Scientists at Harvard University have developed a new solid-state lithium-metal battery for electric vehicles that promises to be fully charged in three minutes and last for 20 years.
Now, startup Adden Energy has announced that it has received an exclusive technology license from Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development to advance the commercialization of the technology, with the goal of shrinking the battery into a palm-sized “pouch battery” with components encapsulated in aluminum in the coating film.
Harvard has granted Adden Energy an exclusive license to develop solid-state lithium metal batteries. The startup aims to scale the battery to palm-sized "pouch cells" -- whose components are encapsulated in an aluminum-coated film.
The battery uses lithium in pure metal form, rather than lithium-ion, which is currently used in electric vehicle batteries on the market. Meanwhile, "solid state" refers to the use of solid electrodes and solid electrolytes, rather than the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion batteries.
In the lab, the team's prototype battery was able to charge as fast as 3 minutes and be cycled more than 10,000 times over its lifetime. Currently, even the best-in-class batteries have only 2,000-3,000 charge cycles, the researchers said.
Additionally, the battery is self-healing, meaning its chemistry allows it to backfill pores created by dendrites.
The startup says the rapid development of clean energy storage technologies is critical to combating climate change. Global vehicle electrification alone is estimated to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 16%, and this "new battery model" is seen as key to achieving this goal.
