| Recent Trends in the Battery Market and Applications Marcos De Campos1; 1UFF - FEDERAL FLUMINENSE UNIVERSITY, Volta Redonda, Brazil; PAPER: 209/Nanomaterials/Regular (Oral) SCHEDULED: 17:10/Sat. 26 Oct. 2019/Coralino ABSTRACT: Batteries are now seen as an essential subject for renewable energies. This is because the wind and sun are intermittent energy sources. Europe, the United States and other countries are significantly increasing the production of wind energy. Also, solar energy generation needs batteries because, at night, energy production is not possible. The electric energy produced by the wind and sun can be used for moving electric cars. This avoids petroleum importation which is a relevant issue for many countries. European environmental specifications should increase the market of hybrid and electric cars. The market of hybrid cars with cheap batteries, as the 48V mild hybrid vehicles market, is also expanding. At the present time, hybrid cars present a better relationship with cost-benefit than full electric cars. This situation can change if the price of batteries continues to reduce [1]. Hybrid trucks have been considered as an alternative for the near future. It is difficult to make a full electric truck due to the high weight of batteries that need transportation with the vehicle. Several main types of batteries are available. Nowadays, Lithium ion batteries, such as NMC (nickel-manganese-cobalt)are dominant. The cars of Tesla motors use NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminium). Due to the high cost of cobalt, there is a big pressure for reducing cobalt usage in NMC batteries. This has been achieved by replacing cobalt by nickel. China developed LiFePO4 batteries, and these batteries have the big advantage of being environmentally friendly. The chinese electric car industry, however, is also moving to NMC batteries. Other types of batteries, such as Na based or Al based batteries, continue to develop. Progress in batteries is slow due to the need of a long testing period for new products. Vanadium redox batteries have been considered for trucks. Vanadium demand has increased, generating a peak of price. Application of vanadium in VRB redox batteries, however,is still quite limited. Most of the VRB batteries are prototypes. It is said that 90% of the market of Vanadium is for microalloyed steels, where FeV can easily be replaced by FeNb. Solid State batteries are in development and some companies are making very optimistic predictions. The feasibility of commercial solid state batteries, however, continues to be a subject of discussion. An important subject of study is the quick charging of batteries. References: [1] Bjorn Nykvist, Frances Sprei, Mans Nilsson. Assessing the progress toward lower priced long range battery electric vehicles. Energy Policy Volume 124, January 2019, Pages 144-155 |
