EV and the Future of Automobile Industry
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EV and the Future of Automobile Industry

Energy CIO Insights | Wednesday, January 09, 2019

The automobile industry’s quest to limit its impact on the environment and transform the landscape into a sustainable mode of transportation, is at high intensity, despite the recent economic crisis. The electric car maker Tesla manufactures not only all-electric vehicles, but also generates clean energy and manufactures storage products that are infinitely scalable. Chinese companies are investing a massive amount in Telsa to match and surpass industry-leading battery technology.

Aluminum and zinc-air batteries are less expensive and lightweight. The lithium-ion batteries comprise a family of rechargeable batteries that employ various combinations of anode and cathode materials. Each combination has different advantages and disadvantages in terms of safety, performance, cost, and other parameters. Zinc batteries will be cheaper, lighter, and safer than lithium-ion batteries and are expected to hit the market by the end of 2019.

Elon Musk, Co-founder of Tesla, says that the partnership between Japanese electronics manufacturer company Panasonic and Tesla will produce 60 percent of worlds electric vehicle battery output. Tesla uses a formula NCA (nickel cobalt aluminum) to produce cobalt battery. Tesla is planning to bring a first electric semi truck in the coming days. The drawback of the zinc battery is its susceptibility to corrosion, which means that the batteries lose their stored charge. The mechanical engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge found a new approach that inhibits corrosion. This method is demonstrated in an aluminum-air cell that achieves a 420 percent increase in usable energy density and a 99.99 percent reduction in corrosion, reducing self-discharge to a rate of 0.02 percent per month and allowing system energy densities of 700 watt-hours per liter and 900 watt-hours per kilogram.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that the number of EVs alone could reach 13 million by 2020. Toyota is also building a new solid-state battery technology that offers high capacity battery storage. Dyson, a household appliances manufacturer, is also making electric cars, intending to make it available to users in the upcoming years. The mobile industry is breaking new pathways in finding fast, efficient and reliable batteries for smartphones. Transparent solar charger, foam batteries, and urine-powered batteries are among few new mobile battery technologies in the market where each technology has its unique features like charging over renewable and non-renewable sources, fast and less expensive charging method. Thus, the future generation is bound to witness a revolution in battery technology across various industries.

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