Filed under: Emerging Technologies, EV/Plug-in
Altair's lithium titanate battery finishes 500th full depth cycle
Altair Nanotechnologies announced this week that the new lithium titanate battery it is developing for the U.S. Navy has completed its 500th full depth cycle and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, lost just one percent of its total capacity. The Navy (thanks to U.S. taxpayers) is paying Altair $2.5 million for these batteries. While not destined for any vehicles, the Navy's goal with the battery program is to reduce dependency on expensive jet fuel used in back-up turbines and, through that, to reduce carbon emissions. Altair also has a history with Phoenix Motor Cars and their all-electric SUV and SUT.More details on the Altair and the Navy's lithium titanate battery are available here. Altair is also developing batteries for the Army's "M119 105mm lightweight gun digitization program."
[Source: Altair Nanotechnologies Inc.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Neilen 11:12AM (9/10/2008)
1% capacity loss over 500 deep cycles is remarkable! If every 500 subsequent cycles result in 1% reductions, it will take about 10000 cycles to reach 80% battery capacity. For e.g. a BEV with 200km range, that would be almost 2 million kms battery life!
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Anth 12:17PM (9/10/2008)
The Li-Ti batteries from Altairnano are supposed to last 10,000 cycles. IMO, these batteries are by far the closest to mass production of the "next gen" Lithium-based battery technology. They only have 80% of the charge/mass density of standard Li-Ion but none of the fire risk.
One of the strange issues I see is that the battery will last longer than the car - so you'll have to pull the battery out of an old car and put it in a new one.
Eletruk 7:45PM (9/11/2008)
What is the expected life of an electric vehicle? In a typical car, it's the engine that gives out that is the reason to dump the car. In an electric vehicle, the motor can have an expected life of over a million miles. With far fewer moving parts, and much less to maintain, assuming reliable electronics, why should we only expect an electric vehicle to be good for 100K or 150K miles? I think people will just get tired of driving an EV long before it actually has to be retired.
TX CHL Instructor 12:04PM (9/10/2008)
According to the charts on their site, the reliability comes with about a 25% decrease in total capacity (per weight), although it's a bit hard to tell exactly from the logarithmic scale they use. Which means that the Altair battery *starts* with slightly less capacity than current commercial LiON, but doesn't decay noticeably from there for a long time.
The cost is also substantially higher than current LiON, although the increase in lifetime might make up for that.
Personally, I wouldn't mind having a battery in my laptop PC that would outlast the laptop, even if it only had slightly better capacity/weight than NiMH. Next thing to do with a really long-lasting battery is to start building devices that accept a STANDARD format of battery, so that when the device itself goes obsolete, you can keep the battery for the replacement device. Interesting twist on battery replacement, isn't it?
For BEV, how about buying the car, but leasing the battery?
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Neilen 1:30PM (9/10/2008)
Yes, with such a small life capacity per cycle dealing with batteries much like we deal with LPG/CNG cylinders today becomes practical...
Matt 12:24PM (9/10/2008)
Could be very promising. This might work well for residential solar applications where size and weight aren't as much of an issue. And the ability to handle extremely deep discharges without damage would mean you might be able to downsize the battery plant because you don't have to have the extra capacity to keep depth of discharge at 50% like lead acid. That 10,000 cycles to 80% swag would also be about 30 years of daily cycles from a solar system which is right about the guaranteed output life of photovoltaics. Perfect!
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Bill 1:11PM (9/10/2008)
Absolutely!
They would weigh less, require less maintenance, and take up far less space than flooded lead-acid cells now used with off-grid systems.
I bet they could also be used w/ current standby residential generator systems.
Anth 1:08PM (9/10/2008)
The 10,000 cycle life is very good. But you run into problems like having to lease the battery (since it'll outlast the car, or your taste in the car), as well has a huge insurance premium because the battery is so expensive if you total the car, you're out $35,000, plus the vehicle. Still I cant wait for a 12kWh pack in a serial hybrid - 50-60 miles per charge? Yes please!
Also not mentioned is that these batteries have the ability to recharge very quickly - about 15min for a 120mi range (35kWh battery). The problem is finding a current source that could make it recharge that fast (300A at 480V - 3" diameter conductors required).
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meme 3:37PM (9/10/2008)
Anth: Aerovironment makes PosiCharge EV chargers that powerful. Avcon level 3 supports higher than that.
