Batteries in electric vehicles have high energy content, high efficiency, long service life, maximum safety and low cost. But technology can go a step further, giving a definitive solution to the issue of autonomy.

Porsche engineers point out that the next generation batteries, which will be ready very soonthey will offer autonomy up to 1,300 kilometers in a premium car and it will only take a few minutes of the hour to charge them, approximating the filling times of cars with liquid fuels. These results were recently published in the magazine ‘Porsche Engineering’, noting that tests have already been carried out on the Taycan and Macan electric models.

“Pure lithium is the ideal active anode material in terms of energy density. For safety reasons graphites are currently mainly used as active anode materials that can absorb lithium ions. In addition, the charging capacity of the batteries is very high and their price relatively low. Their lifetime is 1,500 to 3,000 full charge cycles until 80% remaining capacity is reached. Until then the batteries present no problems,” says Falko Schappacher, commercial and technical director of the MEET Battery Research Center at the University of Munster (WWU).

According to the researchers with the new technology a battery can be charged up to 80% in less than 15 minutes. Something like this would provide solutions to electric mobility. The materials in the cathode of the battery also play an important role. Intensive work is underway to optimize active materials for the cathode. The important thing in this case is a combination of high charging capacity and high electrochemical potential of the material. At present, lithium-nickel-cobalt-manganese oxide in a ratio of 6:2:2 (in terms of nickel, cobalt and manganese parts) is most often used in electromobility in Europe.

In the future, the share of nickel is likely to increase, while cobalt and manganese will be used to a lesser extent. The increasing share of nickel promises higher charging capabilities. Further optimization possibilities are offered by the battery separator, which consists of very thin films mainly composed of polyethylene or polypropylene.

What is troubling, however, is whether the existing infrastructure can handle such large electrical loads of the new generation of batteries. High importance and priority should be given to the charging sockets which will need active cooling so that high charging capabilities of more than 500 kW can be realized reliably. This technology needs liquid-cooled charging cables, something Tesla has talked about and hinted at.

Given that batteries are a part of electric mobility, which is taking its first steps, there is a lot of room for improvement. So in the future we will see world-changing changes in the field of batteries, as solutions will be given to important issues such as EV autonomy and fast charging.