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Li-ion Batteries for Electric Mobility

Preprint · December 2018

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.36748.77446

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 Li-ion Batteries for Electric Mobility
Fayaz Ahmed - 92344
Faith Okoro - 92352
Salman Amjad - 92320
Emiliano Degasperi - 92359
Ricardo Da Silva - 92091
December 2018

1 Abstract
Batteries have become quite a buzz word of the 21st century. Starting from our
homes, 20 years ago we barely had one battery in our homes today, we have
more than 10. We have batteries in our shaver, toothbrush, speakers, electric
toys, and so on.
Battery technologies have undoubtedly become the Holy Grail of the EV
industry, just as energy storage is the Holy Grail of renewable power genera-
tion/Integration. There are different types of batteries but Lithium-ion batteries
are the most popular batteries existing in the market powering our consumer
electronics and EVs successfully. The specific energy of a modern lithium-ion
battery is about 220-240 Wh/kg which is still not good enough to compete with
gasoline powered cars making EVs less viable option for long distance travels.
Engineering lighter, more powerful batteries with higher energy density would
definitely be a game changing innovation in battery technology systems.
Lithium batteries, with an average operational cell voltage of 3.5 V and
energy densities ranging from 150 to 250 Wh/kg, are most suitable for such
applications. However, such high-capacity configurations must meet customer
demands such as safety and affordability [2].

2 Introduction
The process that ends with the manufacturing and assembling of battery cells
begins with extraction of metals which are first mined then refined into pre-
cursors at a technical grade suitable for batteries. A lion’s share of lithium is
mined out of Salars in the ABC triangle in South America, Argentina, Bolivia,
and Chile. Those three countries represent about 50% of worldwide proven
reserves and are blessed with easy to collect and naturally high grade lithium
salts. Compare to just hard rocks found in China, Australia, USA, and others.

1
 Today around 50% of worldwide refining capacity is located in China. On the
other hand, Cobalt is a pretty specific resource. It’s almost exclusively mined as
a by-product, mainly from nickel. It requires extensive refining and purifying to
have a suitable grade for batteries. Moreover, Democratic Republic of Congo is a
central stakeholder of its metal, holding more than 70% of the worldwide known
resources and 50% of the current supply. Today around 80% of the worldwide
refining capacity is located in China. Finally, nickel, manganese aluminium,
copper, and natural graphite are mined all around the world in various places
and are less prone to geopolitical issues in terms of sourcing.

3 What is a Battery?
A battery is an electrical energy storage device which electrochemically con-
verts chemically energy of its active components directly into electrical energy
with the help of electrochemical oxidation- reduction (redox) reactions. The
oxidation reactions lead to loss of electrons and reduction reactions tend to gain
those electrons. This constant oxidation and reduction process within an elec-
trochemical cell is responsible for flow of electrons through an external circuit
to power the load connected to it.
An ideal battery pack should be able to exhibit following properties for
commercial adoption:

• Higher Capacity
• Better Reversibility
• Higher rate capability
• Thermal and electro-chemical stability

3.1 Construction of a typical Battery

A battery is made up of many electrochemical cells. These cells could be com-
bined in series or parallel depending on the application. There are lots of active
and passive components when combined could make electrochemical cell work
effectively. Main components of the electrochemical cell are following:
• A positive electrode called cathode where reduction (gain of electrons)
takes place and has a current collector made of thin aluminum foil.
• A negative electrode called anode where oxidation (loss of electrons) takes
place and has a current collector of thin copper foil.
• A separator is a fine porous polymer film.
• An electrolyte made with lithium salt in an organic solvent.

2
3.2 Why Li-ion Battery?
Li-ion batteries have some fundamental advantages over other batteries which
gives them a clear edge over its competitors. Firstly, Lithium has the lowest
reduction potential of any known element meaning it could be easily oxidized
(release electrons) and also yield highest possible cell voltage. Secondly, Lithium
has one of the smallest ionic radii of any single charged ion which is responsible
for high charge density of lithium around 3862 mAh/g [1]. Thirdly, Li-ion
batteries could be discharged more deeply and have high energy densities than
lead acid batteries. These are the main reasons which makes Li-ion batteries
preferable over other batteries for number of commercial applications.

