American and European startups are trying to develop new batteries based on two cheap and abundant materials, namely sodium and sulfur. New chemicals can reduce dependence on China, reduce the opportunities for supply problems and reduce the price of electric vehicles.
Today's electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries, which are mainly composed of lithium, cobalt, manganese and nickel. Recently, the price of these things has risen sharply. By the middle of the decade, their supply may become too scarce.
It is no coincidence that some companies are studying sodium ion and lithium sulfur batteries. The cost of these batteries may reach one third of today's lithium ion batteries. However, new chemicals still have problems to solve: sodium ion batteries cannot store enough energy, and sulfur based batteries corrode too quickly.
Despite these challenges, public and private capital is supporting Western companies to develop new technologies to help break China's dominance in battery materials. This Asian country currently has 75% of the world's cobalt processing capacity and 59% of the lithium processing capacity.
Many companies are looking for breakthroughs
The most expensive part of the battery is the cathode, which accounts for one third of the cell price. Today, most batteries have a nickel manganese cobalt lithium oxide (NCM) or lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode. The former can store more energy, but contains expensive nickel and cobalt. The latter technology provides less storage capacity, but is cheaper and safer.
As major cathode materials have recently become more expensive, companies are increasingly encouraged to look for alternative technologies. "The case of sodium ion is beyond doubt, especially in the low-cost and price sensitive market of fixed energy storage and vehicles," said Prabhakar Patil, a former senior executive of LG Chemicals. He added that although lithium sulfur batteries are a cheaper option in the long run, they may be more expensive when they are introduced.
Amandarry, headquartered in Michigan, USA, and AMTE Power, headquartered in the UK, are among the companies that have developed sodium ion batteries. Their main cathode material is sodium chloride, which is basically salt, enabling them to completely eliminate lithium, cobalt and nickel.
American companies Lyten and Conamix, German Theion and Norwegian Morrow are developing lithium sulfur cathode. These still require a small amount of lithium, but do not require nickel and cobalt.
Demand
Companies investing in alternative technologies have contacted auto manufacturers, some of which are actively testing new chemicals. OEMs are quite open to new technologies. "Over time, more chemical formulas will be released," Linda Zhang, chief engineer of Ford F150 Lightning Electric Pickup, told Reuters. "It would be foolish not to take advantage of these chemicals."
Duncan Williams, general manager of Nomura Greentech, a consulting company, said: "Engineers are increasingly close to solving the problems of lithium sulfur batteries and sodium ion batteries, such as insufficient energy density or life, so we expect that these two alternatives will gain market share in the future."
Amandarry, headquartered in the United States, has already produced its sodium ion batteries in China. In terms of transportation, its energy storage system may first appear on electric two wheeled vehicles.
Faradion, a British company, is studying batteries with the same chemical properties. CEO James Quinn shared that they are now in contact with most major auto manufacturers, and the company's batteries will be on the road in three to five years.
Future Chemistry
Celina Mikolajczak, battery technology director of Lyten Company in California, USA, said that it was an extremely difficult task to make lithium sulfur chemistry work, but she believed that it was "the chemistry of the future, which will make batteries widely used".
Ulrich Ehmes, head of Theion Company in Berlin, Germany, said that due to the corrosion of sulfur, the problem is that the service life is only 30 times. However, he said, they have found a way to coat the electrode, which means it can now be used as long as a car.
Theion claims that its lithium sulfur battery can store three times the energy of the NCM battery, can be recharged very quickly, and can reduce the cost of the battery by two-thirds, reaching $34 per kilowatt hour. The company plans to send test batteries to OEMs in 2024, and it is expected that production vehicles will have their batteries in 2027.
