MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars. The new lithium-ion battery includes a cathode based on organic materials, instead of cobalt or nickel (another metal often used in lithium-ion batteries).
Many electric vehicles are powered by batteries that contain cobalt — a metal that carries high financial, environmental, and social costs. MIT researchers have now designed a battery material that could offer a more sustainable way to power electric cars.
There’s a revolution brewing in batteries for electric cars. Japanese car maker Toyota said last year that it aims to release a car in 2027–28 that could travel 1,000 kilometres and recharge in just 10 minutes, using a battery type that swaps liquid components for solids.
Most electric cars are powered by lithium-ion batteries, a type of battery that is recharged when lithium ions flow from a positively charged electrode, called a cathode, to a negatively electrode, called an anode. In most lithium-ion batteries, the cathode contains cobalt, a metal that offers high stability and energy density.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a large research consortium called Battery500 to make lithium metal batteries viable, which would allow car manufacturers to build lighter electric vehicles that can drive much longer distances between charges.
But solid state technology has its own challenges, and it’s not the only way automakers could achieve lighter, cheaper and faster charging electric vehicles. The main difference between a solid state battery and the lithium-ion batteries currently used in electric cars is a component known as the electrolyte.