3.3 How does a Li-ion battery work?

A typical Li-ion cell has a negative electrode called anode often made up of
carbon and a positive electrode called cathode most commonly made up of
Lithium Cobalt Oxide and an electrolyte consists of lithium salts in some organic
solvent. In order to make Li-ion cell work for long cycles, smooth Intercalation
of Li ions between the electrodes through the electrolyte need to be achieved
without significant morphological and structural changes in the active materials.
Figure 1 illustrates the charging and discharging cycle of a typical Li-ion cell.
During discharging Li ions move from anode to cathode and once the anode is
completely stripped off Li ions then battery is fully discharged and for charging
the battery, current is forced in the opposite direction to restore the initial
constitution of the Li-ion cell.

Figure 1: Working principle of a Li-ion battery

3
4 Major developments in the Battery Technol-
ogy/Materials
Since 1990, when Sony first introduced the Li-ion batteries on the commercial
scale much has been changed in the Li-ion battery technology and also new
active materials have been discovered with higher charge capacities and higher
rate capabilities.

4.1 Cathode materials

Development of Li-ion batteries based on intercalation electrodes is touted to
be one of the significant achievement of modern theoretical and applied elec-
trochemistry. These are the emerging cathode materials categories. Some of
them are already mature and deployed in batteries and some of them are in the
research phase close to commercialization.

• Lithium–manganese spinels
• Layered lithium-metal oxides
• Vanadium oxides
• Olivines

Figure 2: Crystal Structures of Intercalation cathodes (a) layered (LiCoO2), (b)

spinel (LiMn2O4), (c) olivine (LiFePO4), and (d) tavorite (LiFeSO4F) [1]

4
4.2 Anode materials
Carbon is a prime anode material in lithium-ion batteries due to its affordable
cost, easy availability and favourable electrochemical properties. One of the
main challenges with the usage of carbon as an anode material is poor theoretical
Lithium-intercalation capacity of graphitic carbon compared to very high charge
density of the Lithium. The other key problem with most of anode materials
is volume changes that accompany during charge-discharge process limiting the
life cycle of the battery. Following are widely used anode materials in Li-ion
batteries.
• Carbonaceous anodes

• Lithium titanium oxide (Li4Ti5O12/LTO)

• Alloy anodes
• Silicon

Figure 3: Crystal Structures of (a) lithiated graphite, (b) lithium titanate

(LTO), (c) silicon during lithiation [1]

4.3 Electrolytes
Electrolyte plays an important role in balancing the charge of the system. For
every electron flowing through the external circuit, a charged ion need to pass
through the electrolyte and deposit at the electrode to balance the charge of the
system. Most of the solvents being used in the Li-ion cells have low boiling and

5
flash points making it vulnerable to the safety hazards. Researchers are trying
to develop non-flammable polymer electrolytes to improve the safety conditions
of the battery and also making sure that electrolytes should have lower heat of
reaction with electrode materials to avoid self-sustaining combustion environ-
ment in case of any accidental heating. Nowadays, selection of electrolyte is
always a trade-off between their flammability and cell performance. There are
different types of electrolytes:
• Polymer electrolytes
• Non-flammable electrolytes

• Ionic liquids

5 Battery Management system (BMS)

Battery management is essentially required to prevent failure of the batteries.
There are different types of BMS that can be used in electric vehicles, but the
most commonly used is the battery monitoring system. This system records
major operational parameters such as voltage, current, internal temperature
and ambient temperature during charging and discharging.
The definition of BMS, may vary based on its application. For electric
vehicles, the BMS should include the battery monitoring and protection system
that ensures the energy of the battery is optimized to power the product and
reduces the risk of battery damage during charging and discharging process and
safety of the system. Functions of BMS:
• Discharging Control: The aim of the BMS is to ensure that the battery
operates within its safe zone. Thus, during discharge, it is of utmost im-
portance that the BMS shields the cell from any unforeseen circumstances.

