Tesla’s million miles battery

Hey Guys! I am back again with another interesting topic. Hope you enjoy the blog. 

Most of you might be driving cars and we know that the average life expectancy of a new petrol car is around 8 years or 150,000 miles before it breaks and makes it worth repairing. Of course, some well-built petrol car can go 15 years and 300,000 miles if properly maintained. But in future, what if a car manufacturer comes with an idea/tech which makes it possible for a car to last for 1million miles? In simple words your car can last an entire lifetime. This sounds dope but also fictional at the same time right? Some critics say that these may not be possible but new studies prove that it might be coming sooner or later. Tesla and a team of battery researchers at Dalhouise University are working on this revolutionary battery technology. In April of 2018, Elon Musk promised that Tesla would soon be able to power its electric cars for more than 1 million miles over the course of their lifespan. This tech will definitely put electric cars in an interesting position. So let’s take a closer look at the battery itself.

A million mile battery

Led by physicist Jeff Dahn, one of the world’s foremost lithium-ion researchers, the Dalhousie group showed that its battery significantly outperforms any similar lithium-ion battery previously reported. They noted their battery could be especially useful for self-driving robotaxis and long-haul electric trucks, two products Tesla is developing. What’s interesting, though, is that the authors don’t herald the results as a breakthrough. Rather, they present it as a benchmark for other battery researchers. This was done to further the research of battery technology not just for one group but for everyone.

Here’s a quote by the authors of the paper, “Full details of these cells including electrode compositions, electrode loadings, electrolyte compositions, additives used, etc. have been provided,” Dahn and his colleagues wrote in the paper. “This has been done so that others can recreate these cells and use them as benchmarks for their own R+D efforts.”

Specifically talking about the battery, the lithium-ion batteries described in the paper use lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide, or NMC, for the battery’s positive electrode (cathode) and artificial graphite for its negative electrode (anode). The electrolyte, which ferries lithium ions between the electrode terminals, consists of a lithium salt blended with other compounds

NMC/graphite chemistries have long been known to increase the energy density and lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. (Almost all electric cars, including the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Bolt, use NMC chemistries in their batteries, but notably not Tesla.) The blend of electrolyte and additives is what ends up being the subject of trade secrets. But even those materials, as described in the paper, were well known in the industry.

Instead, Dahn’s team achieved its huge performance boosts through lots and lots of optimizing of those familiar ingredients, and by tweaking the nanostructure of the battery’s cathode. Instead of using many smaller NMC crystals as the cathode, this battery relies on larger crystals. Just days after papers was published, Tesla and Dahn received a patent for a single-crystal lithium-ion battery similar to the one described in the paper, but with an electrolyte additive that'll likely enable it to perform even better, enhancing the "performance and lifetime of Li-ion batteries, while reducing costs," as the patent states.

The team’s results show that their batteries could be charged and depleted more than 4,000 times and lose only about 10 percent of their energy capacity. These figures are truly amazing.

What makes it unique?

• Generally speaking, there’s usually a trade-off between energy, density and battery lifetime. If you want to increase any one of the them, you get less one of the other. Jeff Dahn’s group was responsible for doing the seemingly impossible. 
• They overcame this problem by using NMC/graphite cells or chemistries over the LFP/graphite cells. So now we can have increased energy and battery life also the material used in the papers aren’t new. 
• Jeff’s group also tweaked the nano structure of the batteries cathode to increase performance.
• The new nano structure is less likely to develop cracks when the battery is charging. 
• Cracks in the cathode material cause decrease in the lifetime and performance of the battery. The main reason this happens is due to the repeated charging cycles. But, this new cathode battery will be able to resist more wear over time. These factors make the battery significant. 

Conclusion: This battery technology by Dahn will transform the whole automobile sector. It seems like we are at the start of new age. An age where battery technology stays stagnant.

Were you aware about this dope technology? Post your questions and views about this battery technology in the comment section. I hope the blog is helpful to you all. Share the blog to your friends and family members who are unaware about this information. Peace.
                                                                      --- Sourabh M

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