Liquid battery electrodes promise increased range and reduced costs

MAY

2014

Renault-Nissan Alliance Team

Liquid battery electrodes promise increased range and reduced costs

Researchers in the U.S.A are developing liquid battery electrodes that could significantly increase the range of EVs, while also reducing charging times and costs. In theory, a car with such a battery could travel up to 800 km (500 miles) on a full charge.

The U.S. government-backed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) is funding a number of projects to explore the potential of liquid electrodes. Researchers are particularly interested in developing high-performance "rechargeable fuel" batteries.

This new breed of battery is powered by liquid electrodes that can either be recharged in the usual way or simply replaced by pumping in new fuel. The process of refilling the battery with new electrodes would take just minutes – compared with at least 30 minutes to an hour for today's fast-charging stations. As the battery also offers the potential to store significantly more energy, EV drivers would be able to travel greater distances in much less time.

Another advantage of liquid electrode batteries is that they should be less expensive to purchase. Compared with today's EV batteries, they require considerably fewer non-energy storing components – allowing them to be smaller and less costly. They are also potentially safer, as the positive and negative electrodes are not stored in the same battery cell, reducing the risk of short circuits and overheating.

Researchers still have a long way to go until the new batteries arrive on the market. A team at the Argonne National Laboratory and Illinois Institute of Technology are currently working on a prototype that would allow a vehicle to be driven just a few kilometers on a single charge. If tests prove successful, it could be a real game changer for the future of electric cars everywhere.

More information on the new batteries can be found here.

Picture credit: Argonne National Laboratory via MIT Technology Review