• Charging Control: Lithium ion batteries, can be easily damaged due to

wrong charging technique, therefore charging control is essential. The
correct approach is a two-way charging method called Constant Current-
Constant Voltage (CC-CV). The first step, is the CC method. In this
process, there is an increase in battery voltage produces by the charger
at constant current. When the battery voltages reach a constant value,
which means the battery is almost full, at this point, the charger main-
tains a constant voltage as the battery currents decays exponentially until
complete charge state is achieved.
• State of Charge (SOC): One function of BMS is to keep track of the SOC of
the battery. There are three methods of SOC determination. Firstly, the
direct measurement. This measures the SOC by simply using a voltmeter.
The reason for this, is that during discharge the decrease of voltage is
approximately linear. Coulomb counting integrates the currents that goes
in and out of the battery to determine the relative value of its charge. A

6
 combination of both methods requires monitoring of battery voltage and
calibration of SOC when the charge approaches either end and battery
current is integrated to determine the relative charge.
• State of Health (SOH) Determination: This shows the general condition
of the battery and its ability to deliver a specific result when compared
to a new battery. Parameters such as cell impedance and conductivity
diminish with age and this is a good indicator of the batteries state of
health.
• Cell balancing: This is a way of compensating weak cells and equalization
of charge on cells to extend battery life. During charging, the weak cells
may fail, and this could lead to failure of the battery. There are three
method of cell balancing. These are active, passive and charge shunting
cell balancing. In active cell balancing, charge from strong cell is being
removed and given to weak cells. In passive cell balancing, cells with
highest charge based on highest voltage are located. The excess energy is
removed by a by-pass resistor, until the voltage matches that of the weak
cell. Charge shunting has to do with levelling up of the voltage to that
of a rated voltage of a good cell. Once it is achieved, the current would
by-pass fully charge to charge weak cell until full voltage level is achieved.
• Communication: The type of communication protocol used is not deter-
mined by the battery type but by how the battery is being used. The BMS
used in electric vehicles for proper operation must communicate with the
upper vehicle control and motor control. There are two major type of
communication protocol, used by the BMS for electric vehicles. These are
the data bus and the controller area network (CAN). The industry-based
standard for communication for vehicles is CAN.

BMS design can be divided into two parts. The hard ware and the software.
The hardware, obtains the state variables of the batteries which includes volt-
age, current temperature. To improve the accuracy the measurement of the
parameters is obtained simultaneously. To guarantee the system dynamic prop-
erties, high sampling rate is done. The hardware also measures the thermal and
electrical variables and provides reliable estimation for parameters that cannot
be measured. The software monitors all the variables, manages battery pro-
tection, internal communication with various hardware blocks, communication
with different system and implementation of cell balancing.

7
5.1 BMS Topology
There are three basic topologies, used in the design of BMS hard ware. These
are:
• Distributed Topology: Voltage monitors, discharge balance and digital
communication are place on cells. This can cut-off charger and reports
its status. The advantage of this topology is in its simplicity and high
reliability. However, it would require many mini-slaves printed circuit and
it may be difficult to use on certain cells.

Figure 4: Distributed topology

• Modular Topology: Many slave controllers are used to make up the data to
the master controller. For this topology, printed circuits are not required
for the connection, however when implemented in electric vehicles, it is
very difficult to achieve isolated master slave communication.

Figure 5: Modular topology

• Centralized Topology: In this topology, each cell of the battery is con-

nected to the centralized master controller unit. The function of these
unit aside all other functions is to protect and balance all the cells. The
major advantage of this topology is that it needs just one installation point
and the inter vehicle communication is not complex. The down side of this

8
 installation is that since the controller is the major source of cell balance,
excessive heat could be generated. In addition to the above mentioned,
since the cells are located in different areas of the vehicles, wiring would
be needed to serve as a connection to the central controller.

