Login
My Garage
New hero

New LFP Batteries to Spell the End of Range Anxiety?

By Tom Gibson | January 28, 2021

Share

Why not leave a comment?

See all | Add a comment

Scientist, Chao-Yang Wang, and his team have developed a new LFP battery to help bring down costs of electric vehicles.

New LFP Batteries to Spell the End of Range Anxiety?

Lithium batteries that operate at a higher temperature have been developed at an American university, which could lead to cheaper electric cars. 

The lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) have been proven to increase in both performance and safety, if they are warmed up first, by a group of scientists at Pennsylvania University, led by Chao-Yang Wang. 

Today’s electric cars commonly use batteries containing nickel and cobalt, with the nickel elements having the potential to overheat – and leading to some of the embarrassing incidents which hindered perceptions of electric cars during early developments. 

New LFP Batteries to Spell the End of Range Anxiety?

The traditional batteries are expensive to build and the cobalt elements are both difficult to source sustainably and toxic. 

The exciting news from the US centres around the LFP batteries, which typically perform poorly compared with nickel-based ones, but Chao-Yang Wang and his team have shown that their performance improves if they are warmed up first.

The team heated LFP batteries to 60°C which then allowed them to perform better than the two common types of nickel-based batteries running at their normal, cooler operational temperatures. LFP batteries operate well at 60 °C because they generated far less additional heat as they discharged.

“We developed a pretty clever battery for mass-market electric vehicles with cost parity with combustion engine vehicles,” said Wang. “There is no more range anxiety and this battery is affordable.”

Wang says his 40kW/h battery can generate 300kW of power, enough to take an EV from 0-60mph in around three seconds. However, a 40kW/h Nissan Leaf has a range of just 230km, so it is not clear if more than one battery would be required to enable the 400km range Chao-Yang and his team reference.

“Lithium batteries will continue to drive cost down and improve fast rechargeability and safety. This battery has reduced weight, volume and cost. I am very happy that we finally found a battery that will benefit the mainstream consumer mass market… this is how we are going to change the environment and not contribute to just the luxury cars.” said Wang. His team is now partnering with battery and car manufacturers to use these LFP batteries. 

 

Related Articles

Jeremy Vine causes another social media storm after a van reverses into his bike. What do you make of this one?
The broadcaster is arguably the UK’s most prominent social cyclist as he films and uploads incidents from his rides.
Sep 19, 2023
Welsh Government defends introduction of 20mph speed limit despite eye-watering costs
The introduction has been labelled ‘absolutely insane’ by House of Commons leader Penny Mordaunt
Sep 19, 2023
The best used cars for £5,000 and less
With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to bite, many of us might be looking to move away from finance agreements and to cheaper cars.
Sep 19, 2023
These are all the cars and vans made in the UK
The UK is renowned for its car industry, and though we might not produce as many cars as we once did more than half a million new cars were...
Sep 19, 2023