Automakers and battery manufacturers are racing to develop new electric-vehicle batteries that can reinforce body structures and open the door to breakthroughs in driving range.
What engineers call structural batteries hold the promise of lighter weight and greater energy efficiency – resulting in driving ranges between charges that are nearly double the 326 miles (525 km) of a Tesla Model Y.
Geely’s Volvo Cars in late June revealed a new structural battery design it is developing with Swedish battery maker Northvolt that Volvo said should deliver 600 miles or more of travel between charges.
Structural battery technology is in its infancy, and manufacturers have not settled on a standard approach.
One concept, called cell-to-pack or CTP, saves weight by eliminating the step of bundling individual battery cells into modules before final assembly into a large battery pack.
A year-old startup called Our Next Energy (ONE), which has operated in stealth mode until now, is working on a dual battery that combines a structural cell-to-pack design with a second, high-energy pack that can recharge the first, potentially doubling vehicle range.
“We want to reinvent the battery completely,” said Mujeeb Ijaz, founder and chief executive of the Novi, Michigan-based company. He added that his company’s dual-pack design is safer and more sustainable because it uses no nickel or cobalt, key ingredients in many current EV batteries.
The latest structural batteries are being developed by automakers from Tesla Inc to General Motors Co and battery makers such as China’s BYD Co Ltd and CATL.
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