Li-S battery company OXIS Energy reports 300 Wh/kg and 25 Ah cell, predicting 33 Ah by mid-2015, 500 Wh/kg by end of 2018
12 November 2014
UK-based Lithium-sulfur battery company OXIS Energy (earlier post) reported developing a Lithium-sulfur cell achieving in excess of 300 Wh/kg. In addition, OXIS has achieved an increase in cell capacity to 25 Ah—a twelve-fold improvement in 18 months. OXIS predicts it will achieve a cell capacity of 33Ah by mid-2015. The company says that vehicle manufacturers are already reviewing and evaluating the cell technology.
The OXIS scientific team expects to achieve a goal of an energy density in excess of 400 Wh/kg by the end of 2016 and in excess of 500Wh/kg by the end of 2018. OXIS CEO Huw Hampson-Jones says that the company is on schedule to release commercial cells for use in applications in the USA and Europe in 2015.
The cells continue to display the enhanced safety features that characterise Li-S with superior safety performance attained in a barrage of industry-standard tests.
OXIS is collaborating with leading European companies and universities to harness the new material developments to enhance energy density and cyclability. OXIS says that the modeling techniques being perfected allow the OXIS scientific team to predict and improve battery performance and operating conditions pertaining to a number of applications including automotive applications.
Achieving the automotive targets is accelerating developments for additional markets such as marine, UAVs, energy storage and military applications that require ultra-light weight battery solutions. These may lead to spin-off projects and additional collaborations in the future. In August, for example, OXIS Energy and Multi Source Power technologies (MSP) formed a partnership to develop Li-sulfur batteries for marine applications.
Oxis Lithium-sulfur cells comprise a Lithium metal anode; sulfur-based cathode; a ceramic lithium sulfide passivation layer; and a non-flammable electrolyte protecting the lithium metal. OXIS cells have a 100% available Depth-of-Discharge and cannot be damaged by over-discharge.
Cycle life is one of the major challenges of Li-S batteries; OXIS reported its Li-S cells in 2012 could be cycled more than 1,000 times (80% Beginning-of-Life), and expects to be able to reach around 2000 cycles before the capacity reduces to 80% BoL.
200 mile mid-range BEVs. 500 mile range Tesla Model S.
$1 per gallon equivalent. Effortless overnight refueling. No stink.
Who would buy an ICE?
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 12 November 2014 at 08:30 AM
This is the kind of progress we need. We're all so busy looking for a miracle breakthrough that we forget that a bump in incremental improvements adds up.
A Nissan Leaf type vehicle with a true ~175 mile range (and not so damn ugly) would change the auto land scape. That should be available by 2017.
Posted by: DaveD | 12 November 2014 at 08:41 AM
DaveD, let me state at the outset I enjoy daily driving my leased Leaf. I am an EV operator and happy to be one.
However, I am entirely skeptical of the battery of the day story. You say "~175 mi range... should be available [in the Leaf] by 2017". I bet you USD1000 (one thousand US dollars) that no pure EV Nissan will be available for general purchase in any market for less than USD45k (then-year dollars) base price by the end of CY2017.
Care to take the bet?
Posted by: Herman | 12 November 2014 at 09:42 AM
BTW, can anyone link me to a single production cell built by OXIS and delivered to a commercial customer?
Posted by: Herman | 12 November 2014 at 09:43 AM
Another research company making wild claims without any mass production ever. Sorry but that Gigafactory by Panasonic and Tesla is by far the most realistic hope this world has of getting real world cars with 200 plus miles on the road by 2018 in any large volume. Also the price will not be 35k USD as Musk currently hope/say. It will more likely be between 40k and 45k USD. The launch may also more likely be delayed to 2019.
Posted by: Account Deleted | 12 November 2014 at 10:17 AM
@Herman, You missed one key word in my post: "TYPE" :)
"A Nissan Leaf type vehicle".
I don't think Nissan has the incentive to go that high. But I'm betting that somebody will be trying to get into the game at that time with a BEV in the ~$30K-$35K range that has at least a 175 mile range.
I'm betting the Leaf will probably be somewhere around 140ish real world miles in that time frame.
Posted by: DaveD | 12 November 2014 at 10:18 AM
Henrik:
Agree, Let me sum up: OXIS, I will believe it when I can use it. Tesla, You ain't hit a Target yet; but. I believe you're truly trying.
