Ternary lithium battery has high energy density and long range, but it is not stable enough. It is easy to catch fire and spontaneously ignite after being affected by the outside world. Lithium iron phosphate battery has good stability and high safety, but its energy density is low. In winter, the electric car range even needs to be 50% off.
So is there a new battery that is safe, stable and long-lasting? A lot of people are looking at aluminum ion batteries.
Saudi-backed Indian researcher Saturnos plans to publish independent tests of the chemical composition of its Enhanced Altered Aluminum Ion (Ea²I) battery and launch a solid-state rechargeable Aluminum battery by 2022. When it goes into production, it will be the world’s first commercially available aluminum ion solid state battery.
Initially backed by two rounds of seed funding from Saudi Arabia’s Dana Venture Fund, Saturnose’s aluminum-ion battery has been in “stealth” development for five years, with academic research coordinated on both continents.
Dana Venture Capital founder Gayad Ide described the Ea²I battery as a step toward solid aluminum ion batteries, which he said do not use cobalt or nickel and do not have the dendrites and thermal runaway fires of lithium ions. Instead, the cathode of the Ea²I system uses a high-energy, altered and disordered rock salt structure, a prototype of which is now being tested.
It is understood that the aluminum ion battery has an energy density of 1500Wh/L and is expected to provide 600Wh/kg energy. For comparison, lithium-ion batteries have an energy density of 150-350Wh /kg, while the latest sodium ion developed by Ningde times has an energy density of 70-200Wh /kg. Currently commonly used lithium iron phosphate batteries are generally around 140Wh/kg, and some ternary lithium batteries can exceed 200Wh/kg. That means battery life could be at least three times better if the battery is commercially available.
Saturnose claims that a set of 15kW solid aluminum ion batteries will weigh 565 kg, support a range of 1,200 km for electric vehicles and last at least 20,000 charge and discharge cycles, providing a stable life of up to 15 years in vehicle use.
In addition, the production of aluminum ion solid state batteries does not use nickel and cobalt, and there is no dendrite and thermal runaway fire problems of lithium ion. The cathode of the battery system uses a high-energy, disordered rock salt structure and uses aluminum and niobium as well as a solid electrolyte. Aluminum solid state batteries are said to be 50 percent cheaper than lithium-ion battery technology and have advantages in energy density, life span and safety.
From the data point of view, aluminum ion solid state batteries are indeed far from the lithium ion batteries on the supermarket surface, and may indeed be expected to replace lithium ion batteries. The potential of aluminum-ion batteries has been repeatedly confirmed by the industry, but they have not yet been tested commercially, and it remains to be seen whether the product will be as good as expected when it reaches mass production.
In July, Ningde launched its first sodium-ion battery. Gree recently announced that it had developed a titanium battery, which, while not very energy-dense, is a new direction. Hopefully, these solid-state aluminum ion batteries will really take off and will give a big boost to the rapid development of electric vehicles.