The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Safety concerns after recent battery fires encourage transparency from automakers. Following several recent publicized incidents of electric vehicles catching fire in South Korea, Hyundai Motors will be the first to reveal a list of the battery makers used in its 13 EV models, with Kia to follow suit. At the top of these headline-grabbing stories was a parked Mercedes-Benz EV that caught fire below a residential building in Incheon, South Korea. The fire caused a prolonged...
Inlyte Energy's endeavors to bring back sodium-metal-halide batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are today's most common energy storage technology, with uses large and small, ranging from smartphones and other electronic devices to electric cars and stationary. But science is far from resting on this standard – battery efficiency and durability are still in high demand. With sodium easier to source and exponentially cheaper than lithium, a redesigned sodium-metal-halide battery m...
Showcasing the incredible learning environment of the developing protoplex at Missouri University of Science and Technology, a multidisciplinary team of students from the school was selected as one of seven finalists in NASA's 2023 BIG Idea Challenge, and their efforts have opened the doors for many seeking to contribute toward future habitation among the stars. In the fall of 2022, NASA announced its eighth annual Breakthrough, Innovation, and Game-Changing (BIG) Idea...
Massachusetts-based battery tech company Factorial Energy has spent the last six years focused on solid-state electric vehicle batteries that are safer and have up to 50% higher energy density than lithium-ion batteries, all while driving down costs to be competitive with conventional EV battery pricing. The company's flagship product is its proprietary Factorial Electrolyte System Technology (FEST), which utilizes a solid-state electrolyte designed to perform safely and relia...
U.S. supply chains for critical minerals in energy, automotive, aeronautic and defense markets are up against the challenge of establishing credible "green credentials" amidst sweeping company promises, increased standards and new regulations. The arbitrary nature of voluntary initiatives, combined with ill-defined industry certification, has made it difficult to compare resource provenances and prove against human rights violations and other practices damaging to the...
Critical minerals can be recycled from decades of e-waste The necessity of reclaiming waste as a means to curb the seemingly impossible material requirements of a renewable future is fostering a different kind of industry – urban mining. "When you're in the renewable energy space, you've got to think through the whole lifecycle – where will EV and lithium-ion batteries go when they are no longer useful? It can't be to a landfill. That's not responsible," said Graphite One Pres...
Lithium is an indispensable element in the clean energy transition for several key reasons; like all alkaline metals on the periodic table, it has one more electron than it strictly needs, and this tendency to shed electrons makes it well-suited for passing them back and forth between cathode and anode, charging and discharging thousands of times without degradation. Pure lithium does not occur in nature, but traces are found throughout nearly all igneous rocks, mineral...
While most leaders in the clean energy sector strongly indicate the concept of solid-state batteries is better, a few hurdles have long held this superior rechargeable battery in the realm of pacemakers and smartwatches, and out of electric vehicles where they are desperately needed. Solid-state technology replaces the liquid electrolyte in lithium batteries with a solid ceramic or polymer material. This increases energy density, stability, and heat resistance. For EV...
Top electric vehicle battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution, which supplies Tesla and other automakers, announced on March 24 that it will invest approximately $5.5 billion in a complex in Queen Creek, Arizona. This investment marks the largest ever made for a stand-alone battery manufacturing facility in North America. Construction of the complex will break ground on two facilities this year; with $3.2 billion of the company's investment going to build a cylindrical EV...
Considered by market experts to be the largest single fundraising in the history of lithium-ion battery supply chains, Sila Nanotechnologies raised US$590 million during a financing that closed on Jan. 26. "Raising way over half a billion dollars is an incredible achievement but is exactly the level of investment innovators in the battery supply chain should be receiving," said Benchmark Mineral Intelligence Managing Director Simon Moores. Aptly located in Silicon Valley,...
January 8, 2021 may go down in history as the inflection point for the transition from the fossil fuel powered vehicles that transported humanity through the 20th century to the electric vehicles that will carry us into the future. This tipping point for global transportation offers a spectrum of challenges and opportunities to sustainably mine, refine, and recycle the minerals and metals needed to build this electric mobility future. Entering 2021, Tesla Inc. was celebrating...
Mercedes-Benz says it will follow its supply chains all the way back to the mines, if that is what it takes to ensure that the lithium and cobalt going into its rapidly expanding line of electric vehicles is produced with high environmental and human rights standards. "Our aspiration is very clear – we want our products to contain only raw materials that have been mined and produced without human rights violations," said Renata Jungo Brüngger, a board member of both Me...
Mercedes-Benz is investing in Chinese developer and supplier of lithium-ion batteries, Farasis Energy, in accordance with the German automaker's goal to become carbon-neutral automotive company. The renowned luxury car manufacturer has invested a purported 13 million euros into Farasis, giving parent company Daimler the option to nominate a representative for a seat on the supervisory board of the battery cell manufacturer. Present contracts with Farasis have been amended and...
By 2030, batteries will likely need more than 5x all the graphite mined in 2021 While shortages of the lithium and nickel needed for electric vehicle batteries has dominated news headlines over the past year, the massive demand for graphite has largely been overlooked. As the primary ingredient in the anode side of lithium-ion batteries, graphite is the single largest element in lithium-ion batteries and the mining sector's inability to keep pace with skyrocketing demand of...
In a significant step forward for the electric vehicle industry, Mercedes-Benz announced the next step in its partnership with Sila Nanotechnologies, to incorporate Sila's silicon anode chemistry in batteries for its upcoming Mercedes-Benz G-Class electric vehicles. Aptly located in Silicon Valley, Sila Nano has developed a silicon-based anode battery technology that is expected to enable lighter, safer, and higher energy density batteries for EVs, longer-lasting portable...
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Congressman Mike Rogers joined other state and local government officials and business leaders during the groundbreaking ceremony at the site of a $202 million processing facility being developed by Westwater Resources Inc. that will produce the high-quality graphite needed for the lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles. Being built at Kellyton, which is about 50 miles north of Montgomery, this graphite refinery will transform Alabama into...
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corp. have partnered with Factorial Energy Inc., a solid-state battery manufacturer, to test the Massachusetts-based battery maker's novel technology in Hyundai electric vehicles. Factorial Energy has developed a breakthrough in solid-state battery technology that offers 20 to 50% longer range per charge than conventional lithium-ion batteries. Under a joint development agreement, which includes a strategic investment, Hyundai and Kia will...
With the goal of producing 58,000 metric tons of the lithium carbonate needed for the batteries powering electric vehicles and storing renewable energy each year, global miner Rio Tinto has committed US$2.4 billion to the development of Jadar in Serbia, one of the world's largest greenfield lithium projects. "Serbia and Rio Tinto will be well-positioned to capture the opportunity offered by rising demand for lithium, driven by the global energy transition and the project will...
Scientists at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany have developed a patent-pending process for what may be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extract lithium from the geothermal waters on the German and French sides of the Upper Rhine Trench. Lithium, a key ingredient in the batteries powering electric vehicles, renewable energy storage and a plethora of rechargeable electric devises. This battery metal is primarily recovered from South...
