Recently, Our Next Energy (ONE), a two-year-old startup in Michigan, said Wednesday that they tested its new Gemini prototype battery on a Tesla Model S, driving 752 miles (about 1210 kilometers) at an average speed of 55 mph (about 88 km/h) in Michigan road tests, nearly 90 percent more than the Model S's original 402-mile EPA data.
Although the speed of 88km/h is not a high-speed working condition for high-speed endurance vehicles, it is much higher than the speed of urban driving, so such a speed is also of practical significance.
ONE founder and CEO Mujib Ijaz said the company aims to start producing battery packs that offer similar range by the end of 2023, about twice as long as most electric vehicles today.
ONE has been focusing on developing advanced long-endurance batteries that use safer, more sustainable materials while packing more energy into smaller, cheaper battery packs. Ijaz is a battery engineer with more than 30 years of experience, having worked for Apple, A123 Systems, Ford and other companies.
For ONE's Gemini batteries, Ijaz said, "We want to eliminate nickel and cobalt, but we don't want to give up energy density." Our goal is to reinvent battery chemistry and battery structure to provide at least 750 miles (about 1207 kilometers) of range between charges. ”
Ijaz said ONE chose the Tesla Model S Long Battery Plus to showcase its prototype battery because "it has fairly high efficiency and a fairly large battery pack" that provides enough space to accommodate one's battery. The model S originally had a battery capacity of 103.9 kWh, while the ONE prototype battery that replaced it in the same space had 207.3 kWh.
The range of electric vehicles is more important than that of fuel vehicles. If the daily use of electric vehicles can reach 1400 kilometers, about the distance from Guangzhou to Shanghai, then running a long distance is more than enough, and it is no harm to reach the destination and recharge. Even if the winter car endurance declines, there can be six or seven hundred kilometers, even if the air conditioning is turned on, it can ensure that daily travel is not a problem, and you don't have to worry too much about endurance when running long distances.
However, this modified battery, in terms of safety and cost, may not be able to meet the requirements of mass production, but in terms of technical feasibility, it has been verified how the endurance limit of a single battery of electric vehicles is. In the future, Tesla may not cooperate with Our Next Energy, and the new car is equipped with this battery to solve the user's battery life anxiety.
A few days ago, Mercedes-Benz, Weilai, GAC Aeon and other car companies have released pure electric vehicle models with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, but the specific delivery time has not been determined, and it is expected that GAC AION LX Plus will be the world's first pure electric vehicle with a range of 1,000 kilometers for mass production and delivery.