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Performance and cost of materials for lithium-based rechargeable automotive batteries

Abstract

It is widely accepted that for electric vehicles to be accepted by consumers and to achieve wide market penetration, ranges of at least 500 km at an affordable cost are required. Therefore, significant improvements to lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) in terms of energy density and cost along the battery value chain are required, while other key performance indicators, such as lifetime, safety, fast-charging ability and low-temperature performance, need to be enhanced or at least sustained. Here, we review advances and challenges in LIB materials for automotive applications, in particular with respect to cost and performance parameters. The production processes of anode and cathode materials are discussed, focusing on material abundance and cost. Advantages and challenges of different types of electrolyte for automotive batteries are examined. Finally, energy densities and costs of promising battery chemistries are critically evaluated along with an assessment of the potential to fulfil the ambitious targets of electric vehicle propulsion.

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Fig. 1: Battery value chain and lithium ion versus Li-metal cell chemistries.
Fig. 2: Production processes for negative electrode materials for LIB and Li-metal cells.
Fig. 3: Energy densities and energy efficiencies of electrode materials at the material level.
Fig. 4: Production processes for positive electrode materials for LIB cells.
Fig. 5: Production processes for separators and electrolytes.
Fig. 6: Energy density versus specific energy diagram of different cell chemistries at electrode stack level.
Fig. 7: Cost estimations for different cell chemistries at electrode stack level.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for funding this work in the project, BenchBatt (03XP0047A). We thank A. Bar for the preparation of various figures in this manuscript. We further want to thank the Treofan Germany & Co KG (F. J. Kruger) for support with regard to the separator production processes.

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Schmuch, R., Wagner, R., Hörpel, G. et al. Performance and cost of materials for lithium-based rechargeable automotive batteries. Nat Energy 3, 267–278 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-018-0107-2

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