Figure 6: Centralized topology

5.2 Battery modelling

Battery modelling, plays a great role in electric vehicle development. It helps
the designers, optimally size the required energy storage system of the electric
vehicle and its performance. It also helps in the prediction of the state of charge
for the battery managements system. There are different battery models that
have been developed over the years. Electrochemical models are normally used
for the optimization of the physical aspect of the batteries and helps in char-
acterization of power, voltage and current parameters. Mathematical models,
such as stochastic approach, can be used by designers of electric vehicles in
the estimation of runtime, efficiency and capacity of batteries. However, these
two models, are not suitable for real-time BMS application. Electrical models,
makes use of equivalent circuit component for the prediction of terminal charac-
teristic of batteries such as current and voltage. Table 3.2, shows the advantages
and limitations of using simple electrical equivalent circuits (EEC) and complex
electrochemical in lithium ion batteries modelling.
Offline Method: The parameters for the model are obtained based on anal-
ysis of available data. The data are obtained from the laboratory, under con-
trolled condition hence, they do not mimic or cannot represent real time appli-
cations.
Online Models: This is the used of adaptive techniques in obtaining model
parameters as the battery is being used. These method, shows high level of
accuracy but the system is quite complex.

5.3 Review on BMS Research in Electric Vehicles

Devices such as cell phone and laptop generally have low power applications
their BMS can be simply designed from integrated circuits. For EVs, they
require several batteries, and this increase the system complexity making battery

9
Figure 7: Advantages and limitations of existing Lithium-Ion modeling methods.
[14]

management system quite difficult and hectic. A research, for BMS of lithium
ion batteries for EVs, based on CAN, was proposed [16].
This research postulated that the BMS would sample battery parameters/information’s,
determine the SOC and communicate with vehicle controller. This research
theory, was used in designing an EV manufactured by manufactured by Tianjin
Qingyuan Electric Vehicle Inc. However, the downside of this device is that it
did not have a cell balancing feature.

Figure 8: Structure of the BMS based on CAN-bus [16]

Using Digital signal processing, a BMS system was developed for battery

10
 Figure 9: Principle of Battery Management System Based on DSP [17]

protection and charging system [17]. The downside of this device, was that the
price of the digital signal processing was much higher as compared to the price
of the microcontroller. This automatically made the BMS very expensive.

5.4 Review on Commercial BMS

EV development is a new concept that arose due to climate change and sustain-
ability, thus the BMS of these cars, is still undergoing development. Commer-
cialized BMS currently is just available from few manufacturers but this situa-
tion would change in the future due to increasing development. BMS hardware
for EVs can be divided into two parts, analog and digital BMS.

5.4.1 Analog BMS

This is the simplest and most common form of BMS design. For EV using
LiFePO4, batteries, it has two specific requirement that is cell balancing and
cell monitoring for over/under voltage conditions. A regulator, such as Zener
diode can be used can be used to by-pass part or all charging current when it
is full to prevent over charging Analog System Overview The LiFePO4 BMS
Protection system consists of two parts. These includes:
• Battery Control Unit (BCU): This device, is usually used for 12-24V bat-
teries. It is a one device per battery pack. It works together with the BMS
cell module and thus monitors the voltage of the battery, cell module loop
and prevents charging/ discharging whenever there is a fault within the
battery.

11
 • Cell Module: Unlike lead acid batteries, lithium ion batteries cannot self-
balance itself hence, this could damage the battery based on over charging
and over discharging. The goal of cell module, is to provide electronic
control. This device is usually one for each cell and it acts as a standalone
shunt balance and helps in balancing and monitoring of cell voltage.

