Tesla Co-Founder Endorses New Solid-State Electric Car Battery
Mercedes-Benz is piling on to the solid-point out electrical car or truck battery stampede with a bang. The firm has just inked a deal with the advanced vitality storage agency ProLogium Technological innovation, which cites Tesla co-founder Martin Eberhard among the the admirers of its new ceramic-based stable-point out strength storage system for electric vehicles.
The Extended Street To The Sound-Condition, Electric powered Motor vehicle Battery Of The Foreseeable future
For those of you holding score at home, Martin Eberhard co-founded Tesla with Marc Tarpenning in 2003, right after reportedly obtaining been inspired to fill in the electric mobility gap left when GM pulled the unwell-fated EV1 off the marketplace. Elon Musk got the business rolling in 2004 as an trader, and the relaxation is automotive record.
EV batteries unquestionably have arrive a lengthy way considering the fact that 2003. Our friends more than at Auto and Driver remind us that the first EV1 sported 26 guide-acid batteries for propulsion, good for just 55 miles of assortment a significantly cry from today’s lithium-ion technological know-how.
The driving community had to wait a couple of several years in advance of lithium-ion electrical vehicle batteries entered the scene. Mitsubishi is credited with getting the initially freeway-legal, mass-created EV with a lithium-ion battery pack off the ground in 2009 beneath the identify i-MiEV, although some vehicle business observers credit rating Tesla with providing the first Tesla Roadster in 2008.
Tesla Motors previewed the Roadster Li-ion battery pack in 2006. A Tesla document on file at Stanford University describes it as “one particular of the biggest and technically most highly developed Li-ion battery packs in the entire world.”
“It is able of delivering ample ability to speed up the Tesla Roadster from to 60 mph in about 4 seconds,” the authors mentioned. “Meanwhile, the battery shops sufficient strength for the car to travel far more than 200 miles (based on EPA metropolis/highway cycle) without recharging, a little something no manufacturing electrical auto in background can claim.”
Be that as it may possibly, the very first iteration of the Roadster was high-priced, and manufacturing maxed out at somewhere around 2,500 units in 2012. Which is somewhat ironic, thinking of that GM was roundly criticized for pulling EV1 soon after achieving a very similar stage in a related timeframe, topping out at approximately 1,000 models. The i-MiEV fared a great deal superior than equally autos, even though it even now only managed a little about 31,000 units in 10 several years.
Wait around, Did Martin Eberhard Seriously Endorse A Sound-Condition Battery?
Lithium-ion EV battery technological know-how has improved exponentially considering that these very first two Li-ion EVs, but the technologies continue to depends on a liquid electrolyte. Numerous attempts to switch it with a stable electrolyte have surfaced in latest several years, in an attempt to enhance battery range even though chopping prices, streamlining the provide chain and reducing lifecycle impacts.
In 2017 the US Office of Electrical power observed that a sound-condition EV battery could be forthcoming within just the upcoming number of a long time, and it seems to be like its electricity storage forecast has appear legitimate. All the primary automakers are piling on, even though the engineering is not rather all set for its closeup.
The strong-condition EV battery of the potential is coming near, although. That provides us to ProLogium Technological know-how, a Taiwanese agency established and helmed by Vincent Yang, who released the corporation 15 decades back with the eyesight of inventing a improved battery. ProLogium costs by itself as “a world wide chief in higher-accomplishing, safe and sound, and cost-efficient battery technologies in EV, consumer, and industrial applications” and the first to “successfully create, mass produce, and commercialize the good-point out lithium ceramic battery.”
The company now has a pile of commercial accounts underneath its belt and a main scale-up is in the functions (more on that in a sec).
And yes, ProlLogium has also enlisted Martin Eberhart’s feeling on its ceramic battery. In push release very last April, the organization cited this observation from the Tesla co-founder (and primary CEO, for the file):
“ProLogium’s good-condition electrolyte battery technologies is the most enjoyable new enhancement I have viewed in this area. The combination of basic safety, getting old qualities, quick charge price, and bipolar packaging, all with no sacrifice strength density, and at a competitive cost, make ProLogium cells the ideal I have observed for automotive programs.”
Coming Shortly: Superior EV Batteries For Your Mercedes
Items have moved together at a rapid pace considering that then. Very last October, ProLogium announced the completion of a $326 million spherical of financing, which will be deployed to acquire and expand Prologium factories in Asia, Europe, and the US in the coming a long time.
That delivers us to the new Mercedes-Benz deal. A hint concerning the automaker’s interest in a good-condition EV battery surfaced past calendar year, when Stellantis and Mercedes-Benz dad or mum company Daimler set their funds on the stable-state battery agency Factorial.
The ProLogium deal was declared on January 27, which established the wheels in movement for Mercedes-Benz, although it will be some time before Mercedes-Benz shoppers get their arms on the new technological know-how. The automaker expects to acquire its ProLogium sound-condition EV battery for exam motor vehicles about the following quite a few a long time, with complete integration across a quantity of versions anticipated soon after 2025.
As for the positive aspects of a reliable-condition EV battery in excess of its liquid-electrolyte cousin, Markus Schäfer, Member of the Board of Administration of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, Main Engineering Officer accountable for Advancement and Procurement, noted that reliable-point out technological innovation assists to lessen the dimension of the battery, which would present superior-conclusion automakers with extra style adaptability.
“This is why we are partnering with firms like ProLogium to ensure that Mercedes-Benz continues to split new ground in the automotive sector – for the reward of our consumers,” Schäfer mentioned.
And They Are Recyclable, As well
Automakers are scrambling to thoroughly clean up their offer chains in buy to satisfy the calls for of auto prospective buyers and buyers who want to push all-around without having killing the earth, so it is no surprise the ProLogium emphasizes relieve of recycling and reusing, as effectively as sustainable and ethical sourcing, for its stable-state EV battery.
Mercedes-Benz is among all those scrambling to carve out a sustainability area for automotive technological innovation in the glowing eco-friendly future. In a press release dated January 27, Mercedes-Benz touted an environmental validation audit for its outsized EQS 450+ electrical auto, and detailed its attempts to make recyclability and ethical sourcing into its liquid electrolyte EV battery. The corporation must come across the going a little smoother once it transitions into the sound-state EV battery industry.
For the document, Mercedes-Benz is not ProLogium’s to start with automaker. The Vietnamese automaker Vinfast, which 1st popped up on the CleanTechnica radar back in 2020, zeroed in on ProLogium for its EV batteries very last 12 months, so stay tuned for additional on that.
Stick to me on Twitter @TinaMCasey.
Picture: Sound-condition EV battery courtesy of ProLogium.


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