“Or we can make a battery the same size as a lithium ion battery, but now it will last twice as long”. This has allowed them to create more efficient batteries – in tests, a battery half the size of regular iPhone battery offered 2.0aH, while the iPhone 6’s generates 1.8aH.
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Qichao Hu, CEO of SolidEnergy, told MIT News: ‘It is kind of the holy grail for batteries.
Battery power has only improved marginally in recent years due to the chemical limits of lithium-ion technology.
Lithium metal batteries have always been a subject of particular interest to researchers, given their high energy density. According to researchers, that battery is coming.
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Initially, Hu developed a thin lithium metal foil anode that cut down on battery size, but wouldn’t work unless the battery was heated up to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. The lead investor in that round was General Motors Ventures, and SolidEnergy has been up-front about its desire to use its batteries in electric cars. They will first bring the technology in cell phone batteries in 2017 and then will be seen in cars and drones in 2018. “It’s a very exciting and noble application”. Mainly, it is better than the current technology of batteries and can maintain an energy density of 400 Watt Hours Per Kilogram (Wh/kg), it is non-flammable, and can be manufactured inside existing factories. But Hu said through MIT’s connections his group was able to use A123’s former facility in Waltham, Mass.as well as its resources to focus on commercial applications. SolidEnergy now works out of its own facility in Woburn, Mass.