Figure 10: BMS layout for electric vehicles [15]

5.4.2 Digital BMS

The design of this BMS, is quite like the analog BMS. For digital, it has more
added features unlike analog. It measures cell voltage and temperature with a
localized circuit. It also calculates the cell resistance because the voltage of the
cell affects the instantaneous battery current. This device major importance,
is the ability to measure battery current, source current and load current. For
this measurement to be possible, more than one current sensors are required.
Current transformer is used in the measurement of AC circuit while current
shunts and hall-effect sensors can be used in the DC circuit. In addition to
current measurement, BMS together with software programs can be used to
determine the state of the pack. It can be used in the evaluation of the cell
operation within its SOA, estimation of the SOC, SOH and DOD and capacity
measurement.
To ensure that the battery is operating within its safe zone, a power switch
can be added both for digital or analog system so that the BMS could cut off
the battery current whenever the need arises.

12
 Figure 11: Cathode layer structure vs. spinel structure

6 The LEAF battery

Li ion batteries is now promising advancement in the field of battery technology.
Li ion batteries have much higher densities than other batteries like nickel metal
hydride and lead acid battery. Moreover, the size and compactness make it
competitive to others.
The newest Nissan LEAF battery pack uses such materials which have the
ability to store much higher densities that means people can now enjoy long
distances drive with such kind of battery

6.1 Details of the technology

Late 2017 in Japan, the 2nd generation Nissan LEAF was introduced equipped
with a latest NMC technology battery pack having 40kwh energy. This 40kwh
battery is way more than 24kwh (first LEAF) using (LMO type) and also 30kwh
but not fully market competitive with other top notch model like tesla model 3,
Chevrolet Bolt EV. A best and a reliable battery with high energy density pack
has already been achieved using NMC (Nickel Manganese Cobalt) as a cathode
material and by the use of layer structure instead of spinel structure in case of
first leaf 24kwh which increase the ease of the transfer of ionic species during
the cell operation.
Moreover, the layered structure helps to provide larger battery capacity due
to the fact that it can store large quantity of the lithium ions. The new leaf

13
battery capacity is also very reliable and durable having warranty of 8 years or
160,000km. [9]
Let’s see some of the comparable feature of NEW LEAF vs. OLD LEAF.
Firstly, the battery pack is quite similar to the old one I.e. no of cells and
similar pack footprint, both with no cooling system.

• In NEW LEAF the no. of module is now 24 and 8 cells per module while
in old LEAF that was 4 cells per module and no of module was higher 48.
• NMC mix is used in 192cells instead of LMO lithium manganese oxide
cells LMO.

• Capacity of pack is 40kWh and the real value is of around 39.5 kWh while
37kWh or less is usable.
• Output power also got increased form 80 KW to 110KW.
• In case of charging power, its lowers than 30KWh battery perhaps for the
safe side (battery

Now, the upcoming 60 kWh LEAF is expected to equipped with:

• Battery cooling system
• Charging capability of 100 kW or above.

Now, if we see the ranges of new Leaf and old leaf, it’s pretty much evident
from the figure below that the new NMC LEAF battery pack is capable of high
range 400km instead of 24kwh and 30kwh battery pack which just able to cruise
below 300km.

6.2 Tesla Battery technology

Different car maker use diff cathode chemistry like lithium manganese oxide
,NMC (nickel manganese cobalt but tesla uses NCA Nickel cobalt Aluminum
chemistry .Mostly EVs uses NMC batteries but they have less charge density
as compared to the Tesla NCA battery but they do have safer operation due

14
to the fact that they can tolerate high temperature. Tesla uses NCA chemistry
because of great energy density, long cycle life and great charge performance.
This makes tesla batteries unique, last longer and weighs less. Tesla batteries
have gone through the different stages of development.
• Stage 1 (2009-2012) found in roadster and model S.

• Stage 2 (2016-2018) found in model S generation II and model X.

• Stage 3 starts in (2018- ) with model 3.
So what have changed and how they are improving?

