Will a Bunch of New Technologies Get Electric Vehicles Rolling?

Electric vehicles have been the talk of the town for a while, but rarely do we find one on the road, thanks to their high prices and short battery life. However, a bunch of new innovations in the field might prove to be game-changers

For all the hullabaloo around electric vehicles (EVs), many of us are yet to actually see (or recognise) one in real life, let alone drive it. EVs continue to remain an exotic species that seem out of our grasp in the foreseeable future. 

Do you know why? 

Bumps on the road 

For one, it’s the high prices, well above Rs 10 lakh (for four-wheelers) in India,  and the fact that they aren’t exactly available everywhere.

Then there’s range anxiety – when a person driving an EV worries about running out of charge before reaching the destination – mostly attributable to the fact that there are very few charging stations or service centres.

Charging time is a worry too as even the best EVs in the market take at least 20 minutes to get it done – not exactly something to boast about. Even if you’re ready to forgive all of the above, there’s the whole question of performance, i.e. how fast does it go? Or how far can it go before needing another recharge? 

A lot of these attributes can be boiled down to the use of lithium-ion batteries in EVs. So researchers have now turned the spotlight on something else that can step things up a gear. To understand that we’ll take a quick glance at battery composition:

EV batteries – the gist of it 

High school taught us that a battery consists of: 

-a positive electrode called cathode 

-a negative electrode, anode

-a separator 

-an electrolyte 

Electric vehicles mostly use batteries based on lithium because of their high energy density and life span. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have a lithium-metal oxide as cathode, graphite as anode and a separator between the two. These batteries are also low-maintenance. 

But… 

First off, Li-ion batteries are costly to build, but the prices have been coming down with time and better technology. 

Li-ion batteries pose a safety hazard as they contain flammable electrolytes. You may recall that Samsung devices had issues with random explosions in 2016 which led the company to lose $26 billion in the blink of an eye and was later traced to its use of Li-ion batteries. Li-ion batteries are used in most smartphones, so while they do pose a hazard, it’s not all that bad. 

Off the beaten track – Solid-state lithium batteries

About a decade ago, Stanford scientists Fritz Prinz and Tim Holme put their heads together with that of entrepreneur Jagdeep Singh and came up with a new prototype that seems to have effectively removed the limitations posed by EV batteries. 

The innovative lithium-metal battery developed, however, does not have an anode or electrolyte. Instead, it uses a solid ceramic separator which helps create a thin layer of lithium-metal anode when the battery is charged and discharged. 

QuantumScape, a company that has been behind the innovation, has said that this makes the battery more energy-dense, compact and safer to operate compared to conventional EV batteries. 

So the plan’s good to go?

The solution presented by QuantumScape has been promising enough to attract billions in investment already. If that wasn’t enough, the company has teamed up with Volkswagen to create EVs with a charging time as little as 12 minutes!

It will, however, be able to roll out such EVs only by 2024. 

Toyota too is working on solid-state batteries that make use of sulfide superionic conductors for enhanced performance. But again, it’s going to be a while before we get to see it in action. 

More trailblazers

If a charging time of 12 minutes sounds exciting, you should know that innovators in Germany and Estonia are working together to create a graphene-based SuperBattery that will charge in 15 seconds. It may not be as energy-dense as our Li-ion lions but has enough meat to supplement EV batteries – not replace them. 

Swedish scientists have meanwhile, been trying to use batteries as more than energy sources. What else can they be good for? Imagine using carbon fibre as not just the negative electrode, but as a structural component of the car. If it pans out, Chalmers University of Technology will be bringing us a superlight EV a few years from now.

And tree-huggers…

There’s also buzz about French tech innovators NAWA Technologies using carbon nano-tubes to boost battery power so much that charging for 5 minutes will last up to 800km with much less carbon footprint or battery costs. 

Scientists in the US and China are, meanwhile, separately working on eliminating the use of cobalt in EV battery tech. Though widely used in Li-ion batteries, cobalt is a scarce element in nature and drives up costs. 

Clearly, there are a lot of players on the EV field striving to usher in the next big change. 

The journey’s just beginning

Many are looking at the possibilities of utilising mobile charging stations that charge on the go, or wireless solutions that increase user convenience. And yes, of course, governments are setting up more EV charging stations by the day that helps cut down on range anxiety.

For now, though, motorheads will have to cool their heels a bit. The wait to see electric vehicles hit the road in large numbers may be longer than what we’d like. Nonetheless, it means that more time will bring in better solutions that are not only easy on the pocket, but also on the environment.

Read: Tesla Comes to India, Here’s All You Need To know

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