Features of BioSolar’s New Battery Technology Well Suited for China’s Rapidly Growing Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Market
BioSolar, Inc., developer of breakthrough energy storage technology and materials, recently commented on China’s booming electric and hybrid vehicles market. The Company’s Super Cathode technology, which features a substantially longer cycle life than conventional Lithium-ion batteries and significantly reduced cost, is well suited for the emerging China Market.
According to a recent Renewable Energy World article, favorable policies and support facilities put in place by the Chinese government have spurred the soaring production and sale of new energy vehicles, such as pure electrics and plug-in hybrids. China now plans to boost the production and sales of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids to more than five million units by 2020, creating a tremendous new market category. These policies and government support are key factors that will drive consumer demand. China’s power battery market is expected to quadruple by 2017 and exceed sales of160 billion Yuan ($25B) within the next 10 years, according to China industrial Association of Power Sources.
Manufacturers of power batteries have expanded their capacity to meet the growing demand as the Chinese increase production of new energy vehicles. Unfortunately, the recycling of power batteries has become a major challenge to widespread adoption as the average lifetime of a power battery remains short – between three to eight years. While it has only been a little more than six years since China started to promote new energy vehicles, there are already 20,000 to 40,000 tons of power batteries expected to end up in the garbage dump by the end of this year. That figure is anticipated to climb to somewhere between 120,000 to 170,000 tons by around 2020, according to the China Automotive Technology & Research Center.
“It is well-known that user adoption for the EV industry hinges on substantially lowering the cost of the battery, which will then reduce the purchase price of vehicles,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. “The battery technology needed to meet this critical cost point will almost certainly require advancements to substantially improve battery cycle life so that EV owners do not have to buy replacement Li-ion batteries every three to eight years. Our super cathode technology features a stable redox chemistry, enabling a much longer life than conventional Li-ion batteries that are based on intercalation chemistry, resulting in significantly reduced cost. As a result of this longer cycle life, manufacturers will potentially be able guarantee the battery for the lifetime of vehicle use, thereby strengthening the appeal for the end consumer.”
The Company recently announced that it successfully completed the first phase of its super battery technology development, with test results indicating that lithium-ion batteries incorporating BioSolar’s Super Cathode technology can achieve significantly higher capacity with costs below $100/kWh, which is less than half of today’s lowest cost lithium-ion batteries.