• Stage 1 batteries were constructed with 18650 cells; they have NCA for-
mulation consisting of 11 kg of cobalt as a cathode material per car and
graphite anode.
• Stage 2 batteries use the same 18650 cells but amount of cobalt as a cath-
ode material is dropped to 7kg per car. While in anode they introduced
small amount of silicon in graphite anode.
• Stage 3 batteries are new for Tesla uses NCA formulation but amount of
cobalt is further reduced to 4.5kg per car and in anode probably higher
amount of silicon is introduced.
Tesla has switched form 18650 cells to 2170 cells because of its optimized size to
maximum energy with minimum increase in weight and excellent cost. Voltage
is largely unchanged since it’s a function of battery chemistry. [10]
So a big question is why Tesla use little battery cell when they know that
they will be needing thousands of them?
Tesla model 3 uses new 2170 cells in battery pack that powers all future tesla
models even provide complete pack of home energy solution because of its design
flexibility. If needed more voltage put cells together in series and needed more
capacity put cells together in parallel which in result increase range. That’s the
unique flexibility that tesla offers in its battery pack without changing the core
voltage of the system. [10]

6.2.1 Model 3 Battery Packs Modules

Tesla managed to accommodate 4416 cells (2170) in 4 modules. Each module
grouped in a brick shape of 46 cylindrical cell while shorter modules may consist
of 23 and longer 25. The choice of cylindrical cell is to make provide flexibility
and to ensure commonality and customization. The 2170 design of the cell is
46% larger in volume than 18650 cells (used in model X and model S) and about
15% more energy efficient that 18650 cell according to CTO of Tesla. [11]

15
6.2.2 Tesla Model S Lithium Ion Battery 18650 EV Module - 22.8
Volt, 5.3 kWh
This use 18650 forms 85kwh. It is considered to be the best battery in the
market as because of energy density and better mileage per charge I.e. 200 miles.
Model S battery module contain 3400mAh cell having integrated liquid cooling
and heating system as well as they can be air cooled. The pack contains 444
cells and each and every cell is independently safety focused on both terminals.
[12]

Figure 12: Tesla’s models progressive ranges with each corresponding models

6.3 Performance Analysis of Fossil fuels vs. Li ion driven

cars
All of we know that the battery electric vehicle are much more expensive than
the other fuel based cars. But if we closely look at the consumption of oil
equivalent per year, emissions generated in running cars, and efficiency, then
we will be able to say that the though the capital cost is high for BEV but
operational cost is much low which makes it competitive to other fuel based
cars.
In table below, Electric cars are at the winning position in remarks of the
yearly consumption of oil equivalent and emissions which are much less than
the fuel based cars resulted into the higher efficiencies and better overall per-
formance of BEV as compared to the fuel based cars.

Figure 13: Performance analysis of fuel driven cars and battery electric vehicle

16
7 Possible replacements for li-ion batteries
In order to have a good comparison, all the most important features of lithium-
ion (advantages and disadvantages) will be assessed. The typical li-air battery
has an energy density between 200 and 600 Wh/kg, although the majority
stays around 200 Wh/kg. The Tesla Model S’ 100 kWh battery has an energy
density of 200 Wh/kg, its weigh is 500 kg, and we know that can cover around
500 km: this means that this model has an approximate energy consumption of
20 kWh/100km (200 Wh/km). Due to its chemistry, this battery could increase
its capacity only by the increase of the mass (and hence the volume), but for
logistic reasons this would be really difficult.
The environmental impact of a li-ion battery is for sure better than using
fossil fuel for the production of the usual fuel, but still there is space for im-
provement: these types of batteries are produced with some metals such as
lithium, lithium-oxides, graphite and cobalt, with lithium and graphite used
respectively for the cathode and the anode. The problem is that lithium has
limited resources, and with the production of li-ion batteries we have nowadays
the projection is to finish the reserves in 365 years. If we hypothetically find a
way to improve the efficiency of a li-ion battery in order to make it competi-
tive to a normal diesel car (economically speaking), the production will rise to
500000 cars per year by 2020, and the lithium demand will rise dramatically:
in this case the lithium reserves could last around 17 years. This demonstrates
the need for effective battery recycling (nowadays only 1% of li-ion batteries are
recycled, and the aim is to have a 100% recycling).
In terms of life cycles this battery works well: data gathered by Tesla showed
that the Model S battery only saw a 10% decrease of capacity after 100000 miles
driven. Considering that a full cycle is equivalent to 500 km (310 miles), 100000
miles correspond to 321 charge cycle ca. This is a great feature, as an average
vehicle would drive 200’000 miles and go through 642 charges before getting a
20% reduce of the total capacity. The 80% mark is generally considered a point
in which the battery changed significantly. This was a general overview of the
main characteristics of a li-ion battery, and now we can compare it with the
other two types.