Posted by: Lad | 12 November 2014 at 10:22 AM
Henrik and Lad....So young, yet so cynical! :)
Seriously though, I agree with you. This is yet another flavor of the day announcement until they actually deliver something. But it's starting to feel like some realistic, shorter term announcements are coming. I totally discount people saying things like "1000Wh/kg by 2016"....they're smoking something naughty.
But Panasonic already has 255Wh/kg cells for over 18 months in the market so when I'm seeing 300-325Wh/kg predictions for 2017, then I'm hopeful that it may be possible.
And the Leaf is only using cells with something like 140Wh/kg at the cell level so there is plenty of room for a car doing 150-175 real world mile by 2017.
Posted by: DaveD | 12 November 2014 at 10:31 AM
I am sorry maybe I misread. You mentioned "300-325Wh/kg predictions for 2017" what I read was a 33Ah by mid-2015 300 Wh/kg for 2015 and 500Wh/kg by 2017.
Thats only 6 months away. But no one mentioned cost per battery. If the cost is not outrageous this will great news for anyone wanting to dump ICE. Fingers crossed these guys are telling the truth.
Posted by: Bob Tasa | 12 November 2014 at 10:43 AM
OXIS cells have a 100% available Depth-of-Discharge and cannot be damaged by over-discharge.
Combined with the increased capacity, this implies significantly reductions in pack size/weight as well.
According to their website, the cost target is $250/kWhr.
I wish them well, and hope this is more than vaporware. Encouragingly, their website has pictures of actual cells, etc.
Posted by: Nick Lyons | 12 November 2014 at 11:39 AM
Yes, 'affordable' 500 Wh/Kg by 2017 may be a tipping poing for first generaion competitive extended range BEVs.
One of the majors (like Toyota, Nissan, VW etc), could buy OXIS to get a head start?
Posted by: HarveyD | 12 November 2014 at 11:50 AM
@Bob Tasa,
I'm going on the assumption that this could turn out to be more hype that never comes to fruition. I was saying that more in terms of SOMEBODY will come out with a real, honest to goodness, it exists AND you can buy it, battery with between 300-325Wh/kg by 2017. :)
If these guys actually deliver their battery with over 300Wh/kg next year...I'll be VERY HAPPY to be proven wrong!
Posted by: DaveD | 12 November 2014 at 11:54 AM
The gravimetric energy gains are great. 500Wh/kg is half the weight of today's batteries. And OXIS seems to be delivering on their roadmap (which is more than I can say for some companies like Envia).
Where Li-S suffers relative to traditional Li-Ion is volumetric density. The 25Ah cells sounds good, but their RevB program for automotive EV cells has a target of 95Ah per cell[1], and that "only" brings their volumetric efficiency to 450Wh/l (compared to 700Wh/l in the cells found in the Model S). Where Li-S batteries can make up the difference is in a drastic reduction in safety and thermal management equipment necessary to use the battery in an EV - so where cells comprise about 70% of the volume and weight of a battery pack in a traditional, Li-S can move than up more, bringing up the total pack-level Wh/l to comparable levels.
[1] I don't know for sure its the automotive cell that is being referenced in the first paragraph. OXIS has 3 different cells they're targeting: ultra-thin, long-life and EV.
Posted by: Anthony F | 12 November 2014 at 12:49 PM
$1 when you don't pay road taxes nor replace batteries.
The battery replacement is about $1000 per year or $2 GGE.
When you don't tell the whole story, it sounds great.
Posted by: SJC | 12 November 2014 at 01:09 PM
@SJC,
So when you do break downs on the ICE vehicles, you also include the cost of all gas you'll ever buy, plus engine rebuilds and transmission rebuilds, plus oil changes, plus fuel pumps, water pumps, radiator issues, timing chains, yada, yada, yada?
Wow, that ICE sounds really good when you don't tell the whole story.
Oh, did I mention that we like to start wars for oil?
Posted by: DaveD | 12 November 2014 at 01:36 PM
Beat me to it, DaveD.
SJC, you trot out that trope about battery replacement at every opportunity, always unsupported.
The battery will last the life of the car, and then go on to perform double duty in stationary storage (many stories referenced, amazingly, right here on GCC).
Nice FUD though. Too bad most people realize that OEMs all warranty their batteries. Tesla even warrants for unlimited miles.
I guess they don't think they'll be replacing too many of them early.
Posted by: electric-car-insider.com | 12 November 2014 at 01:51 PM
LiS has promised to blow LiIon into the weeds, specific energy-wise at least, for years. The only things holding it back from taking the front seat are cycle life and safety. As soon as somebody cracks those, LiIon will go the way of NiCd and we will have 500 mile range EVs.
