Till 2020 the predominant key success factors of battery development have been overwhelmingly energy density, power density, lifetime, safety, and costs per kWh. That is why there is a high expectation on energy storage systems such as lithium-air (Li-O2) and lithium-sulfur (Li-S) systems, especially for mobile applications. These systems have high theoretical specific energy densities compared to conventional Li-ion systems. If the challenges such as practical implementation, low energy efficiency, and cycle life are handled, these systems could provide an interesting energy source for EVs. However, various raw materials are increasingly under critical discussion. Though only 3 wt% of metallic lithium is present in a modern Li-ion cell, absolute high amounts of lithium demand will rise due to the fast-growing market for traction and stationary batteries. Moreover, many lithium sources are not available without compromising environmental aspects. Therefore, there is a growing focus on alternative technologies such as Na-ion and Zn-ion batteries. On a view of Na-ion batteries, especially the combination with carbons derived from food waste as negative electrodes may generate a promising overall cost structure, though energy densities are not as favorable as for Li-ion batteries. Within the scope of this work, the future potential of sodium-based batteries will be discussed in view of sustainability and abundance vs. maximization of electric performance. The major directions of cathode materials development are reviewed and the tendency towards designing high-performance systems is discussed. This paper provides an outlook on the potential of sodium-based batteries in the future battery market of mobile and stationary applications.
The concept of Digital Twin (DT) is widely explored in literature for different application fields because it promises to reduce design time, enable design and operation optimization, improve after-sales services and reduce overall expenses. While the perceived benefits strongly encourage the use of DT, in the battery industry a consistent implementation approach and quantitative assessment of adapting a battery DT is missing. This paper is a part of an ongoing study that investigates the DT functionalities and quantifies the DT-attributes across the life cycles phases of a battery system. The critical question is whether battery DT is a practical and realistic solution to meeting the growing challenges of the battery industry, such as degradation evaluation, usage optimization, manufacturing inconsistencies or second-life application possibility. Within the scope of this paper, a consistent approach of DT implementation for battery cells is presented, and the main functions of the approach are tested on a Doyle-Fuller-Newman model. In essence, a battery DT can offer improved representation, performance estimation, and behavioral predictions based on real-world data along with the integration of battery life cycle attributes. Hence, this paper identifies the efforts for implementing a battery DT and provides the quantification attribute for future academic or industrial research.
The growing number of Electric Vehicles poses a serious challenge at the end-of-life for battery manufacturers and recyclers. Manufacturers need access to strategic or critical materials for the production of a battery system. Recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries may ensure a constant supply of critical materials, thereby closing the material cycle in the context of a circular economy. However, the resource-use per cell and thus its chemistry is constantly changing, due to supply disruption or sharply rising costs of certain raw materials along with higher performance expectations from electric vehicle-batteries. It is vital to further explore the nickel-rich cathodes, as they promise to overcome the resource and cost problems. With this study, we aim to analyze the expected development of dominant cell chemistries of Lithium-Ion Batteries until 2030, followed by an analysis of the raw materials availability. This is accomplished with the help of research studies and additional experts’ survey which defines the scenarios to estimate the battery chemistry evolution and the effect it has on a circular economy. In our results, we will discuss the annual demand for global e-mobility by 2030 and the impact of Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt based cathode chemistries on a sustainable economy. Estimations beyond 2030 are subject to high uncertainty due to the potential market penetration of innovative technologies that are currently under research (e.g. solid-state Lithium-Ion and/or sodium-based batteries).
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