Hey! Sorry for the weird heading. I live in a country where EV’s are everywhere and I keep hearing debates about the need and possibility for range increase. Today I overheard a discussion between two people about batteries in the near future.
Person A argued that the range increase and battery improvememts in EVs have been so great the last 10 years and this is indicative of it being a technology that will just keep on improving – and we just have to have some patience before the batteries and range will improve even more.
Person B argued that while thats true, a lot of the range improvememts now aday are due to more aerodynamic cars and that seeing as a battery is a chemical process, we are closer and closer to hitting the limit of batteries without any significant scientific breakthrough.
Im fairly uneducated in this field and find it hard to evaluate whos right. Person Bs arguements seemed more trustworthy, but it doesnt mean that hes right.
So my questions are: Who’s “right” and why? Will batteries in EVs keep improving significantly or have we already seen the biggest improvememts?
Thanks a lot in advance!
In: Chemistry
Motors and aerodynamics have some small improvements to be made.
There is an extraordinary amount of money going into development of new batteries. Not just squeezing the last bit of performance we can out of Li-Ion / Lipo, but other battery technologies. BYD are shipping a car with Sulphur-Ion batteries now. NASA has put a huge amount of R&D into their SABER batteries.
Globally, many companies (car manufacturers and battery manufacturers) are working towards new battery chemistry which is less flammable, less reliant upon rare earths and chemicals which are in short supply, and most importantly lower cost per KWh and longer (cyclic) battery life.
A 2x improvement makes most of the range problems with EVs go away. A 10x improvement makes battery-powered aircraft a viable prospect. It’s not inconceivable that, in the next decade, we’ll see big improvements.
Beyond that, charging infrastructure is the other big thing. That will come, because an increase in EV ownership provides a business-compatible (i.e. profitable) reason to put charging points in left, right and centre.
It will come. Sooner than a lot of people think, an EV will be a desirable alternative to a petrol or diesel engine car.
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