Sunday 4 September 2016

Lithium Battery Wizards: What Is The Real Problem With Samsung Galaxy Battery?




  Samsung Galaxy recall due to the faulty batteries is making the headlines and we will read a lot about "the dangerous electric cars" in the next few weeks. I will not waste time to EVangelise those who are being paid to continue to poison us all with cancer hazard deadly emissions by ICE-age technology.  And will stop just reminding everybody that there are about 17 ICE cars catching fire every hour in the United States. 
  I will address those who is really concerned about the safety of lithium batteries. I will be the first of them as all cars will be electric very soon and we all need the best: safe and most powerful lithium batteries available ASAP.
  I will try to dig out with experts what is the real problem with Samsung Galaxy batteries.  I am not buying that it is "just a few faulty lithium cells." We have the structural problem and have to move fast to the next level of lithium technology with Lithium Solid State technologies. Only then we will be able to address the demanded high energy density with necessary safety in place.  My few questions to address:

1. Was it Samsung SDI lithium battery used in Samsung Galaxy?
2. What is the chemistry of that battery - is it Lithium Cobalt?

This could explain a big part of the trouble - from June 2015: Samsung's New Graphene Technology Will Double Life Of Your Lithium-Ion Battery

"The graphene layers anchored into the silicon surface accommodate the volume expansion of silicon via a sliding process between adjacent graphene layers," Samsung says in a paper published in the Nature journal detailing the results of its research. "When paired with a commercial lithium cobalt oxide cathode, the silicon carbide-free graphene coating allows the full cell to reach volumetric energy densities of 972 and 700 Wh l-1 at first and 200th cycle, respectively, 1.8 and times higher than those of current commercial lithium-ion batteries." 
The idea to "double pack" the amount of energy in the most volatile Lithium-Cobalt chemistry can be "the dead end" even if you use a lot of words like nano and graphene.

3. I have never used Samsung mobile phones, but "super fast charging" option with very low level of BMS ( Battery Management System) with Lithium Cobalt cell's chemistry is the sound of potential trouble.
4. Were Samsung lithium batteries involved in HP products recall as well?

  My first few observations will be that larger screens demanded by social media addicted consumers helped manufacturers of mobile devices to hide the larger lithium batteries and the big problem with lithium cobalt chemistry. It looks like Samsung was pushing the oldest lithium-ion technology used by mobile devices to the limit. "Super fast charging" is particularly detrimental to lithium cobalt batteries with very low level of basic BMS.


Argonne National Lab.

  For your information: Lithium-Cobalt batteries are mostly used by mobile communication industry, including Apple. Tesla is using Lithium NCA battery cells provided by Panasonic. And Lithium NMC battery was developed in the U.S, licensed by LG Chem and now is coming back in GM Volt and Bolt batteries. The charts above provides the initial information on different lithium chemistries. Chinese companies are mostly using Lithium-Iron Phosphate based chemistries for their batteries.
  Now Elon Musk's confirmation that Panasonic lithium cells will be used exclusively for Tesla Model 3, despite rumours of Samsung involvement, looks like "super smart" move.  Tesla and Solar City combination of growth pains do not need another blow from Oil and Auto lobby now. I do really hope that Elon Musk is already working on Lithium Solid Sate at Tesla Gigafactory and Dyson with his $1.4 billion investment in this technology  after buying Sakti3 are not just headlines. 
  And please do not forget that I am in "sweet sugar business" - please do read all my legal disclaimers. Lithium is a sugar for the Coca-Cola industry, whoever will be coming out with the best products will be using it. Why do I think so and results of my research can be found on this blog.








Bottled Electricity: Batteries - Why Lithium Will Power Us For The Next 50 Years And After That Robots.




"Increasing demand for batteries with applications in consumer electronics, electric vehicles and the grid present opportunities and challenges for rechargeable batteries. This lecture will analyse the nature of energy storage and the existing technology, and present the promising future batteries, which can have the significantly higher energy density, lower cost, better safety, and longer life. Novel battery chemistries and materials are key for a revolutionary change.

This talk was presented on March 8, 2016 as part of the MITEI Seminar Series.

About the speaker:

Yi Cui is an Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D in Chemistry at Harvard University (2002) and his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Science and Technology of China (1998). He was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley before joining Stanford University as an Assistant Professor in 2005. His current research is on nanomaterials design for energy and the environment and two-dimensional materials. Yi Cui is an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. He is a co-director of the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium of the US Department of Energy. He is a highly prolific materials scientist and has published ~310 research papers, filed more than 40 patent applications and has given ~300 plenary/keynote/invited talks. In 2014, he was ranked number 1 in Materials Science by Thomson Reuters as “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds.” He has received numerous awards including MRS Kavli Distinguished Lectureship in Nanoscience (2015), Resonate Award for Sustainability (2015), Inaugural Nano Energy Award (2014), Blavatnik National Award Finalist (2014), Wilson Prize (2011), the Sloan Research Fellowship (2010), KAUST Investigator Award (2008), ONR Young Investigator Award (2008), MDV Innovators Award (2007), and the Technology Review World Top Young Innovator Award (2004). He has founded Amprius Inc. (2008) to commercialise breakthrough high-energy battery technology and co-founded 4C Air Inc. (2015) to commercialise the PM2.5 filtration technology from his lab."





