Batteries

Scientists are investigating more eco-friendly chemistries for batteries, and a team at Texas A&M University has just put forward an interesting candidate, demonstrating a metal-free battery that can be placed in acidic solutions to degrade on demand.

A new design out of Washington University in St Louis demonstrates a promising path forward for sodium batteries, with the team producing a device that is smaller and less expensive than lithium batteries, without compromising on performance.

With a view to one day manufacturing its own battery cells for electric vehicles, Ford has revealed plans for a new research and development center, focusing on next-generation lithium-ion and solid-state batteries.

Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology have been exploring alternative energy storage solutions and are now demonstrating a type of "massless" battery that could work as a power source and structural component of a vehicle at the same time.

A research team in the US has developed a prototype version of a solid-state battery that overcomes some of the key roadblocks in this area, demonstrating stable, high-capacity storage through the use of a novel, self-healing material.

Nissan began producing the first generation Leaf battery electric car at its Oppama plant in 2010, and has now giving old battery packs from those vehicles a second life in automated guided vehicles at the factory.

Through experimentation with a newly created type of material, scientists in Russia have landed on a lithium-ion battery design with a number of promising performance benefits, in particular the ability to offer triple the capacity of today's solutions.

By swapping out conventional materials for experimental ones scientists continue to make exciting advances in the performance of lithium batteries, and a team in Japan has just published research around a particularly promising one.

Startup Ample has come out of R&D stealth mode to help move EV adoption along with the launch of an automated battery swap solution for electric vehicles, which makes use of modular battery packs that can be retrofitted into existing EVs.

Four major manufacturers have committed to developing a standardized swappable battery system for electric motorcycles, opening up the possibility of quick-swap battery banks at service stations, servicing a range of brands and models.

Scientists have made a breakthrough around how lithium-metal batteries function at ultra-low temperatures, building a version that relies on weak bonds in its electrolyte to offer unprecedented performance in the cold.

Owing to its abundance and low cost, lead is an alternative battery material with plenty of appeal, and scientists have just demonstrated how it can form the basis of a new anode that offers far greater storage capacity than graphite.