The shortage of upstream raw materials has become a bottleneck restricting the development of the new energy automobile industry. From 2020 to now, the price of lithium carbonate, the main raw material for new energy vehicle batteries, has risen by more than 10 times, and the cost rise has been transmitted to the main engine factory, which has no choice but to respond with price increases.
Even if it is as strong as Tesla, it cannot be left alone. On a recent earnings call, Tesla CEO Musk called for greater investment in lithium mining to fill the huge gap between supply and demand caused by the popularity of electric vehicles.
He said battery production, more precisely, lithium is a "fundamental limiting factor" to the global adoption of electric vehicles. "We think we need to help the industry in that regard. In fact, the current profit margin of the lithium industry is almost equivalent to that of the software industry."
Theion CTO Marek Slavik (left) and CEO Dr. Ulrich Ehmes introduce the sulfur crystals of crystal batteries
In response to the current dilemma, the industry is accelerating the pace of upstream raw material mining on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also vigorously developing the next generation of batteries. Lithium-sulfur batteries are considered one of the potential candidates. Recently, the German startup Theion handed over their "answer sheet", launched a crystal battery with diversified application scenarios, and began to promote commercialization.
01What is a crystal battery?
Theion's crystal battery is a type of lithium-sulfur battery. It is a kind of lithium battery with sulfur element as the positive electrode of the battery and lithium metal as the negative electrode. Lithium-sulfur batteries have been widely concerned by scientists because of their high theoretical capacity (1675mAh/g) and power density (2600 Wh/kg), rich resources and low prices, and environmental friendliness.
Of course, any coin has two sides. The shortcomings of lithium-sulfur batteries are also particularly obvious, mainly due to the poor conductivity of sulfur, the expansion of the electrode volume during charge and discharge, the existence of shuttle effects, and the generation of lithium dendrites at the anode, etc. These bottleneck problems have been affecting the commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries.
Sulfur melts to form crystals
To solve these problems, Dr. Ulrich Ehmes, CEO of Theion, told Geek Park that they have made breakthroughs in two aspects: first, the sulfur they use, not powder, but sulfur crystals, which can improve the energy density of the battery; second, they have developed a special form of carbon nanotube coating that can ensure that the battery performance is more stable.
Dr. Ehmes, who has decades of management experience, understands the importance of materials, which address issues such as high energy density, short charging times, long cycle life and cost, and are key to success in the battery industry.
At present, Theion's first-generation technology has achieved the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries to 500Wh/kg, and their goal is to increase the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries to 700Wh/kg in 2023; in 2024, the third-generation technology will increase the energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries to 1000Wh/kg.
This is already much higher than the current level of mainstream batteries. At present, there are two main technical routes for power batteries: ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, and their energy densities are about 250Wh/kg and 160Wh/kg, respectively. More importantly, the upper limit of the theoretical energy density of lithium-sulfur batteries is higher (2600 Wh/kg), and there is more room for future improvement.
At the same time, the current mainstream lithium-ion batteries are mainly made of five materials (nickel, cobalt, manganese, lithium and graphite). In addition to graphite, the prices of the other four raw materials have risen sharply, which has also increased the production cost of batteries. In contrast, sulfur costs are a 99% savings compared to NMC811, an 8:1:1 ratio of nickel, cobalt and manganese, a battery cathode material. In general, the cost of cathode material accounts for 1/3 of the cost of the battery. If the cathode material drops to the previous 1%, it means that the overall cost is reduced by about 1/3, and the crystal battery can save 90% of energy through the new production process.
In addition to energy density and cost, the number of cycles is also an important indicator of battery performance. At present, crystal batteries can reach about 500 cycles, which is lower than the current ternary lithium batteries (1000 to 2000 times) and lithium iron phosphate batteries (about 3000 times). However, Dr. Ehmes said that they will continue to update and iterate on the product to increase the number of cycles of the crystal battery.
In fact, lithium-sulfur batteries are not a new thing, and the study of them has been around since the 1970s. At present, the research of lithium-sulfur batteries in Europe and the United States and other countries is led by industry.
