Energy Storage

In this recording of the opening presentation at the IDTechEx Show! in Silicon Valley on Nov 16, 2016, Raghu Das, the CEO of IDTechEx, discusses some of the key technological trends that are creating huge opportunities.

n this second article on the iVT Electric and Hybrid Industrial Vehicle Technology Symposium November 9-10 in Cologne Germany, we look at powertrains and components being favoured. Because of the large power surges in and out with many of these vehicles, you more often saw supercapacitors compared to on-road vehicles and hybrids remain the preferred option by far.

Professor believes using glassy solids as the electrolytes in batteries would make for safer, more powerful batteries.

Take some metal scraps from the junkyard; put them in a glass jar with a common household chemical; and, voilà, you have a high-performance battery.

IDTechEx Show! on emerging technologies is taking place November 16-17 in Santa Clara California with record attendance and display of electric vehicle technologies of the future. Coverage is exceptionally comprehensive with land, water and airborne electric vehicle technologies in evidence.

The very structure of the bus is changing with electrics, mechanics and electronics previously made as "components-in-a-box" being replaced by structural electronics - the roof is the solar, the dashboard is the instruments - all as smart materials.

Gildemeister was the first company to commercialise vanadium redox flow batteries, with 25 MWh already installed worldwide. They are now planning double-digit growth to retain their market leadership.

Buses are very important. Injuries and deaths from two wheelers have not reduced very much in decades whereas vehicles with four wheels or more have seen huge improvements.

nanoFlowcell has developed a primary battery for electric vehicles that runs on cheap, non-flammable electrolytes. Their aim is to displace the oil industry with a cheaper, water-based alternative that can be produced anywhere in the world.

Unienergy Technologies is a rising star in the redox flow space, with MWh-scale projects around the globe and a clear ownership of the whole supply chain.

Leyden-Jar is a Dutch start-up developing silicon anodes for Li-ion batteries via PECVD. They claim they can give batteries a 30% boost in energy density and have already raised €600k in funding.

WattJoule is a company located in Massachusetts that has developed a hybrid vanadium-based electrolyte capable of increasing both the lifetime and temperature range of redox flow batteries.

Dendrites, whiskers of lithium that grow inside batteries and can cause fires like those in the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, are the bane of next-generation lithium batteries.

In 2016, Li-ion batteries celebrated their silver jubilee, i.e. they have been on the market, virtually unchanged, for the last 25 years. While this anniversary marks and underscores their worldwide success and diffusion in consumer electronics and, more recently, electric vehicles, the underlying technology begins to show its limitations in terms of safety, performance, form factor, and cost.