Cleaner electric vehicle battery components should replace the conventional lithium-ion kind. If innovation lags, high prices, weak energy output, and nagging inefficiencies will slow the adoption of the plug-in car. Nearly 30 percent of its manufacturing costs are tied up in energy storage systems that contain lithium, cobalt and other materials needed to boost the vehicle’s speed and range.
Most fortunately though, a handful of alternative chemical solutions are underway that could sideline the classic battery. To accomplish scale, engineers and scientists are pushing for a commercially low-cost rechargeable device that respects the environment.
Unquestionably for good cause, every major auto manufacturer is in partnership with battery makers or other car companies to slash variable costs. They know that bringing down battery spend and ramping up research and development will entice the consumer to swap their internal combustion engine vehicle for an affordable EV.
By 2040, Bloomberg News’ electric vehicle outlook forecasts that more than 500 million units requiring about 1,095 gigawatts of battery juice will be sold worldwide. Two years ago, EVs consumed a mere 9 gigawatts.
Digging up more quantities of lithium-ion is worrisome. Seventy percent of the world’s deposits lay underground South America’s triangle extraction zone where a few mining giants control the salt beds shared by Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
Albeit a slower process to collect the white sands, commercial miners prefer large-scale water evaporation over crushing rocks because the operation costs less. But the consumer market deserves assurances that geothermal water injection into the salt beds does not harm the pristine fields.
Cobalt that cools the battery throughout the circular charge to the discharge cycle is also problematic. Nasty working conditions persist for the laborers — reportedly some as young as four years old — in the Congo whose government monopolizes about $24 trillion in undrilled mineral stocks. And figure in nickel, the metallic element that adds range and speed comes from Indonesia. Questions circulate in the supply chain about how they can stay apace with soaring lithium-ion battery orders.
Don’t wait until it’s too late. Connected global automotive suppliers must assert corporate governance wherever they transact. Transparent environmental practices mustn’t be a footnote when ecosystem diversity is fast becoming a normalized consumer expectation.
In upholding consumer standards, a growing pack of innovators are now publicizing multiple inventions at least on two fronts: extraction and storage. On front one, EnergyX, a startup, is promoting a minimally invasive extraction technique. EnergyX claims to have cracked the code with a direct lithium extractor for the brines. Its membrane filtration system accelerates the production process more efficiently than mature dredging techniques.
Teague Egan, the chief executive officer, told me, “Over the next 10-20 years, lithium demand is projected to go through the roof. EnergyX is developing technologies to help produce higher quantities of lithium, at lower costs, in an environmentally friendly way to keep pace with demand.”
On front two, even more eager clean energy disrupters are working hard at maximizing energy density by packing more particles into finite storage space. They aim to eliminate overheating, which people may associate with the rash of the Samsung mobile phone fires.
Amprius, a lithium-ion battery developer briefed the U.S. Department of Energy about improving the anode, the negatively charged electrode that chemically interacts with its positively charged electrode counterpart called the cathode.
Instead of making anodes from graphite, their engineers substituted silicon. To pair silicone nanowire anode with an advanced cathode, stated in their presentation to the DOE, the battery can store ten-fold more lithium-ions. Fortune magazine reported that the energy potential could peak “60 percent higher than that of conventional batteries.”
If sustainable, moving away from conventional battery storage, chasing less rarified elements, and combining more common ones like sulfur or a silicon-graphite blend could bring promise. Still, silicon-nanowire technology faces hurdles. Amprius told Fortune that they’re refining the substances to extend the life of the battery through a reliable discharge.
Further along the technology spectrum, some inventors view that solid-state batteries made of polymers are safer than liquid electrolytes. Experts are betting on grid-storage technology that lasts up to 10 hours of full-rated power. Others are banking on days, if not month-long reserves, which could open up wireless charging availability.
The innovators and their private capital backers agree that a scaled-up worldview is paramount to bringing down wholesale EV prices. Four years from now, Fortune reports that the battery market value will top $41 billion. Every industry player realizes that the sooner there arrives a cheaper battery, the more affordable the EV, the faster the adoption rate.
For now, the stampede for lithium and other earthly minerals resembles the California Gold Rush of ’49, which makes the marketplace difficult to navigate. Being green isn’t easy, but resisting alternative solutions won’t help.
This column urges the automotive aftermarket to lean on its suppliers and manufacturers to push beyond net-zero carbon emissions into superior technologies. Without leadership questioning the classic energy solution, waiting in the wings is an eager clean energy disrupter ready to swoop in the void.
Coming soon, if not today, professional installers to parts stores employees up through the leadership circles are becoming a unique stakeholder. The whole crew must account for the EV drivers who will rely on corporate visionaries to chart a clean, knowledge-based path to an environmentally mindful business.
Progressive-minded leaders in other industries have outlined their social and environmental vision to bolster shareholder returns. A purpose-driven business can benefit by attracting talented contributors motivated to spur innovation, drive performance and inspire trust. Now let’s hear more from leadership about their plans for a clean and green economy.
Sources: Bloomberg News, Fortune Magazine, National Geographic, U.S. Department of Energy
