Would it be possible to have some sort of hierarchy of "batteries" in an EV? A supercapacitor that charges in 1 minute and gives you 10 miles of range, a lower density fast charging battery that charges in 10 minutes and gives you 100 miles, and an ultra dense slow charging battery that needs hours but gives full range?
You could, but improved chemistry and battery packs to support the same are cheaper based on the experienced learning and cost decline curves. Batteries will only keep getting better, while EV charging infrastructure continues to be deployed everywhere there is power. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
LFP was an improvement over lithium ion for thermal safety, and the results of this sodium chemistry appear to be even better (similar power density of high end LFP cells while being able to physically damage cells without much risk of catastrophic energy release).
Batteries won, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.
> BNEF is tracking 7.9 TWh of annual battery manufacturing capacity announced for the end of 2025. That’s compared to demand projections of 1.6 TWh, and even that assumes steady EV demand growth and very rapid growth in batteries for storage applications. Even half that total announced capacity would be enough to equip almost every car sold in the world next year with a 50 kWh battery pack.
(my note: global light vehicles sales are ~90M units/year)
Would it be possible to have some sort of hierarchy of "batteries" in an EV? A supercapacitor that charges in 1 minute and gives you 10 miles of range, a lower density fast charging battery that charges in 10 minutes and gives you 100 miles, and an ultra dense slow charging battery that needs hours but gives full range?
You could, but improved chemistry and battery packs to support the same are cheaper based on the experienced learning and cost decline curves. Batteries will only keep getting better, while EV charging infrastructure continues to be deployed everywhere there is power. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
LFP was an improvement over lithium ion for thermal safety, and the results of this sodium chemistry appear to be even better (similar power density of high end LFP cells while being able to physically damage cells without much risk of catastrophic energy release).
Batteries won, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.
> BNEF is tracking 7.9 TWh of annual battery manufacturing capacity announced for the end of 2025. That’s compared to demand projections of 1.6 TWh, and even that assumes steady EV demand growth and very rapid growth in batteries for storage applications. Even half that total announced capacity would be enough to equip almost every car sold in the world next year with a 50 kWh battery pack.
(my note: global light vehicles sales are ~90M units/year)
https://ourworldindata.org/battery-price-decline
https://about.bnef.com/blog/china-already-makes-as-many-batt...
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/trends-in...
https://www.vox.com/climate/408381/energy-transition-renewab...
I think the authors messed up the conversion: 175 Wh per kg is not 385 Wh per lb.
Is the conversion not linear?
1 kg = 2.2 lb
175 Wh * 2.2 = 385 Wh
https://www.google.com/search?q=175Wh%2Fkg+in+Wh%2Flb
Yes Yes No