ROME – Recharge a battery in 90 seconds, keep it stable, recyclable and able to last over one hundred thousand charge cycles? All this is no longer a dream but has become reality with the new lithium-carbon technology for batteries developed by Mahle Powertrain and Allotrope Energy which combines the advantages of super capacitors and traditional lithium-ion batteries. The new technology features a high-speed battery-type anode and a high-capacity electric double-layer capacitor (EDLC) type cathode, separated by an organic electrolyte. The result is a battery cell that suffers none of the thermal degradation effects experienced by traditional lithium batteries. Its stability, even at high temperatures, allows high current delivery and fast recharging, while its capacitive type cathode allows a duration of over 100,000 cycles and the absence of rare earths makes it perfectly recyclable. Currently, the project has focused on an electric moped that could be used as an urban delivery vehicle powered by a low-cost, small-capacity lithium-carbon battery capable of being recharged to 20kW between stops in as little as 90. seconds.
“With the rise of the on-demand economy, there has been a rapid increase in the use of gasoline mopeds for urban deliveries such as takeaway meals, and this has contributed to air quality problems in our cities. – explained Mike Bassett, research manager of Mahle Powertrain – Decarbonising these deliveries has so far proved difficult without maintaining a stock of expensive interchangeable batteries or switching to a larger and heavier electric vehicle with greater energy consumption ”. In short, with this system, refueling times equivalent to those of a similar vehicle with the classic internal combustion engine would be obtained. “The real challenge came in the design of the electrical architecture capable of absorbing such high charge rates – added Bassett – Furthermore, since there are no suitable charging systems on the market capable of providing these charging rates from a domestic supply, we have created our tailor-made project “. The solution the team of researchers devised uses its integrated capacitor-based energy storage to provide ultra-fast charging of up to 20kW by increasing the power of a typical 7kW single-phase connection, thus reducing costs and complexity and avoiding further interventions. Naturally, the technology developed by Mahle Powertrain and Allotrope Energy has aroused great interest because, if applied in the automotive field, it would definitively put an end to the long waits for charging electric vehicle batteries. (Maurilio Rigo)
.