Why in New?

• California-based QuantumScape Corp, a battery startup backed by Volkswagen AG, have approved a multibillion-dollar pay package for CEO Jagdeep Singh. This shows the amount of potential this nascent sector has.

Hopes from the venture

• QuantumScape’s solid-state battery

• lithium metal with a solid electrolyte separating the two electrodes
• is seen with hope.

• The company has received financial backing from Volkswagen and Bill Gates’s venture funds.
• QuantumScape claims, its use of a solid state separator technology which eliminates the side reaction between the liquid electrolyte and the carbon/graphite in the anode of conventional lithium-ion cells.
• Volkswagen plans to produce solid-state batteries by 2025 in partnership with QuantumScape.

About Solid-state batteries

• The main disadvantages of lithium-ion cells are long charging times and weak energy density.
• Lithium-ion batteries are sufficiently efficient for phones and laptops, but not for EVs.
• In current lithium-ion batteries, electrolyte is a flammable liquid, dendrite (branched lithium structures) formation can trigger a fire.
• According to QuantumScape its solid-state lithium-metal battery will replace the polymer separator used in conventional lithium-ion batteries with a solid-state separator.
• The replacement of the separator enables the use of a lithium-metal anode in place of the traditional carbon/graphite anode.
• The lithium metal anode is more energy-dense than conventional anodes, which allows the battery to store more energy in the same volume.

Superiority of solid-state battery

• Superiority of the solid-state battery technology are

1. Higher cell energy density.
2. Lower charging time.
3. More charging cycles.
4. Longer life, and improved safety.
5. Lower cost, as a battery costs about 30% of the total vehicle cost.

• According to Deloitte study, top three considerations for consumers buying an EV are

1. price,
2. reliability,
3. Cost to charge.

• Currently Lithium-ion battery costs about $137 per kWh, which are expected to reach $101/kWh by 2023, according to BloombergNEF.
• QuantumScape is targeting to lower battery cost by 15- 20% relative to the cost of lithium-ion batteries in the cycle life.

Some Other Players

FORM ENERGY:

• American company Form Energy Inc. is working on a rechargeable iron-air battery capable of delivering electricity for 100 hours.

1. The company said its battery can be used to ensure round-the-clock operations of a renewable electricity grid.
2. The battery’s size and weight - each unit is the size of a small refrigerator makes its application impractical in EVs.

TOYOTA:

1. Toyota heads the list of the 1,000- odd global patents involving solid-state batteries.
2. Toyota plans to be the first company to sell an EV equipped with a solid-state battery and is in the process of unveiling a prototype.

APPLE :

1. Apple Inc said it was working on self-driving car technology and is targeting 2024 to produce a passenger vehicle.
2. Apple is working on a “breakthrough” battery design that could “radically” reduce the cost of batteries and increase the vehicle’s range.

India in the race

• The Centre is working on a blueprint for a project of around 4,000 MWh of gridscale battery storage system to give stability of renewable energy generation.
• RIL has announced plans to set up an Energy Storage Giga factory.
• NTPC has floated a global tender for a grid-scale battery storage project.
• The Ministry of Heavy Industries has issued a request for proposal (RFP) for setting up manufacturing facilities for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery storage in India