Oxis Energy in the United Kingdom has successfully tested a battery cell sample with an energy density of 471Wh/kg and signed procurement contracts with some European car companies; Sion Power in the United States mainly focuses on drones and military batteries and electric vehicles. In 2010, the company applied lithium-sulfur batteries to large drones, breaking the three drone records for the lowest flight altitude, continuous flight time and operating temperature.
In contrast, China's lithium-sulfur battery research is mainly based on scientific research institutions and universities, supplemented by battery companies.
Professor Liu Yongning's research group of the School of Materials Science of Xi'an Jiaotong University promotes the catalytic activity of indium oxide in lithium-sulfur batteries by regulating oxygen vacancies; the specific energy of energy-based lithium-sulfur batteries developed by Dalian Chemicals of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has gradually increased from 520Wh/kg to 609Wh/kg, refreshing the leading position of secondary battery specific energy in the field; the lithium-sulfur battery developed by Professor Zhou Haoshen's research group of Nanjing University still maintains a higher charging capacity of 900mAh/g after 1500 cycle tests.
In addition, some power battery companies such as Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Mengshi Technology, and Thornton New Energy have also formed certain technical reserves in the research and development of lithium-sulfur battery technology.
02 Accelerate commercialization
Although lithium-sulfur batteries have a higher specific capacity and energy density than lithium-ion batteries, their commercialization road is more difficult.
Theion team of battery experts
Theion is only a start-up, but they have already begun to take crystal batteries out of the lab and accelerate commercialization. Headquartered in Berlin, Theion has three offices and 12 employees, more than half of whom hold Doctorates.
According to Dr. Ehmes, Theion is still in its infancy, needing the most outstanding and outstanding talents, and not yet needing a large team. As the project progresses, the team will continue to expand.
According to Theion's plan, their crystal batteries will be available for the first users by the end of 2022. Currently, they are communicating with European space companies about cooperation because "they need particularly light components". In 2023, Theion will begin supplying crystal batteries to aviation, mobile and wearables, and in 2024, it will expand to cars and flying cars.
It is worth mentioning that the crystal battery planned for electric vehicles in 2024 can achieve a range of more than 1,000 kilometers per charge and a fast charge of less than 10 minutes. Such data is better than the performance level of the current mainstream new energy vehicle battery.
The reason for this strategy may be related to Team Global, Theion's main investor. It is understood that Team Global is a European technology holding company, focusing on investing in and founding cutting-edge technology companies. Previously, Team Global has invested in a number of aerospace startups such as Autoflight, Volocopter, MILESmobility and Archer Aviation.
Theion also has plans to enter the Chinese market. Dr. Ehmes said that China is an important global source of mobile equipment and land, sea and air transportation. Considering the customer base, the future development of Theion crystal batteries is closely related to the Chinese market. At present, their goal is to promote the application of crystal batteries to the Aerospace field in Europe. Next, they will consider entering the Chinese market, possibly building gigafactories in China.
Battery technology has undergone several iterations in the past few decades, from lead-acid batteries to nickel-metal hydride batteries, and then to today's lithium batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. In contrast, ternary lithium batteries have a large energy density, but there are still shortcomings in safety and stability; the advantages of lithium iron phosphate batteries are safe and stable, long life, but the energy density is relatively inferior, and the product consistency is also poor; hydrogen fuel cells are environmentally friendly, the mileage is long, but the cost is high; lithium-sulfur batteries are more cost-effective, and whether they can stand out in many batteries is expected.
Dr. Ehmes said that the requirements for batteries may vary depending on the application scenario. At present, many laboratories and institutions have proposed their own solutions, but the biggest challenge is to use this solution to leverage the real market and truly apply these technologies to social life.
At the same time, he also said that in the process of commercialization, the breakthrough point of the battery industry lies in the supply chain. At present, new energy vehicles are trapped in this point, because the rising price of raw materials affects the manufacturing cost and eventually transmits to the consumer side. In the future battery industry, the supply chain should be more stable and the price fluctuations will be smaller, which is the direction of Theion's future efforts.