based on zillions of miles traveled by other EVs! Generally, most EV drivers will not look at the battery level because that's inconsequential to getting to your destination, the percentage of battery upon arrival is. And that number is recalculated as you drive. So when you set out to the next waypoint or your final destination, if it shows a forecast 22% battery remaining upon arrival and you see that number dropping below 20% because you're driving like a madman at 110 MPH, it's telling you to slow-the-fuck-down, moron! Drive like a responsible person! But even then, if you feel you deserve to drive like a madman, then just anticipate charging longer at each of your charging waypoints so you can burn up excess energy. You're and adult. It's not rocket science!

And don't tell them that the reason EV drivers don't have range anxiety is because every day we leave our houses with the same preset battery levels, which is usually 10x what we need for everyday commuting. Because EVs don't need a gas station to fill up at or have a tank that progressively drains out until we need it filled week by week. We can full them up to whatever level we want at our homes AND the car does it automatically after hours, so getting energy is all but forgotten about! Just plug it in. The EV figures it out for you.

[brakester]

8. I just came home from a trip 1/2 way across the US

with a Subaru Crosstrek, which is fossil fuel driven. (We're waiting until EVs get better.)
Two times I almost ran out of gas because I was concentrating on driving and didn't notice I was getting low!
Near Paducah TN, after running dangerously low, I saw an interstate sign that promised 2 gas stations at the exit. Well, I didn't see any, so I drove further down the local road in the pitch dark, turned around to look for the other one in the opposite direction and went miles and finally found, of all things, a Dollar Store, IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE which didn't have gas. So I told the nice clerks my dilemma. They said, "Yeah, about 20 years ago there were 2 gas stations at that exit!" They gave me directions and found a station but I was on fumes!

But I could have used a buzzer to alert me at 1/4 tank!

I'm going to complain to TNDOT about it.

[Red Mountain]

4. Might be worth something used, too

If you don't have to pay big bucks for a new battery.

[70sEraVet]

9. You and I think alike!

[Finishline42]

10. A Tesla battery pack has many cells...

A Model Y with the older 2170 cells has 4400 of them (BTW they are 21 mm in diameter and 70 mm tall). When a battery pack fails, not all of them go bad, just some of them do. I pretty sure when this starts happening on a regular basis there will be a whole new type of business cropping up - Tesla battery repair. Find and replace the bad cells and you're back in business.

[OKIsItJustMe]

12. The OP suggests that old batteries be used for grid storage

However, yeah, a low cost battery which had “only” 80% of its original range might not be a bad deal.