Spain
Innovation
Spain
Innovation
Battery materials
Electric cars have been painted as part of the solution to reduce emissions globally, but many people remain wary about their practicality. What if our innovations in battery materials help to double the driving range on a single charge to 600 km, halve the size of the battery, extend their lifespans and reduce the charging time to 15 minutes by 2025?
Our innovations in battery materials will help to make e-mobility fit for everyday use. Wouldn't it be great to recharge your e-car in 15 minutes and continue a 600 km drive by 2025? And wouldn't it be nice to recharge yourself from daily stress in those 15 minutes?
We asked the same questions to independent filmmakers. This is how they would recharge themselves in 15 minutes:
Ozum Bobaroglu Domianus
Unplug your Mind
Troy Brown
The Meaning of Life
Antoinette Westcott & Jonathan Fishman A Family Affair
Driving 600 km on a single charge
By 2025, our innovations in battery materials aim to double the driving range of midsize cars from 300 to 600 km on a single charge. This is symbolized in the picture below. In a combined 600 km journey in Los Angeles and Shanghai, a message is "written" in the streets by GPS: "keep being optimistic". Thanks to our innovative battery materials, we are optimistic about the future of e-mobility!
This is how we're shaping the future of e-mobility
Cathode active materials are key to make e-mobility a practical reality for everyone. Our researchers use a comprehensive "toolbox" of different methods to influence the properties of the materials: from the composition of the metals, different particle sizes and distributions, to the adjustment of porosity and surface properties.
Digitalization accelerates research
We generate more than 70 million data points every day when we test our material in small test batteries. Machine learning and our supercomputer Quriosity help predict and analyze material properties, accelerating our research.
Where will our battery materials take you?
We believe the development of advanced emission control technologies and the increasing demand for electric powered cars will help reduce emissions and increase air quality on a global scale. Fewer emissions will make our world a better place to live by reducing the impact of air pollution in inner cities and creating a positive effect on the health of the population.
Cathode active materials usually consist of mixed metal oxides. In the first step of the synthesis, various metal salts are precipitated using sodium hydroxide.
Our physical laboratory scientist examines a sample he took from the fully automated sampler. By means of analytical methods, he can determine the particle size distribution of the sample, which significantly influences the properties of the end product.
Globally, BASF is conducting research into innovative cathode materials that make electromobility a reality. Scientists at our research site in Amagasaki, Japan, examine a cathode active material produced in the laboratory.
Scanning electron microscope image of a Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminium (NCA) cathode active material: The different sizes of the individual spheres result in a particularly dense packing of the spheres in the cathode. A high packing density results in high energy density – the prerequisite for a longer driving range of electric cars.
Chemical laboratory scientists make preparations to weld the pouch cell completely. These mini test batteries are used for investigating the long-term stability of cathode active materials.
Chemical laboratory scientists examine pouch cell containing cathode material from BASF. The lithium-ion battery of an electric car can contain a few hundreds of such cells.
For the production of small test batteries, the cathode active material paste is poured on an aluminum foil. The cast film will then be dried and compacted. Later it will become the cathode, the positive pole of a lithium-ion battery (Shanghai, China).
Long-term investigation of small test batteries under well-controlled temperature conditions: these small test batteries already provide very precise data to evaluate the performance over the entire lifespan of the battery in an electric car (Shanghai, China).
Scanning electron microscope image of an advanced cathode active materials for high-performance batteries. It consists of tiny particles that are just micrometers in size. The chemical composition and morphology of the particles is adjusted in such a way that they have both a high energy density and an open crystal structure. This allows electric cars to travel longer distances and be charged faster.
In addition to cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries, BASF is working on components for next-generation batteries, such as all-solid-state batteries.
Chemical laboratory scientists discuss the next steps to measure the conductivity of a solid electrolyte. This value is later used in the calculation of the specific conductivity, an important parameter for characterizing the battery.
