The Changing Chemistry of Lithium Ion Batteries - Episode 106

Lithium Ion batteries are the backbone of the EV revolution. And car manufacturers are constantly seeking new ways to remove cost and improve the range of these battery packs. Part of their solution has been to tweak the chemistry of these batteries - but added value in one area sometimes necessitates a trade off in another.

In this episode, Paul discusses the changing chemistry of lithium ion batteries in the EV market, the impact that this has on the economics of vehicles, and how consumers should be thinking about battery composition when considering their next EV purchase.

For more research:

"Exploring the Different Types of Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Electric Vehicles" - Ioncore Technology

"Charted: Lithium-Ion Batteries Keep Getting Cheaper" - Visual Capitalist

"Battery cell prices fall to record low in September, says report" - Reuters

"A new generation of cheaper batteries is sweeping the EV industry" - Canary Media

Follow Paul on LinkedIn.

Transcript

This is Eight Minute Climate Fix – a podcast helping you understand the energy and climate challenge in just a few minutes – I’m your host, Paul Schuster.

Let’s get a bit nerdy today and dig into the chemistry of batteries. Why? Well – you may be familiar with the lithium-ion battery packs that are now the standard for electric vehicles – and are even being used for power grid reliability and other uses. But … there are actually quite a few TYPES of lithium ion batteries.

There are lithium iron phosphate varieties or lithium cobalt oxide. And the applications for these different chemical compositions can vary. In fact, if you’re looking for your next electric vehicle to purchase – the TYPE of lithium ion battery under the hood could tell you a lot about the range, the cost, and even the relative safety of the vehicle.

So, let’s take eight minutes and see if we can better understand the chemical compositions of these important storage devices.

Eight minutes – it’s how long it takes the sun’s rays to hit earth or about the amount of time it takes to boil a perfect, al dente spaghetti noodle. Bene!

Let’s get it on.

Electric vehicle sales continue to climb – boosted by federal tax incentives and a growing selection of really well made cars.

But they’re still pretty expensive – if we’re going to see adoption at a much higher rate, costs are going to need to come down and vehicle range – is gonna need to go up. 

That magic trade-off is what drives battery manufacturers as they think about the next generation of vehicle batteries. How can we continue to drive down the costs of these packs, while simultaneously removing range anxiety as a barrier to EV adoption?

To get into this, we probably need a bit of a primer on how batteries work, so bear with me. The battery in your car works basically in the same way that the one in your phone or laptop does. It consists of three major components – an anode, a cathode and an electrolyte. As ions move between the anode and cathode, they store or release energy – which is what gives us the power that we need in our everyday devices and our new EV. 

And while a lot of different metals *could* be used as the source of those ions, lithium has proven to be the most versatile. It holds its charge really well (and for a long time) – it doesn’t really have a memory effect the way that old battery compositions used to have – it’s fairly lightweight - and it can withstand charging and discharging many thousands of times. Which makes lithium pretty useful for everyday applications.

But not all lithium batteries are the same. In fact, there are primarily FOUR different types of lithium battery compositions that EV manufacturers use in their vehicles – each with a different set of benefits and trade-offs to consider.

For instance, Lithium Cobalt Oxide batteries – commonly abbreviated as LCO – have a really good energy density. They can hold a LOT of power in a dense, lightweight package – which is ideal to push that EV range number ever higher. EV manufacturers are always playing with ways to improve these LCO battery types because range anxiety has been and remains one of the biggest concerns when purchasing an electric vehicle. And The good energy density of LCO batteries meant that they are pretty good at getting a lot of miles out of the unit.

But they can be tweaked, as well – for instance, by adding manganese to the composition. Battery manufactures found THAT combination to have extremely good energy density at a modest increase in price.

Or, for really high performing cars, manufacturers have combined the cobalt with nickel and aluminum, creating a Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide battery that has even higher energy density. More expensive – but, well, you get what you pay for.

Unfortunately … well, any of the lithium *cobalt* oxide batteries rely upon a kinda problematic metal. For one thing, cobalt isn’t very abundant which makes it more expensive than other metals that could be used in the cathode. And secondly, the mining of cobalt tends to be in areas such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo where strict environmental regulations may be lacking. That can lead to both environmental as well as human labor concerns.

An alternative battery composition is Lithium Iron Phosphate, or LFP. These batteries are starting to really see a lot of growth in the market because they have a lot of similar benefits as to LCO batteries – but with some added benefits.

Primary among those? Lower cost – LFP batteries use iron instead of cobalt, so the basic economics of the battery pack are just so much less. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Limited points out that LFP batteries are contracting for around $50 a kilowatt hour – which compares to around $70 a kilowatt hour for nickel cobalt aluminum batteries.

And LFP batteries are also more energy resilient, meaning that they can charge and discharge more often than their counterparts – and have more thermal stability, which means that they catch fire less often than a nickel cobalt aluminum  battery pack.

But their tradeoff? Well, for one thing, LFP batteries are more susceptible to losing charge in cold weather, which isn’t great. Rivian, in fact, has had to work around this drawback by introducing thermal protections for their battery packs. But more importantly - for all the benefits of lower cost and higher safety, LFP batteries just aren’t as energy DENSE as their counterparts – which means that that all important range number is difficult to achieve. 

Which means that EV manufacturers have to balance a couple of things when making choices on the type of battery for their vehicle – do you go with the battery type that maximizes the range of the vehicle … or do you step down and take a version that doesn’t take you as far on one charge, but makes the price point of the car much more palatable?

The answer probably depends upon the type of market that the vehicle manufacturer is trying to address. For instance, high performance luxury cars are probably less price sensitive and can afford the higher cost batteries in return for more range – whereas LFP batteries may make sense for entry level cars … or, increasingly, for fleet vehicles where there’s a lot of charging and discharging occurring – and the need for that energy resilience becomes important.

Increasingly, LFP is playing a really important role in the EV market. Canary Media points out that LFPs only made up about 6 percent of the market back in 2020 – but have now jumped to nearly 30 percent this year. Car manufacturers appear to be leaning away from range – and more into economics.

Look, the battery pack is the single most expensive part of an EV. And getting the costs down is a big concern for automakers. In essence, they’ve made the decision that the EV range – is probably good enough at this point, but cost needs to drop. For consumers, that means that the next generation of EVs are likely to have lower price points, higher resiliency benefits – but at the cost of range – and maybe even a concern over performance in cold weather climates. Depending on how YOU want to use your EV – maybe knowing the TYPE of lithium ion battery under the hood is an important consideration for you.

I’m Paul Schuster – and this has been your Eight Minutes.