New Battery Tech Might Finally Fix EVs’ Biggest Problems

Electric vehicles are slowly growing in popularity, but there are obstacles to overcome before everyone jumps on board with the technology. Worries over range, charging time, and safety are at the top of the list of objections many consumers have when making the switch, but new battery technology from Geely Auto Group (owners of Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus, among others) may make those worries a thing of the past.

The company has developed a new short blade EV battery. It offers improvements which eliminate many of the concerns that keep people from making the move to an electric vehicle. This is technology that could be used in any vehicle from the Ford F-150 Lightning to the Kia EV9.

Improved Safety

This battery uses a high-strength, high-thermal stability, high-heat-resistant diaphragm. It also has a highly stable separator with safe electrodes. The company additionally developed a unique self-fusing technology that is applied to the surface of the electrodes to block short circuits. Even if punctured, an aluminum foil layer helps create an insulating layer around the battery.

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All this tech comes into play if a vehicle is involved in an accident by helping prevent the battery from experiencing thermal runaway. This is what causes electric vehicle fires to burn so aggressively and is a major concern. The Chevy Bolt EV was at one point the subject of a recall due to battery fires with the Jaguar I-Pace also being recalled for battery fire concerns. The company tested the battery in what it calls the Six Extremes, from seawater corrosion to rock-bottom scraping and fire roasting, all of which the battery successfully passed.

Fast Charging Even When Cold

Another concern with EV batteries is how quickly they can charge, especially in colder weather. The use of long, thin carbon nanotubes creates a better path for ion transmission, which speeds up charging time. Rather than the 26 minutes it takes a long blade battery to charge from 10 to 80 percent, this new battery takes just 17 minutes and 4 seconds.

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It also has a stronger discharge capacity and longer driving range when temperatures drop. Where a long blade battery’s retention rate fell to 78,96 percent in low temps, the short blade battery saw a far more modest drop to 90.54 percent of its usual capacity, even at temperatures of -22 degrees Fahrenheit.

One final benefit of this new technology is a longer overall battery life of up to 50 years, capable of 3,500 complete battery cycles. Current batteries lose as much as 20% of their capacity in just 10 years, and the concern over replacing batteries that often (both financially and environmentally) has been a core argument against EVs for some time. But if Geely’s battery tech can be brought to market affordably, it could signal the next step in EV technology.