Battery Technologies - Batteries of the Future
Alessandro Volta; an Italian physicist, invented the first battery in 1800. He made important discoveries in the fields of pneumatics, meteorology and electrostatics at that time, but his greatest invention for humanity was the battery. The first lead-acid battery however was discovered in 1859 by a French physicist named Gaston Planté. That battery consisted of two strips of tape sandwiched between two lead plates and rolled into a cylindrical shape.
Lithium-Ion Batteries, Lithium-Sulphur Batteries and Solid State Batteries are the 3 battery technologies that are open to development and that we will be hearing more about in the near future.
The lithium battery was first discovered by Gilbert N. Lewis in 1912. The first non-rechargeable battery cells appeared in the early 1970s. Rechargeable lithium ion batteries have been made available to the market after nearly 20 years of operation. The first commercial version was found in 1991 by Sony, a working group led by John B. Goodnogh.
Lithium-sulfur batteries, that have more energy, for cheaper than today's lithium-ion batteries are claimed to make our daily charging needs a thing of the past. Researchers suggest that they this battery could run a phone without charging for five days, or allow an electric vehicle to travel more than 1,000 kilometers on a single charge.
In solid state batteries, the liquid electrolyte, found in lithium ion batteries is replaced by a solid compound that allows lithium ions to be carried inside. This concept is far from new, but in the last 10 years; thanks to worldwide research, new types of solid electrolytes are discovered with very high ionic conductivity. Yet very expensive, a significant improvement in safety at cell and battery levels thus a higher safety performance; high-voltage, high-capacity materials that provide denser, and lighter batteries make solid state batteries advantageous. The first solid state battery is already in use by Mercedes-Benz eCitaro Bus. ECitaro G will apparently have a maximum range of 220 kilometers. It is also rumoured that Toyota is developing their own solid state battery. Seems like we will be hearing more about the solid state batteries in near future.
Cleary the oil & gas sector is to be affected by these developments, but having foreseen these developments, most of the well known companies began to invest in these new technologies to keep their share of the cake. For instance, Saft Batteries, a company of Total, is well known to be developing their own systems for all above mentioned battery types.
The automotive sector however will clearly benefit from these developments if they keep up with the R&D. It is important to understand that oil & gas sector will not die in short term but that oil, worldwide, is scarce. This requires an alternative to be developed, and fast. Every leading company in ether oil & gas or automative or any other enterprises that belong to the supply chain of these sectors are aware of these developments, but keeping up with the R&D seems to be the key to survive in the near future.