Solar Energy
Batteries are a hot topic for SPARRCI researchers
If you have flown commercially in recent years, you may have noticed that certain items with large lithium-ion batteries can’t be checked. Instead, they must be in your carry-on and turned off.
Objects with these batteries, such as hoverboards or even cell phones, have been known to spontaneously combust, especially if they are physically damaged somehow. The resulting fire presents a danger to people in their vicinity.
So, if these batteries aren’t allowed on airplanes unsupervised, using them to propel the fully electric aircraft of the future may come with some challenges and questions about safety.
Exploring the feasibility of predicting and preventing battery fires before they happen is the idea behind a NASA research activity called SPARRCI, or “Sensor-based Prognostics to Avoid Runaway Reactions and Catastrophic Ignition.”
The big goal is to create a “smart” battery system that would self-monitor, learn about itself as it goes, and if needed say “hey, I’m developing a problem, shut me down” well before it endangers the safety of its aircraft.
“Batteries are a hot topic. Pun intended,” said Brianne DeMattia, lead researcher for SPARRCI at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
One of the safety threats posed by batteries in electrically propelled aircraft is fire. These larger batteries, like those needed to power hoverboards and cars, have been known to catch fire because of an effect called “thermal runaway.”
Large batteries are basically many cells of small batteries packaged together. If one cell has a malfunction and starts to heat up in temperature, it causes the neighboring cell to do the same. Eventually, the whole battery overheats and could start a fire.
Battery sensors like the ones used by our phones and computers only measure the temperature outside the battery. SPARRCI is designing batteries with sensors inside them to identify the conditions that lead to thermal runaway, then alert the aircraft’s operator to the potential trouble.
The operator would then be able to correct the problem or replace the battery before the dangerous overheating ever occurs. This new, fine-tuned view of the inside of a battery could lead to safer and better performing energy storage – a new generation of batteries.
“With current batteries, we just try to contain fire so it doesn’t spread. But the best approach is to try and prevent the overheating and fire entirely. That’s what we’re trying to do with SPARRCI,” DeMattia said.
Size Matters
Another research area of SPARRCI is battery size and power storage.
A typical remote control for a television uses a couple of AA-sized batteries. A small electric aircraft such as the X-57 Maxwell, NASA’s first all-electric aircraft, may need a battery with the equivalent power of more than 5,000 AA-sized batteries.
Currently, large batteries providing that kind of power must be packaged in bulky containers to make sure that if something gets hot or catches fire, the heat is insulated, protecting other battery cells and the vehicle.
The size and weight of these containers could be reduced in the future with SPARRCI’s ability to show what’s going on inside the battery.
If the aircraft’s pilot or maintenance crew know that thermal runaway could occur, the battery can be replaced and never have a chance to catch fire.
If fire isn’t a threat anymore, extra insulation isn’t required, and the battery’s overall size and weight can be reduced. This would allow more space inside the vehicle to be dedicated to energy storage, improving its range and available power.
Since the activity began in 2020, SPARCCI researchers have successfully begun working out how to install sensors inside batteries. The next step? Identify what conditions the sensors inside the battery should look for to detect imminent battery problems or failures.
The View Inside
SPARRCI is part of the Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) project, which is designed to give NASA researchers the resources they need to determine if their ideas to solve some of aviation’s biggest technical challenges are feasible and perhaps worthy of additional pursuit within NASA or industry.
One of the things that makes CAS activities like SPARRCI unique is the requirement for researchers from different technical disciplines and NASA field centers to collaborate and bring their unique expertise to bear on the problem.
For SPARRCI, that collaboration led to some memorable moments for battery and sensor researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, who have been working with their counterparts at NASA Glenn.
The Langley researchers evaluated batteries from Glenn using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), a device similar to the ultrasound machines used in doctors’ offices and hospitals.
“Our goal was to collect images of the guts of the battery during a test without having to open them up post-mortem. This allowed us to see conditions changing in real time and run non-destructive scans to get a sense of the ‘topography’ of the internal surfaces as they morphed during operation,” DeMattia said.
What they saw during the scans was, well, out of this world.
“As we used the SEM to scan images of these lithium metal surfaces inside the battery they sometimes looked like the surface of the Moon! It was one of the coolest things. We spent hours around the computer, ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’ often thrown around, with an occasional ‘What on Earth is that?’ thrown in for good measure.”
“It’s not something that any of us have done or seen before, but the images did help us tie together the data we collected,” DeMattia said. “”We couldn’t have done this without the different disciplines coming together. It has been really exciting.”
SPARRCI was selected to be a two-year activity that began on Oct. 1, 2019. Interruptions in the pursuit prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic might lead to an extension, although nothing has been decided yet.
Once completed, information gathered, and experience gained during SPARRCI will be shared with others within NASA and the broader aviation community.
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India mandates local-only solar energy components from 2026
by AFP Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) Dec 10, 2024
Indian clean energy companies will only be able to use solar modules built locally from June 2026, according to a government order apparently aimed at reducing Chinese imports.
Clean energy sector leaders in India, including ventures by conglomerates Reliance Enterprises and Tata Power, rely on Chinese vendors as their major suppliers.
As much as 70 percent of India’s solar power generation capacity is powered by Chinese equipment, according to industry estimates.
Indian companies are already required by law to use locally made solar panels in government projects.
The new rule mandates that only modules made from locally built photovoltaic cells, which convert light energy into electricity, can be used in projects with a bid deadline after Monday’s order.
“This condition will have to be followed irrespective of the date of commissioning,” said the order, issued by India’s renewable energy ministry.
The government is yet to issue the list of approved manufacturers of solar cells because “the installed capacity of solar cells in the country was lower than demand”.