7.1 Lithium-sulphur batteries

The lithium-sulphur battery has several attractive properties, starting from its
energy density: it has a theoretical energy of 1500 Wh/kg, three times higher
than a li-ion battery. If this type of battery with a weight of 500 kg was installed
into a Tesla Model S, this car would drive for 3750 km, 7.5 times greater than
the li-ion. Another study suggests that the theoretical energy density of a
lithium-sulphur battery is around 2600 Wh/kg. It has to be underlined that
the theoretical energy density doesn’t correspond to the real energy density
anymore after all the other components were added to the battery.
The chemistry of the battery is quite simple: lithium and sulphur are con-
verted into lithium sulphide. Sulphur is very abundant, and this means that in

17
the long term the lithium-sulphur battery is likely to be more feasible than the
lithium-ion battery. The only problem regards the mining of the sulphur, pro-
cedure that can create some issues to the environment. However, the improving
technology will reduce these issues. [8]

7.2 Lithium-air batteries

The other alternative, the lithium-air battery, shows perhaps the most promise
for the future of the EV batteries. It is a really light battery compared to other
types, due to the fact that the cathode is oxygen and we don’t need to store it
into the battery itself (we just need to store the anode and the electrolyte). The
low weight leads to a very high energy density and specific energy, around 13’500
Wh/kg. Even assuming a more realistic number given by the presence of other
components, the specific energy would still be much higher than the one offered
by the lithium-air technology. Another study gave an effective energy density of
800 Wh/kg, starting from a theoretical one of 3460 Wh/kg. Using an hypothetic
battery of 500 kg in the tesla model S, with 800 Wh/kg we would have a driving
range much greater, around 2000 km. Lithium air batteries have also a much
lower environmental impact than current li-ion batteries. The chemistry is also
quite simple: lithium oxidizes and oxygen reduces, forming lithium peroxide at
the end. Oxygen is even more abundant than sulphur, and this, combined with
other aspects of the battery itself, leads to an environmental impact from 4 to
9 times lower than the lithium-ion. [8]
One of the main problems of these types of batteries, like the lithium sulphur,
is the life cycle: a recent study demonstrated that the highest number of cycles
that could be achieved is around 50, which is much less than the lithium-ion,
although it has been predicted that a possible 200 life cycle could be achieved.

Figure 14: Summary of the three types of battery. [8]

18
7.3 Supercapacitors
Another possibility is to think about another device, which has a high power
density but low energy density, which is the supercapacitor. A very interesting
feature of these types of devices is the really high life cycle: the general life
cycle of a supercapacitor is around 106 times, while the one of a good battery
is around 400 cycles.
The supercapacitor uses a different way to produce electric energy: while
the batteries transform chemical energy into electricity, supercapacitors have a
mechanism called electric double layer effect.
In a possible future vehicle we could combine the high energy density of a
battery with the high power density of a supercapacitor, as is depicted in the
figure 15.