Two things that may be interesting to bear in mind for the time being: first, SION's 350 Wh/kg LiS batteries have already proved their worth by keeping aloft a solar-powered plane for 10 nights in a row. Second, the first battery format LiS chemistry will be manufactured in volume is 18650, which means Tesla will be able to slot it directly into their packs and test/implement it immediately. Meanwhile the other auto manufacturers will have to wait years for somebody to agree to retool their pouch-style cell production machinery for LiS.
Posted by: clett | 13 November 2014 at 06:36 AM
Account for ALL the costs of operating a vehicle, Total Cost of Ownership is not "F.U.D." but keep repeating that lie, someone may believe you.
NO, the battery will NOT last the life of the car, an even BIGGER lie electric car dud. Take your web page ad and move along, I have had enough of your lies.
Posted by: SJC | 16 November 2014 at 09:23 AM
Then answer the question, SJC, do you account for the TCO of your ICE vehicles when you do all this whining?
Posted by: DaveD | 16 November 2014 at 08:56 PM
Account for ALL costs for ALL cars is what I am saying, you are the one whining. Stop whining and start accounting, this is what I am saying, but you are too busy trying to change the subject.
Posted by: SJC | 17 November 2014 at 10:40 AM
BTW, car sites like Cars.com and KBB.com list the Total Cost of Ownership and Operation for most cars, so if you want to see for the first five years, they list that including depreciation.
Imagine the depreciation of a 10 year old EV with the same battery. Would YOU buy that car knowing you will have to pay for a new battery pack? How much would you pay? The depreciation will be HUGE on that one. As far as wars for oil, I will let you do the accounting on that one, you brought it up.
Posted by: SJC | 17 November 2014 at 10:49 AM
No, I'm sorry...but YOU brought it up and I didn't even bother to argue with you about battery costs. And every EV manufacturer out there is warranting their batteries for over 5 years so the KBB TCO of 5 years is not relevant.
I got rid of my old 2002 Mercedes E430 that I bought brand new. I was keeping it so my daughters would have a safe car to drive around when they started driving, but after spending nearly $5,000 to get the engine rebuilt, then another $2,800 for the transmission...and it was STILL managing to cost me over $2k per year in "other" costs such as water pumps, power steering issues, yada, yada, yada....Don't tell me about how much batteries will cost. That damn car easily cost me another $15k-$20K in repairs as it got older so I finally dumped it.
The point is that ALL cars start to cost a lot of money to keep running after they get older. My brother got a 2003 SS Monte Carlo for my nephew to drive and it's easily costing him $3k a year in repairs on that thing.
So quit acting like the battery in an EV is some anomaly and all other cars are just perfectly free to keep driving as they get older.
Posted by: DaveD | 17 November 2014 at 12:08 PM
@DaveD
A solution to increasing maintenance cost has existed for decades.
My wife had 3 new Camry.
Her first new Camry was driven 200,000+ KM over 14 years without major body, engine or transmission repairs.
Her second Camry was also driven 200,000+ Km over 14.5 years without major body, engine or transmission repairs. Our daughter has been driving that Camry for 1.5 years without any major maintenance.
Her third Camry Hybrid XLE is only 1.5 years only with (of course) zero major maintenance. It should also last 14+ years?
I had one Mercedes sedan for 3 years and it was also very costly to operate. I switched to Toyota Camry many years ago and I enjoyed trouble free motoring since.
Posted by: HarveyD | 18 November 2014 at 03:26 PM
Even if ever they market a long range ev at a decent price I cannot buy it because I buy cheap used cars and I don't have a recharge spot because I park in the street. But I will be glad that many buy them as I will help getting gasoline prices lower.
Posted by: gorr | 19 November 2014 at 08:08 AM
Just factor in ALL costs in the Total Cost of Ownership and Operation, that applies to ALL cars. To say electric cars are 1/4th the cost to provide energy without paying road taxes nor replacement costs is misleading, that is my point.
Engine cars may have to have an engine and transmission rebuild after 100,000 miles, some may not. It is a function of design and upkeep. If you change the transmission fluid and filter every 30,000 miles you might not need a rebuild until 200,000 miles.
You can be sure that an electric car driven 100,000 miles over 10 tens will have reduced range. If the car had 70 mile range (real range, not the rated estimate) then after 5 years and 50,000 miles had a 50 mile range, you might not be so happy.
Posted by: SJC | 23 November 2014 at 12:06 PM