Battery powered future coming
2011-04-18 09:21
Cape Town - Success in battery innovation would be in reducing costs and weight to increase performance, an expert has said.
"The next big thing is to successfully reduce the cost in batteries and a reduction in the amount of time to charge," CSIR manager of the energy and processes and conference chair Dr Mkulu Mathe told News24 at the International Battery Association conference in Cape Town.
Delegates from around the world at the conference discussed ways that batteries can be improved for high-capacity applications such as electric cars. This would have knock-on effects in areas like cellphone and laptop battery packs in terms of charging time, weight and capacity.
"Knowledge is old; thinking is innovative," said Mathe. "There are concerns around cost and the variation of the chemistry. If the weight can go down, it will improve performance, but it's an area that continues to pose challenges."
The biggest modern leap in battery technology came with the introduction of the lithium-ion battery. Dr Michael Thackeray, John Goodenough, and co-workers identified manganese spinel as a cathode material in 1983.
New technology
"After the introduction of the lithium-ion battery in 1991, it's been improved by a factor of two. There's been a lot of engineering and now it's starting to plateau," said Dr Steven Visco of PolyPlus Battery Company in California.
"We could think about silicon and package it better," said Professor M Stanley Whittingham of Binghamton University in New York. He first proposed lithium-ion batteries in the 1970s.
They warned though, that simply introducing new technology was not a simple matter and there was a time lag before the technology was widely adopted.
"New technology will take 15 to 20 years to come to the market," Visco said.
He also cited the introduction of hybrid vehicles like the Toyota Prius which initially sold poorly before becoming a synonymous with environmental responsibility.
The introduction of zero emission electric vehicles has also had hiccups, as the public charging infrastructure is not yet in place to make these vehicles widely practical.
"It's hard to imagine that if the technology added to the market it would be shelved, but the market has to ready when the technology is ready," Visco said.
Infrastructure
New technologies being investigated could significantly reduce charging time by using innovative solutions.
Redox flow batteries are almost like petrol and people have demonstrated that already. You simply replace the electrolyte," said Mathe.
This would require short "refuel" periods very similar to current systems but needs the infrastructure to be in place to make it attractive for consumers.
"We're also thinking toward the use of nano materials which would have the benefit of reducing waste. There's a huge effort toward the recycling of waste," Mathe said.
Experts could not agree on whether there would be a single factor that would drive consumers from petrol- to battery-powered vehicles.
"I think it will be gradual, but it's difficult to tell," said Visco. "If the pain is hard enough, people will switch."
"Yes, the price of fuel goes up, but people in the United States keep thinking it will go down," said Whittingham.
Cutting edge
SA has, through the CSIR, demonstrated capability to be on the cutting edge of research, said Mathe, but the country needed to invest in education.
"The fact that these people have come from all over the world shows that there is awareness of the abudance of materials for batteries in South Africa. In terms of the national government, the question is 'How do you educate people about what we have?'
"But we're moving in the right direction."
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