BMW Closes In On The Strong State EV Battery Of The Future

Assist CleanTechnica’s work by means of a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

The US authorities has not been a pal to the car electrification motion this yr, to place it kindly. Nonetheless, the tempo of zero emission innovation will march on with or with out an help from President Donald Trump. The newest instance comes from BMW, which has jumped into the strong state EV battery race with an help from the US battery supplies startup Strong Energy and the Korean agency Samsung SDI.

Nothing Can Cease The Strong State EV Battery Of The Future

A strong state EV battery is simply what the identify says, a battery that replaces the traditional liquid electrolyte with strong supplies. Changing a liquid with a strong poses all kinds of challenges (right here’s one instance), however the payoff for the car electrification motion is substantial (see extra strong state battery background right here).

Other than eliminating fireplace hazards, a strong state EV battery affords automakers a lighter, extra compact, longer lasting, and higher-performing cell power storage resolution. In brief, it helps make the case for proudly owning an EV even stronger than ever earlier than.

With these prizes in thoughts, battery researchers have been chipping away on the strong state obstacles for an excellent ten years or so, and all that tough work is about to repay. Trump or no Trump, the commercialization of a strong state EV battery is a foregone conclusion, and the previous month alone has seen a renewed rush of exercise.

The US agency QuantumScape kicked issues off by pairing up with Corning to wonderful tune a brand new high-efficiency manufacturing system for its ceramic battery separator. Toyota adopted in brief order with a reminder that it expects to launch EVs into the market with strong state batteries inside the subsequent two years or so, after which alongside comes BMW with some information of its personal.

BMW Has A Strong State EV Battery Up Its Sleeve

BMW has been eyeballing Strong Energy’s strong state resolution way back to 2016. The automaker jumped on the chance to put money into Strong Energy when it went public in 2021, and BMW additional dropped some hints concerning a collaboration with Strong Energy earlier this yr. They weren’t kidding round. Beneath the latest stage of collaboration with BMW, Strong Energy will contribute its sulfide-based strong electrolyte to Samsung SDI to be used in fabricating strong state battery cells.

The three companies haven’t launched efficiency parameters and different particulars of the brand new settlement, however the cooperative effort is designed to culminate within the launch of a BMW demonstration car.

The highway from the laboratory to an indication car is a protracted one. Strong Energy has been floating throughout the CleanTechnica radar on and off since launching in 2011, as a spin-off from analysis on the College of Colorado-Boulder. The corporate replaces each the liquid electrolyte and polymer separator with a single layer of a sulfide-based strong materials.

“This skinny, strong layer acts as a barrier to maintain the anode and cathode from touching each other, which might brief the battery. It additionally acts as a conductive electrolyte,” Strong Energy explains.

With a watch on containing prices and fostering speedy scale-up, Strong Energy designed its strong state electrolyte round earth-abundant supplies and ease of producing. The corporate isn’t saying precisely what sort of sulfides go into its system. That’s a commerce secret! Nonetheless, however sulfides (compounds of sulfur with different substances) do happen generally in nature, one significantly considerable instance being the sulfur-iron mineral pyrite, also referred to as idiot’s gold.

Sulfides Vs. Ceramics

These of you accustomed to the state of strong state EV battery know-how are in all probability accustomed to the challenges posed by sulfide-based electrolytes. QuantumScape, for instance, is among the many strong state stakeholders which have settled on excessive tech ceramics as different to sulfide-based electrolytes for lithium-metal batteries.

Toyota, in distinction, cites a number of benefits on the sulfide aspect, together with the potential for scale-up. “Sulfide strong electrolytes are characterised by softness and adhesiveness to different supplies, which is appropriate for battery mass manufacturing,” Toyota additionally notes. The corporate has been working with the agency Idemitsu on a lithium sulfide basis for strong state batteries.

Stellantis is one other sulfide-curious automaker. Final yr the corporate attached with the US strong state battery startup Factorial Power, which has developed a sulfide-based electrolyte it calls “Solstice.” Factorial additionally has an ongoing relationship with Mercedes-Benz.

Subsequent Steps For The EV Battery Provide Chain

The strong state battery of the long run apart, the US nonetheless must safe its EV battery provide chain right here and now. That was a tough job even earlier than Trump took workplace earlier this yr, one key situation being the environmental affect of mining for lithium and different important supplies.

Some workarounds have been rising, together with techniques that extract lithium from oil and fuel drilling wastewater. The ARPA-E department of the US Division of Power has simply stepped it up a degree with the launch of a brand new $25 million spherical of funding for brand new wastewater-based extraction applied sciences.

Which will appear a bit off-topic for the Trump administration. Nonetheless, important supplies have broad functions amongst key US industries. If the auto trade additionally advantages, a lot the higher. In any case, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

The $25 million pot comes beneath an ARPA-E program referred to as RECOVER, which is the considerably compelled shorthand for “Notice Power-rich Compound Alternatives Valorizing Extraction from Refuse waters.”

ARPA-E already anticipates one other spherical of RECOVER funding to observe this week’s announcement. For now, the beneficiaries embody The College of Texas – Austin, which can get well lithium and different supplies from each oilfield and municipal wastewater.

RECOVER additionally duties Johns Hopkins College with recovering two different key EV battery supplies, cobalt and nickel, from industrial wastewater from a wide range of sources together with e-waste recycling amenities, lithium-ion battery factories, produced water from oilfields, and discharges from mining operations.

Contemplating the Trump administration’s fraught (to place it mildly) relationship with Ivy League colleges, one challenge of specific curiosity is a $1.655 million award to Columbia College to get well lithium and magnesium from wastewater.

Magnesium (to not be confused with manganese) is a comparatively new growth within the power storage discipline, so keep tuned for extra information on that rating.

Photograph: The US startup Strong Energy is contributing its sulfide-based electrolyte to a brand new strong state EV battery in partnership with BMW and the Korean agency Samsung SDI (cropped, courtesy of Strong Energy).