Due to its well-known reactivity, any aspect of lithium metal must be understood in detail and must be manageable, otherwise Li-metal will not be suitable for a large market application. Mercedes-Benz R&D North America collaborates with leading experts performing research to carefully investigate all aspects of Li-metal. This talk highlights recent results and considerations.

Most next-generation battery approaches rely on using lithium metal anodes as the primary means of significantly improving energy density. However, lithium metal has a very limited track record in automotive application batteries, and significant unknowns remain regarding its potential mechanical, life, and safety performance.

To apply demanding automotive requirements to new battery technologies, BMW Group works with academic, national lab, and industry partners to understand the impacts of each cell design decision. Some examples of recent innovation include advanced electrolytes, high-Si content anodes, all-solid-state systems, and high-Ni cathode materials. This presentation will outline the opportunities and limitations of various cell and material concepts from a car manufacturer’s point of view. Key challenges will be addressed with examples from BMW research projects.

With the rapidly approaching electrification of the global vehicle fleet, automotive OEMs and key suppliers of battery packs, cells, and components are under tremendous pressure to launch more new product lines in tighter time frames than has ever been done before. Battery intelligence — the intelligent analysis that unlocks the potential of data that these organizations are already collecting today — is the key to staying competitive in the electrified automotive landscape.

This presentation provides an overview of the DOE vehicle battery R&D portfolio and the research initiatives for accelerating commercialization. There will also be discussion on technology performance targets, future direction, and highlights of significant breakthroughs and key findings resulting from VTO-funded R&D.

Battery systems are complex systems with the battery cell as the core technology of the system, but then integrated with multiple subsystems, including mechanical, thermal, and battery management systems (BMS). This presentation will look into the different subsystems that contribute to the overall battery system performance and opportunities for improvement in next-generation battery systems. Industry trends will be evaluated to show how the xEV industry has progressed over the recent wave of electrification.

Lithium-ion battery pack prices have fallen 80% since 2010, reaching an average of $176/kWh by 2018. We will share a detailed bottom-up cost breakdown across different geographies and applications. We will provide a review of a number of different approaches to reducing costs, such as substitution, scale, integration, and a range of design and manufacturing process improvements. Finally, we will review whether certain applications will tolerate higher costs for greater performance.

Toshiba started production of SCiB using LTO anode in 2008, and has not only penetrated the world of automobile, industry and electric power, but also established high quality and reliability. In the presentation, solutions by SCiB in low-voltage HEV as an example, and proposals how SCiB can contribute to the future automotive society, will be explained.

Practical rechargeable batteries with lithium metal anodes are the holy grail of advanced power sources for mobile devices and electric vehicles. This is because a lithium metal anode battery with a given cathode material can yield nearly twice the energy density of a lithium-ion battery utilizing the same cathode material. This talk will make a critical assessment of the prospects and limitations of such batteries.

Sion Power has combined extensive experience with metallic lithium anodes with high-energy, lithium-ion cathodes such as NCM, and achieved 500 Wh/kg, 1000 Wh/L with 500 deep discharge cycles. The company is producing 6 and 20 Ah cells and modules with outstanding independently verified safety results. Sion Power continues to progress its technology roadmap to achieve 700 Wh/kg and 1400 Wh/L for aerospace applications.