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While carmakers today chase market leader Tesla Inc, seeking to
build cars that can travel 300 miles (482 km) or more between
charges, battery startups expect range will matter less as
public electric vehicle (EV) chargers become ubiquitous. In the
quest for smaller batteries that charge extremely quickly, the
startup firms are experimenting with materials like
silicon-carbon, tungsten and niobium.
The battery is an EV's most expensive part, so true fast
charging coupled with widely available chargers - a lack of
charging infrastructure today is seen as slowing broader
adoption of EVs - would allow automakers to build cars with
smaller batteries at more affordable prices, yet boost profit by
selling more vehicles to a broader audience.
"Early adopters at the higher end of the market wanted bigger
battery packs and longer range because they could afford it,"
said Sai Shivareddy, chief executive of Nyobolt, a startup
developing niobium oxide anode materials for batteries that can
charge in minutes. "For more cost-sensitive mainstream adoption,
you need smaller battery packs ... but with the same experience
as today (with fossil-fuel cars) where you can fill up in 5
minutes."
China dominates global EV battery production and companies like
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL) are developing
batteries to go farther on a single charge.
Carmakers in China have rolled out small, low-cost EVs like the
Wuling Hongguang Mini - which even with recent battery price
rises still sells for around $6,500. The car is a joint venture
of SAIC Motor Corp Ltd, General Motors Co and Wuling Motors.
Western startups like Cambridge-based Nyobolt and Echion
Technologies or Woodinville, Washington-based Group14
Technologies are working on electrode materials to bring super
fast-charging batteries to market.
According to startup data platform PitchBook, EV battery
technology investments jumped more than sixfold to $9.4 billion
in 2021 from $1.5 billion in 2020 as carmakers focused on the
future.
"We are in the larval stages of battery development," said
Lincoln Merrihew, vice president at data analytics firm Pulse
Labs. (Here is a graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/3NOMxqS)
Going small could also ease looming battery material bottlenecks
as EV demand soars, while using less cobalt and nickel where
China dominates refining and processing.
Another benefit is carmakers could claim sustainability wins
using less harmful materials in EVs and emit less CO2
manufacturing them.
"Re-engineering the vehicle to minimize the size of the
batteries, since that's so expensive, is going to be a game
changer," Ford Motor Co's chief executive, Jim Farley, said at a
conference in June. The U.S. carmaker, he added, wants "the
smallest possible battery for the competitive range" in its next
generation of EVs starting in 2026.
Others are squeezing more efficiency out of existing batteries,
as Mercedes-Benz has done with its EQXX prototype with a range
of 1,000 km (621 miles).
MORE AFFORDABLE EVs
Fast charging today is limited by EV batteries' ability to
absorb power quickly. Fast charging can shorten batteries'
lifespan or overheat them, so most EVs limit charging speed to
protect them.
At Nyobolt's headquarters, CEO Shivareddy charges four batteries
in around three minutes and plugs them into a robotic vacuum
that busily cleans the floor behind him as he speaks.
Niobium is a stable metal often used to strengthen steel - the
world's largest deposits are in Brazil and Canada. Used in
anodes or cathodes, startups like Nyobolt and Echion say niobium
can handle super-fast charging while lasting many years longer
than today's batteries.
Nyobolt is focusing on high-performance racing EVs and
Shivareddy said it will take years of validation before
carmakers are ready to use its batteries in mass-market models.
A few miles from Nyobolt, Echion's niobium anodes are initially
for commercial EVs like mining vehicles that operate
continuously and will need fast charging.
CEO Jean de La Verpilliere said Echion's goal is to have
batteries ready for passenger EVs by 2025.
"Smaller batteries mean cheaper prices and therefore more people
can afford EVs," he said.
Brazilian mining company CBMM dominates niobium production and
has invested in Echion and other startups and is testing niobium
with others including battery materials company Nano One,
Toshiba and Volkswagen Caminhoes e Onibus, a Brazilian
subsidiary of Volkswagen's trucking unit Traton.
Rogerio Marques Ribas, head of CBMM's battery program, said
although niobium's energy density can be up to 20% lower than
some contemporary batteries, "we can bring maybe three to ten
times more life and more safety while charging in minutes."
"Raw materials will be a bottleneck for batteries," Ribas added.
"In the near future people will ask, why have a big battery
pack?"
'THE MARKET DECIDES RANGE'
Niobium is not the only material that startups are exploring.
Group14 Technologies makes silicon-carbon anode material that
enables lithium-ion batteries to hold up to 50% more energy. The
company raised $400 million from investors in May.
Testing Group14's material, Mercedes-backed battery maker
StoreDot has charged batteries to 80% capacity in 10 minutes.
Group14 CEO Rick Luebbe said its anode material could offer a
fast EV charge in five minutes.
"When I can top my battery pack off in five or 10 minutes ...
then it doesn't really matter too much what that range is,
whether it's 150 miles or 300 miles," Luebbe said.
Michigan-based startup Our Next Energy (ONE) has developed its
Gemini "dual chemistry" battery featuring a standard Lithium
Iron Phosphate (LFP) traction battery with a second "range
extender" battery using more advanced and expensive chemistries,
providing low, medium and high range options.
"The market ultimately decides the right level of range," said
CEO Mujeeb Ijaz.
According to industry data, the average American car drives less
than 30 miles per day. In Europe, the average is less than half
of that.
Isobel Sheldon, British battery company Britishvolt's chief
strategy officer, said as EV owners realize they are paying for
more than they need, the market will demand less range.
"As the market matures, people will start to ask why I am paying
thousands ... for a battery I'll never use," she said. "Most car
use to is to drive to the shops, go and see friends or drop kids
at school, not to drive to Monaco."
(Reporting by Nick Carey in Cambridge, England, and Paul Lienert
in Detroit; Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis)
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