  Yi Cui makes another brilliant presentation about the future of the batteries. Now you can understand why I am insisting that Lithium will power us for the next fifty years and after that robots. Lithium with its lowest atomic mass and highest reactivity allows producing batteries with the highest energy density, resulting in the smallest volume and weight for the largest amount of available power and energy.
  This video is science heavy, but you will realise what it takes to commercialise the new even lithium based chemistry. It takes dozens of years and billions of dollars in R&D. Sony has commercialised lithium-ion technology in 1991 in recorders and walkmans. By 2005 lithium chemistry NCA was introduced on the commercial level for the power tools, Panasonic is still using the 10 years old technology to power Tesla. Elon Musk went for the solid existing solution on the lithium cells level and built his Tesla powertrain around it. GM has believed in lithium NMC and you have to read the book by Steve LeVine "The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World." to understand why Envia has never delivered NMC 2.0.
  Elon Musk has announced an incredible breakthrough, which is totally missed by the public not involved in our industry. Now Tesla can produce the all-in cost for lithium batteries at $190 per kWh! New frontiers are coming with Lithium Solid State, this technology will allow producing lithium batteries with the cost of $100 kWh and Tesla will get 500 miles range. Next will be Lithium-Air and there we can talk about cost below $100 kWh and electric cars with 1,000 miles range. I believe that Elon Musk is already working on Lithium Solid State at his Gigafactory and now Dyson has bought Sakti3 to commercialised this technology as well.



International Lithium At Wentworth 2016 Presentation.






Lithium-Air Battery Breakthrough Will Make Diesel And Petrol Cars Obsolete.










  We have The Silicon Valley economics at work. Now 3 Trillion-dollar dollar industries are investing into research and development of Lithium Technology: Mobile Communications, Electric Cars and Energy Utility Storage. This Lithium-Air Battery has been known already for quite a while. Once it is commercialised - we will have the major breakthrough in energy density for the lithium batteries. Electric Cars will be able to go for more than 1,000 miles on a charge matching the diesel and petrol ICE cars. It is not really necessary for EVs with Tesla Superchargers network mushrooming all over the world, but it will hammer the last nail into the corrupted distortion of reality created by fossil fuels and auto industries.





  And we even do not need it now to move fast forward. Next stage is LSS - Lithium Solid State Batteries like Sakti3 is developing - it was bought by Dyson this month. GM has invested in SSL with Sakti3 as well before it. I personally think that Elon Musk is working on Solid State Lithium Batteries at Tesla Gigafactory. It brings lithium battery cost down to $100 per kWh and doubles the energy density. Now lithium battery cost is around $350 per kWh at Tesla and it is going down, GM Bolt will have already $145 per kWh with LG ChemIt means that Tesla Model S 90 battery cost will be just $9k! Tesla Model 3 with 50 kWh lithium battery pack will be just $5k and range over 200 miles. Elon Musk is talking now about Models S and X with the range over 500 miles in 2 years! All it means that we are approaching very fast the mass market stage for EVs. 
  Below is the best video presentation on the batteries for the future. All your questions are answered including: Why Lithium?





   Lithium is the magic metal at the very heart of this rEVolution. Now this Green Technology metal is getting on the investors' radar screens and into the institutional portfolios. Prices for lithium are up already 16% - 17% this year, new contracts are up 15% - 20% for 2016 and Gigafactory is coming only in 2017. Joe Lowry estimates 88% increase in lithium demand in 5 years and "The industry is approaching a full-blown shortage situation" - according to him.  Read more."









Is Elon Musk Working On Solid State Lithium Batteries For Tesla Model 3 At Gigafactory?


  


  "I will not be surprised that we are going for another treat in our Lithium Technology space by Elon Musk! Chatting with my friends today on twitter we are getting a drift that actually Tesla can be moving into the prismatic lithium cells to be produced at Gigafactory and used in Tesla Model 3 and its other EV models. I will speculate that in this case, we are talking about Solid State Lithium Batteries. Solid Sate Lithium Technology is the new breakthrough which promises safer batteries with higher energy density. They promise higher performance, even lower memory effect and no thermal run away. Translation - batteries will be more powerful and much safer allowing you to store the larger amount of Energy in the same volume and weight! Is it the magic which allows Elon musk to go as low as $100 per kWh cost of lithium batteries to be produced at Gigafactory? I guess, that we will receive confirmation very soon now if it is the case. We have The Silicon Valley economics in action now. Quite a few companies went already bust promising the Holy Grail for Mobile Communication and Electric Cars, but GM has invested quietly in this technology and recently billionaire inventor Sir Dyson has picked up Sakti3. I bet that Elon Musk is way ahead of all of them and that is why we get from time to time his statements about the incredible range of over 500 miles coming to Tesla Electric Cars in the nearest future. Below you can find out recent news from Solid State Lithium Technology space, presentations and its description. Read more."





Lithium Fever Goes Upstream: Buying Spree Of Battery Start-Ups And Lithium Projects Expected. 





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