By Will Lockett

This next-gen technology solves EVs’ biggest problems.

Electric vehicles (EVs) are incredible. They are faster, more efficient, and way better for the environment than the gas-guzzling cars of old. Yet, we are still far from being able to switch everyone over to this revolutionary technology. You see, EVs are still too expensive, take too long to charge, and have too short of a lifespan. In other words, you are a little stumped if you can’t charge at home or can only afford a second-hand EV (with a depleted range). But a Harvard spin-off, Adden Energy, may have found the answer to this problem in their latest battery.

This battery has some astonishing specs. It can be fully charged in 3 minutes and has a charge cycle life of 10,000+! For some context, the best EV batteries we currently have (lithium-ion) charge in 20 minutes and last between 500 and 3,000 charge cycles before they become useless.

A few can last longer or charge much quicker, but employing them takes a massive compromise (in that they can charge super quickly but only last a few charge cycles, or vice versa).

So, how has Adden managed this?

Well, firstly, it is a solid-state battery. Our current batteries aren’t solid-state and instead have a gel-like electrolyte in the middle of them to carry charged ions from one end (known as an electrode) to the other end during charging or discharging. But these ions can be deposited on the electrode and slowly build up to form a spike known as a dendrite. Once a dendrite reaches the other end of the battery, it short-circuits it, rendering the battery useless. This is one of the reasons why current lithium-ion batteries don’t last forever. It is also one of the reasons they can’t be charged quicker, as these gel electrolytes deposit dendrites faster the quicker the battery is charged, and they transport the ions rather slowly.

But a solid-state battery doesn’t use a gel-like electrolyte. Instead, it uses a solid one. They can dramatically speed up ion transportation, which speeds up charging, and have the potential to significantly reduce the rate at which dendrites grow, as there simply isn’t any space for them to grow into. Additives and special electrodes are needed to stop the metal sneaking around the electrolyte and forming dendrites, but if they are used properly, they can pretty much entirely stop dendrite growth. This means that a solid-state battery should last far longer, and as a bonus, solid electrolytes are much more compact and lighter than gel ones, making solid-state batteries much more energy dense (the majority of the time).

However, there are still other issues that can reduce the life of a solid-state battery, such as material breakdown, thermal issues, and internal bottlenecks. These problems have made either the charging too slow or the lifespan too short. So how has Adden solved these issues?

Well, we don’t know the details yet. After all, they don’t want to give away their secrets. But we do know their methodology for perfecting a solid-state battery. Firstly, they used AI to run chemistry algorithms to predict and design novel, high-performance electrode materials. This removes a lot of the guesswork and trial and error from the battery design and helps them hone in on a set-up that works well out of the gate, meaning it should charge quickly, the materials should be stable, and it should have dendrite resitance.

Their battery also has an “innovative multi-electrolyte-layer separator with a dynamic stability design.” Most batteries (solid-state or not) have a sandwich-like construction that goes: electrode, electrolyte, separator, electrolyte, electrode. This works because one electrode is able to supply ions while the other electrode can absorb ions. The electrolyte is the medium in which the ions can travel, and the separator allows the ions to travel through but not electrons.

This means that ions can pass straight from electrode to electrode during charging or discharging. But electrons (which want to pair back up with the ions to form a neutrally charged atom) need to travel through the circuit and, in doing so, power our gadgets.

By having multiple separators, Adden has baked in backups. So if one fails, whether due to dendrites or material breakdown, the other can carry on as normal, and its lifecycle will be greatly extended.

This is all well and good, but can this battery really revolutionise the EV world?

Well, its founders definitely think so. They reckon that the ultra-fast charge times will mean that people who don’t own a driveway can finally own an EV, given that it takes just as little time to charge as it would to fill up a regular gas tank. What’s more, the longevity means that an Adden-equipped EV will retain its driving range for many, many years, meaning that it can be a reliable and usable second-hand car.

I definitely agree with the first point. After all, no one wants to wait half an hour before getting back on the road. But such rapid charge times will also make EVs much more affordable.

I’d happily have an EV with less than 200 miles of range if it would fully charge in only 3 minutes. But as current charge times stand, I would need one with at least 300+ miles of range to ensure I’m not stuck parking at a charge station for ages. So, with these ultra-fast charging batteries, consumers can opt for much smaller battery packs without compromising usability. Because a battery pack is 40% of the cost of manufacturing an EV, this could make them far more affordable.

I’m not sure I agree with the second-hand market side, though. You see, a Tesla can drive 200,000 miles and only experience a 10% drop in battery capacity. This means a Tesla should easily last over 15 years of average driving with no severe impact on the battery pack. So you can buy a second-hand Tesla with a good number of miles on it and be confident the batteries won’t give out on you. This means that EVs (or Teslas, at the very least) are already lasting as long as their combustion-engined counterparts.

But the Adden battery will take this to the max. 200,000 miles is the equivalent of about 1,000 charges (not all of them fully cycled), which is only a tenth of what the Adden battery can withstand. So, an Adden-equipped Tesla would experience a similar drop in battery capacity only after a massive 2 million miles! This would make second-hand cars so reliable that it would threaten the new car market!

For now, though, Adden is being cautious and stating their batteries will last 20 years in an EV (possibly to avoid frightening potential buyers).

With all of this in mind, it is no wonder that Adden has raised $5.15 million to advance this technology further and enter commercial production in the very near future. What’s more, the founders have stated that there is nothing about this technology that would make commercial-scale production difficult. So yes, we may soon see EVs equipped with these revolutionary battery packs.

But will this disrupt the EV world? If Adden can ensure their batteries are cheap and that they meet public demand, this could bring about a significant sea-change in the EV marketplace, and they could easily position themselves as the top dogs of the battery game. Yet, those are two big asks for a startup with only a few million dollars behind them. Adden has a long road ahead, but with technology as powerful as theirs, they have a fantastic chance of making it.

NYA thanks ‘Predict’