Lithium Ion, dominant for the past 2 decades, is being challenged by new chemistry battery comparison shows up and coming chemistries. The revolution of electric vehicles and grid electricity storage was only possible from Lithium Ion chemistry? Weekly we see articles about new battery breakthroughs. From main-stream media and company announcements new batteries appear to be the holy grail. Most, however, are in early commercialisation phases. Most appear to be valid solutions to the batteries.
Table of New Chemistry Battery Comparison
Advances in technology independent of battery chemistry include:
- Nano graphite anodes may add 20% to 50% improvement for any graphite anode product. For lithium-ion improvements check out this article.
- Physical manufacturing processes can add 20% in energy density
Other Chemistries
Many news articles suggest Lithium Sulphur will have much higher energy density. However, this technology is only a beta stage. Researchers in Australia and USA have claimed a potential 4,000 cycles, a high theoretical capacity (1675 mAh/g) and a high energy density of 2500 Wh/ kg. More R&D may validate these claims. A whole new supply chain is required. Don’t expect LiS batteries prior to 2028.
Lithium Ion | Lithium LFP and LMFP | Liquid Metals | Iron Air | Graphene Aluminium-Ion | Sodium Ion | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Materials | Lithium, graphite, cobalt, nickel | Li, P, graphite Li, P, Graphite, Mn | Calcium Antimony | Iron | Graphene Aluminium | Soda ash Salt -Sodium Chloride |
Energy Density Wh/kg | 200 | 160 | 2MW per 40′ container | 0.2 to 6MW per ha | 290 | 145 |
Energy density (potential) | 250 | 200 | na | na | 400 | 200 |
Power | ||||||
Cycles | 1,000 | 2,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 |
Current price $/kW | 100-150 | 80-150 | 180-250 | 20 | na | 140 |
Future price 2030 | 70 | 60 | 21 | 20 | na | 40 |
Personal Electronics | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Cars | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ |
Buses / Rail | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Planes | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
Grid Storage | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
Stage of Development | Full production 1,000GWh+ | Gigafactories 1,000GWh+ | Scaling 12GW by 2025 | Scaling 20GW by 2024 | Beta | First car, 1st gen 150GWh by 2027 |
Company | Various Tesla / CATL | Various Tesla / CATL | Ambri | Form Energy | GMG | HiNa Battery |
Further Potential for Lithium Ion Batteries
It’s plausible that with a conversion cathode and an engineered low-swell silicon anode, the cycle life of Li-ion can be extended all the way to 10,000 full cycles while also having the highest energy density in the market — thus breaking the [power vs. energy] compromise. Canary Media
Alternative Battery Types
Battery Type | Companies | Function | Status |
---|---|---|---|
Sodium Metal Chloride (Salt storage) | Flash Energy | Grid | Storage at 300o high temperature, – in CSP systems |
Compressed air storage – | Hydrostor | Grid 60% round trip efficiency | Flow batteries using Vanadium |
Flow batteries * Vanadium * Iron Flow (ESS) * Zn Bromide * Saltwater | Redflow, ESS, Invinity, Cellcube, Primus Power Solutions, Largo Lockheed Martin, Schmide Group, Sumitomo Electric, UniEnergy Technologies, VRB Energies | Community, grid, domestic | Specific energy 10–20 Wh/kg (36–72 J/g) Energy density 15–25 Wh/L (54–65 kJ/L) Lifespan of 20+ years Non-flamable Active pumps |
Nickel Hydrogen | Enervenue | Grid, C&I | 1.2kWh per container, racks into containers 3 daily cycles, 30,000 cycles, 30 year life. Factory in build 5GWh by 2026 20GWh by 2030 |
H2 storage | Various | Grid | use H2 caverns, use in existing gas pipelines |
Pumped hydro | Most countries | Grid 80% round trip efficiency | China QLD Aust Snowy 2.0, Burdekin, Gympie |
Ocean Pumped hydro | Ocean Grazier | Grid | No beta yet |
CSP Thermal storage | RayGen, VAST | Grid | Raygen – Beta, CSP on 10x10cm, + hotwater at 90oC in dams Vast Energy, 300MW $50/MWh |
CO2 Battery Storage | Energy Dome | Grid | LCOS US$50-60 MWh within a few years (!) |
Gravity | Energy Vault, Gravicity | Grid | Shanghai, Texas, USA Estimated = $171 MWh |