Figure 15: Draft of a supercapacitor and a battery combined. [7]

When required, the current is supplied to the engine, that is transformed into
kinetic energy that can drive the wheels. The current flows from the superca-
pacitor to the DC/DC converter to regulate the voltage, while the current from
the battery flows directly into an AC converter. Under breaking conditions,
modern EVs are able to convert kinetic rolling energy into electrical energy to
recharge the battery and the supercapacitor, in order to increase the life of the
battery for one cycle. This process is known as regenerative breaking. In order
to have a proper car with accelerating features similar to the ones that we have
now, we can also include a fuel cell into the car: this would provide the energy
to move (combined to the battery), while the peaks could be supplied by the
supercapacitor.
To illustrate how a battery and a supercapacitor work together the figure 16
is presented. The image plots the current draw against time for an electric car
under simulated conditions. The yellow labels indicate the driving conditions.
Particularly relevant is region 4, with high peaks of the grey line (total system
load). The green line depicts the supercapacitor activity, and as it can be seen
it meets a greater proportion compared to the battery (pink line): this lasts just
for a short period of time before the supercapacitor is discharged and goes into
the negative part, indicating that it is being recharged (by the battery, in this
model there is not a regenerative modelling). This process greatly reduces the
maximum power requirement for the battery.

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 Figure 16: Supercapacitor’s behaviour in various conditions. [7]

8 Hypothesis of a Billion EVs fleet overnight

There is a lot of excitement about Li-ion batteries in the battery circles but
before delegating everything on Li-ion batteries it’s better to do a reality check
if we have enough lithium to power the electric vehicles revolution in first place.

8.1 Do we have enough Lithium to power a billion EVs

on the road overnight?
Proven reserves of lithium are estimated to be 30,000 kilotons of lithium metal
equivalent. Resources are estimated to be at least 60,000 kilotons. The current
Lithium consumption rate is 35 kiloton per year, half of it goes into making of
Li-ion batteries. If consumption remains more or less similar in coming years,
then we have almost 1,000 years of consumption capacity most of which sitting
in the South America. Nevertheless, the Electric Vehicle market is relatively
insignificant as of today, and has potential to change the picture drastically
in the future. Let’s assume we replace current worldwide fleet of billion light
duty vehicles overnight with Electric Vehicles. With a 40 kilowatt hour pack
hypothesis we would have on average three kilograms of lithium metal per ve-
hicle, versus 3,000 kiloton or 1/10 of the world proven reserves for the whole
fleet. Nonetheless, it’s still significant and the implementation of a closed-loop
recycling will be a must-have to ensure the sustainability of this industry.

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Figure 17: Price development of battery-grade lithium carbonate, Source: En-
ergy Brainpool

8.2 No risk of total resources supply, but availability for

demand
There’s absolute minimum risk of lithium supplies running low in future. The
real danger is that the rate at which lithium is being recovered is not enough
to meet the rising demand. Between 2010 and 2014, for instance, lithium ion
battery consumption increased 73 percent, but production levels could only be
increased by 28 percent. Many analysts expect that by 2030, lithium demand
could be double or triple its current level [3].

8.3 Strong price increase for lithium of 270 percent since

2010
Uncertainty about availability of lithium skyrocketed the price of lithium. In
2010, the price of lithium was $5,180 per metric ton. By 2012, the cost reached
$6,000 per metric ton, and by the end of 2017, a metric ton was being sold for
about $14,000 – a 170% increase over 2010 levels [3].

9 Conclusions
Engineering lighter, more powerful batteries with higher energy density would
definitely be a game changing innovation in battery technology systems.
Development of new anode materials with higher Lithium-intercalation ca-
pacities to replace present carbon anodes with inherently low theoretical lithium
intercalation capacities and improve the overall capacity of the battery and also
finding environmentally benign replacements to LiCoO2 with low-cost. Safer

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polymer electrolytes as alternative to the organic liquid electrolytes, for better
batteries, high performance electrodes are required but those high performance
electrodes can’t work effectively without robust electrolyte.
Some of the materials present in our batteries make two or three world trips
before settling in the final battery delivered to a customer. Shortening the
supply chain is a key challenge for all stakeholders which could substantially
decrease costs, and improve ecological footprint, and supply chain resiliency.

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[6] https://evrater.com/problem-with-electric-vehicles
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