Everything you need to know about Electric Vehicle Battery Technology

Electric vehicles are becoming more prominent in today’s time, especially with the increasing use cases in commercial vehicle space. Every EV Manufacturer is trying to make EVs more affordable, economical, and easy to operate. Why? The answer is pretty simple.

The modern era Electric Vehicles(EVs) tend to solve one of the most daunting problems of the 21st century, climate change. A consequential benefit of EVs is that they don’t emit pollutants. As a matter of fact, drivers of electric vehicles have reduced CO2 emissions by more than 177,758,804 kg in a city called Moreno Valley, according to this report.

EVs are becoming popular globally. We call this energy transition, moving toward clean renewable energy sources from conventional ones. The technology that is at the forefront of this energy transition, is EV Battery Technology.

Improved Battery Technology

Battery technology has improved significantly in the past last 10, with lithium-ion battery prices reduced by 85% from 2010 to 2018 according to a Bloomberg NEF report. Battery Technology has also helped to increase the EV range by about 17% per year over the last ten years. What does this signify? This means that some high-end EVs are already eclipsing the range of the fuel car.

However, battery tech will need to continue to improve further to equip affordable EV models with superior ranges too. This will make electric cars more accessible and attractive to a wider audience.

The battery technology of the future will probably be different from what we see today. In reality, there are already a lot of different and very promising battery technologies under development right now.

In the short-term, significant improvements might be made by reducing the usage of the expensive metal cobalt in lithium-ion battery production. EV battery manufacturing giants, General Motors and Tesla have recently announced the introduction of lithium-ion batteries based on this improvement, claiming that EVs will reach cost parity with fuel cars.

In the long term, battery technologies offer a guarantee of improvement. For example, according to John Goodenough, the co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, solid-state batteries will be the next big thing.

One technological improvement that could prove to be a game changer is Battery Swapping.

Battery Swapping

Battery swapping technology is a method where a user can swap a battery to keep the vehicle functioning. A swapping station installed at any particular location generally houses multiple batteries getting charged constantly. An EV owner can locate a swapping station, replace the depleting battery with a charged one, simply put the empty battery on charge, and can go on with the rest of their drive.

Battery Swapping helps to solve the problem of setting up charging stations and also reduces the anxiety of drivers regarding the range of the EV. Also, battery leasing can help EV owners to save on the cost of purchasing a battery. This significantly reduces the minimum time at the stations and infrastructure of charging stations.

Battery costs currently amount to about 40-70% of the total cost of an electric vehicle. If these batteries are decoupled and sold separately, it can help to shift the upfront cost to the energy operators and fundamentally shifts the cost of ownership to operations. Battery swapping can play a vital role in this as it helps to build the network of the supply chain to boost EV adoption, which will result in a faster transition.

EV solutions generally have two goals in mind. Technological transition and mobility as a function. We need a proper roadmap for battery swapping that will help to change this ecosystem.

Electric Vehicle Battery Technology

Below are the ways to build a roadmap for growth:

1. Using standardized battery technology: Standard battery design elements, such as pack size, cavity, electric power control unit, and output performance per unit can be standardized to facilitate battery swapping.
2. Recycling Batteries: Batteries used for swapping can be built with a recycle-friendly design to enable repurposing. The manufacturing and then recycling of the batteries of these EVs with recycled materials will eliminate the high initial cost that will significantly reduce the unit cost of EVs.
3. BaaS aka Battery as a Service: Batteries need to be treated as a service segment like LPG and petroleum stations. The financing models, along with the standardized operating procedure for energy operators can help to explore more financially viable solutions.
4. Devising a subscription model for Battery Swapping: BaaS can be made available to EV owners at a subscription model to gain their trust and serve to boost confidence in availability.

EVs are well on their way to taking over the automobile industry thanks to innovative technology. Improved battery technology will make EVs more affordable and attractive than gas cars. It is time for you to step into the field and make an impact!

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