Neilen: It's actually better than that. Capacity loss of most batteries isn't linear; it's asymptotic with respect to the time axis. The more capacity you lose, the slower the degradation goes.
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Dave 3:54PM (9/10/2008)
Seems like the perfect battery technology for PHEVs where completely charging and draining the battery will be very common. Since you have the ICE as a backup, getting the most range possible out of the battery is not necessary.
Not sure if it matters since if this battery's cycle life is so much better it may have just as much if not more usable capacity than higher density batteries which lose capacity more quickly when charged/depleted completely.
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PeterG 4:46PM (9/10/2008)
These batteries are great, but very expensive. Close to $2000/KWh.
If they get down to 1/4 that, It think they will really have something.
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Phil 5:29PM (9/10/2008)
The cost will be greatly reduced once production increases but the company still hasn't found a big contract for this to happen.
travelman 5:32PM (9/10/2008)
Question: I've never understood why the Altairnano battery is different from any other battery when it comes to cost. Are the materials that much more expensive, or is it simply a matter of producing large enough quantities of the battery to bring down the per unit cost? If it is a matter of volume, then it would appear that Altair's decision to link up exclusively with Phoenix was a serious mistake. Speaking of which, has anyone heard from Phoenix lately? Weren't they supposed to be cranking out SUT's by now?
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Don 7:24PM (9/10/2008)
There's much mystery about the lack of attention for the Altair battery. In face of the economic and political consequences for our "oil addiction", you would think there would be stampede to get these batteries into lower cost production. A few thousnd EV's with these, and an agressive program to install charging stations would show the way to reduce our "addiction". Just a standard charging station program would fire up a lot of EV development. The lack of fast charge stations along major highways locks us into ICE vehicles. Political and industry leaders have no vision and courage to commit.
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Anth 8:50PM (9/10/2008)
I agree, I'm confused as to why their battery doesn't get that much attention. They really don't seem to be out seeking the attention either. I've listened to their quarterly earnings conference calls. They aren't out for hype, but maybe they need a new PR firm and a website that doesn't revert to b2b.com or whatever it does. The army is interested for batteries for their weapons and the navy is looking at it for backup power on ships. So where is GM and Toyota to step in and bring the manufacturing power to this company?
Chris M 11:09PM (9/10/2008)
The main business of Altairnano is pharmeceuticals and medical products, their particular battery material was sort of an accidental discovery and the battery business a sideline. With a pharmeceutical background, they have little experience in keeping costs down.
I would not be the least suprised if they spun off their battery business or licensed the technology to another battery firm.
Mike!!ekiM 8:34PM (9/10/2008)
I'd just like to thank that someone in the US Navy responsible for making the decision to do the R & D.
It's this type of OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP that makes this country Great! Some of this country's Real Innovators are in the Military and should be recognized.
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Don 11:45PM (9/10/2008)
I understand this Navy project was funded by a congressional earmark sponsored by senator Harry Reid? Maybe someone in the Navy initiated the effort by Reid, and even thought it sounds very promising it does appear to be portk
Mike!!ekiM 1:12PM (9/11/2008)
At the beginning of a technological revolution the "energy" industry needs to seed many ideas to find the clear winner. Yet, we see only T. Boone Pickens actually doing any real work in this area. The other companies have shown no ability to look at a current population of 6.5 billion and extrapolate to what the world will be like at 7 or 8 billion.
If it must be the US tax payer and the US Navy that moves this country into the future then so be it. That's not pork.
Time to start shorting all the oil companies? We've seen nothing but clear mis-management.
Chris M 11:22PM (9/10/2008)
The military has a need for rugged reliable and high performance batteries in many different areas. The military also won't balk at the high price AltairNano charges, either!
With an energy density a bit better than NiMH and a high cost, they are a poor choice for an EV main battery (military excepted, of course). But their high power capabilities and extraordinarily high charge cycle count make them a great choice for a Hybrid, or a short range Plug-in Hybrid, or as a "buffer battery" in an EV. As a buffer, the AltairNano battery could handle most of the minor charge/discharge cycles of regenerative braking and short trips, helping extend the lifespan of the main battery. An AltairNano buffer would have a better energy density and be lighter and easier to manage than an ultracap buffer - and might even be cheaper as well!
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