4.3 Types of lithium ion batteries The battery test centre in Canberra has been testing a variety of lithium-ion batteries to simulate ‘normal’ daily cycling of the batteries and mimicking ‘real world’ conditions. The batteries being tested are: Table 2: Battery Chemistries by Company
Total Installed Capacity (kWh)
Country of Origin
Product
Chemistry
Alpha ESS
China China
Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Aqueous Hybrid Ion (AHI) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Zinc-Bromide Flow (ZNBR) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)
9.6
Ampetus Super Lithium
9
Aquion Aspen
USA
17.6
BYD B-Box
China
10.24
GNB Lithium
Germany
13.6
LG Chem RESU HV
Korea China
9.8 9.6
Pylontech
Redflow Zcell
USA USA USA
10
SimpliPhi
10.2 13.2
Tesla Powerwall 2
Source: ITP – Battery test centre report 3 – November 2017 ( http://batterytestcentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Battery-Testing- Public-Report-3-November-2017.pdf ) The point is that there is no single standardised lithium ion battery and the chemical composition and physical characteristics are regularly changing. The reason for these different combination of battery elements is to find the most economical composition of materials, lighter and more efficient power, reduce the usage of rarer elements and improve safety issues. Figure 11 shows the energy metal composition of a 18-650 lithium ion battery cell as used in a Tesla vehicle. The Tesla Model S runs on 16 battery packs with each pack made up of 444 18- 650 battery cells, for a total of 7,104 battery cells per vehicle. The key New Energy metals in this battery cell are lithium and cobalt, yet there are a wide variety of different battery chemistries that all require different New Energy metals in differing proportions. 15 A 70kWh Tesla Model S battery contains an estimated 63kg of lithium. 16 The new Tesla 3 series uses a new battery design called the 21-70 that has less weight and greater energy. This is an example of the ongoing evolving battery chemical and design market.
15 Alvarez, Simon (2018), “Dissecting Tesla Model 3’s 2170 lithium ion battery cell, what’s inside?”, Teslarati, 12 February 2018. https://www.teslarati.com/inside-tesla-model-3-2170-lithium-ion-battery/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018) 16 Lambert, Fred (2016), “Breakdown of raw materials in Tesla’s batteries and possible bottlenecks”, Electrek, 10 November 2016. https://electrek.co/2016/11/01/breakdown-raw-materials-tesla-batteries-possible-bottleneck/ . (Accessed: 01 May 2018)
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