With a €21million funding boost from the German Ministry of Education and Research, eighteen partners from industry and science, headed by the BASF Future Business GmbH have established the HE-Lion consortium.
The goal of the group is to bring safer and more affordable high energy lithium-ion batteries to market over the next four-six years for use in both plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles. The move comes after the German federal government announced plans to put one million electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids on to German roads by 2020.
Lithium-ion batteries are seen as a key technology for a more climate friendly energy supply. With existing generations being used in laptops and smart phones, it is hoped that third and fourth generations can achieve two-five times more energy density than previous battery systems.
In order to achieve this, there will need to be an improvement in the cathode of the battery according to BASF. The company is developing a portfolio of cathode materials that use metal oxides from high-temperature synthesis.
The batteries will undergo around 10,000 different tests before being used in a Volkswagen Golf. By today’s standards a lithium-ion battery for the Golf would be as expensive as the vehicle itself and modern production processes are needed to ensure a significant reduction in costs.
