Hitachi develops new lithium battery that can last for 400 kilometers

Although lithium batteries have extended their battery life and longevity compared to lead-acid batteries, there is still no magic spell to get rid of performance degradation. In this regard, many companies began to increase research and development strength, in order to achieve breakthrough progress.

Hitachi breaks the "mileage spell" new lithium battery can last for 400 kilometers

With the increasingly fierce competition in the electric vehicle market in recent years, coupled with the improvement of environmental standards in various countries, the investment community has set off an “electric car gold rush”. As far as the domestic market is concerned, there are already more than 200 startup companies including LeTV and Weilai Automobile, with a total investment of more than 2 billion US dollars.

Hitachi breaks the "mileage spell" new lithium battery can last for 400 kilometers

In this booming market, there are companies such as Nissan and Beiqi that are striving for stability, and there will be black holes like LeTV that seem unable to fill the funds anyway. What is the reason for this difference? What are the pain points and key points in the entire industry chain?

Currently, lithium-ion batteries are the most used on hybrid and pure electric vehicles. In terms of consumer experience, one essential difference between electric vehicles and diesel locomotives is "mileage anxiety." The so-called "mileage anxiety" means that when an electric car user finds that the remaining battery power begins to drop, he or she will worry that it will not reach the destination and cause anxiety. Further analysis, this is related to the short battery life of electric vehicles, long charging time, short battery life and high battery cost. If you can't break through the battery technology and production capacity, electric vehicles can't reach the market without reaching mass production.

In this regard, Japanese researchers who have always been cost-free in the field of new energy have successfully broken through the existing battery technology bottlenecks, making automotive lithium batteries more durable and longer lasting.

Toyota, which entered the electric vehicle field some time ago, cooperated with a Japanese public laboratory and four universities to find that the uneven movement and polymerization of lithium ions in the electrode is the biggest culprit in limiting battery life and battery life. This phenomenon can also lead to batteries overheat.

At present, Toyota has developed a new type of battery that can effectively suppress the uneven movement and polymerization of lithium ions in the electrode. This new battery can increase the mileage and battery life of electric vehicles by up to 15%. At the same time, battery safety is also higher. Unfortunately, Toyota did not disclose when the new battery will be mass-produced, so it will take longer to see a car with this high-performance battery.

Following Toyota, Hitachi has also made new progress in lithium battery life. Japanese media reported that Hitachi has just developed a lithium-ion battery technology for pure electric vehicles (EVs) that can travel about 400 kilometers.

Compared with the previous battery, the capacity is increased by 2 times, 320 watt hours per kilogram, the capacity is increased to 2 times, and the driving distance is about 40% longer than the current pure electric vehicle. The electrode is made of a nickel alloy or the like, and a large amount of electric power can be stored by improving the thickness and the like. At the same time, the durability is improved, and the performance is not lowered even if the charge and discharge are repeated. Hitachi said it will strive to be practical in 2020.

Lithium-ion batteries are discharged or charged by causing lithium ions to travel between the electrodes. To increase the charge and discharge capacity, it is necessary to increase the ions stored in the electrodes. In the battery developed by Hitachi, the positive electrode material is mainly composed of nickel which is easy to store lithium ions, and the thickness of the electrode is doubled, and the ions that can be stored are increased. The negative electrode does not use a usual carbon-based material, but mainly contains silicon which is easy to store and release lithium ions. With these improvements, more power can be stored.

Further, the "energy density" indicating the performance of the battery is expected to be about 2 times the original state of the battery unit as a basic unit, that is, 320 watt hours per kilogram. Close to the maximum that can be reached by a lithium-ion battery. According to reports, if equipped with pure electric vehicles, it can travel about 400 kilometers under standard conditions. Among the pure electric vehicles currently on the market, Nissan’s “LEAF” (Learning Wind) can travel 280 kilometers at a time. If the driving distance reaches 400 kilometers, it is expected to greatly promote the popularity of pure electric vehicles.

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