But “with installed capacity of solar cells in the country expected to increase substantially in next year”, a list of approved manufacturers will now be released, the order said.
India’s solar equipment manufacturing space has made rapid strides in recent years.
A report by Bengaluru-based consulting firm Mercom India said the country’s solar panel production was expected to reach 95 gigawatts by the end of 2025.
India added 13.3 gigawatts of solar equipment manufacturing capacity in the first half of 2024, according to the same report.
sai/gle/sn
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Stellantis, Chinese firm CATL plan $4bn battery plant in Spain
By Valentin Bontemps with Frederique Pris in Paris
Madrid (AFP) Dec 10, 2024
Car giant Stellantis and Chinese manufacturer CATL said Tuesday they would build a $4.3-billion factory to make electric vehicle batteries in Spain, the latest bid to boost Europe’s troubled EV drive.
They said they aim to start production by the end of 2026 at the site in the northern city of Zaragoza.
It “could reach up to 50 GWh capacity, subject to the evolution of the electrical market in Europe and continued support from authorities in Spain and the European Union”, the companies said in a statement.
The two firms signed an agreement in 2023 to produce battery parts for the manufacture of electric vehicles in Europe.
CATL, which has received robust financial support from Beijing, has launched two other European factories, in Germany and Hungary.
Its chief executive Robin Zeng met late on Monday with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, ahead of the announcement of the 4.1-billion-euro deal.
In a message on X, the Socialist premier thanked the presidents of the two firms for their “firm commitment” to Spain, adding he was “very pleased”.
During a visit to China in September, Sanchez urged the European Union to “reconsider” a plan to impose tariffs on Chinese electric cars, calling for a “compromise” between the economic powerhouses.
Spanish Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo called the announcement “excellent news for industry and employment in our country”.
Spain has been playing a growing role in European vehicle production, assembling 1.87 million cars in 2023 — the second-biggest producer in the continent after Germany, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
– Bumpy patch for carmakers –
The announcement comes at a turbulent time in the car industry as countries seek to switch to low-carbon electric vehicles to curb the climate crisis.
Sweden’s financially strained electric car battery maker Northvolt last month announced the resignation of its chief executive Peter Carlsson.
That came hours after the company sought bankruptcy protection in the United States.
The company said in September it was slashing 1,600 jobs — a quarter of its staff — and suspending the expansion of its site as it struggled with strained finances and a slowdown in demand.
The company had been seen as a cornerstone of European attempts to catch up with China and the United States in the production of battery cells, a crucial component of lower-emission cars.
Stellantis’s former chief executive Carlos Tavares also resigned on December 1, with the company signalling differences over how to save the group’s slumping profits.
Like other auto groups, Stellantis has blamed competition from China and the difficult transition to electric cars for much of its troubles.
It announced on November 26 that it was closing a factory at Luton in England with the loss of 1,100 jobs.
– ‘High-quality’ EVs –
Founded in 2011 in Ningde, eastern China, CATL produces more than a third of the electric vehicle batteries sold in the world.
Italian-US-French company Stellantis produces 14 brands including Fiat, Peugeot-Citroen, Opel, Maserati, Chrysler, Ram and Jeep.
The Zaragoza plant will make lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which are cheaper to produce but less powerful compared with nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) ones, the other current mainstream technology.
The companies said the factory, which will be designed to be completely carbon neutral, would enable Stellantis “to offer more high-quality, durable and affordable battery-electric passenger cars, crossovers and SUVs”.
Stellantis chairman John Elkann said in the statement that the venture “will bring innovative battery production to a manufacturing site that is already a leader in clean and renewable energy”.
Zeng said CATL’s goal was “to make zero-carbon technology accessible across the globe”.
The deal is expected to be closed in 2025, subject to regulation.
fmp-vab/ds/rlp
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Existing EV batteries may last significantly longer under real-world conditions
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 10, 2024
Electric vehicle (EV) batteries subjected to typical real-world driving scenarios-such as heavy traffic, urban commutes, and long highway trips-could last up to 40% longer than previously projected, according to new research from the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, a collaboration between Stanford University’s Precourt Institute for Energy and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. This finding suggests EV owners may delay the costly replacement of battery packs or the purchase of new vehicles for several more years than expected.
Traditionally, battery scientists have tested EV batteries in labs using a constant charge-discharge cycle. While effective for quick evaluations of new designs, this method does not accurately reflect the varied usage patterns of everyday drivers, the study published in *Nature Energy* on Dec. 9 reveals.
Although battery costs have fallen by approximately 90% over the past 15 years, they still represent about one-third of an EV’s price. This research could provide reassurance to current and prospective EV owners about the longevity of their vehicle’s batteries.
“We’ve not been testing EV batteries the right way,” said Simona Onori, the study’s senior author and an associate professor at Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability. “To our surprise, real driving with frequent acceleration, braking, stopping for errands, and extended rest periods helps batteries last longer than previously thought based on industry-standard tests.”
Real-World Driving Profiles Improve Battery Lifespan
The researchers developed four distinct EV discharge profiles, ranging from constant discharge to dynamic patterns based on actual driving data. Testing 92 commercial lithium-ion batteries over two years, they found that batteries subjected to realistic driving scenarios demonstrated significantly improved longevity.
Machine learning algorithms were crucial in analyzing the extensive data, revealing that certain driving behaviors, like sharp accelerations, slowed battery degradation. This contradicted prior assumptions that acceleration peaks harm EV batteries. “Pressing the pedal hard does not speed up aging. If anything, it slows it down,” explained Alexis Geslin, one of the study’s lead authors and a PhD candidate in materials science and computer science at Stanford.
Aging from Use vs. Time
The study differentiated between battery aging caused by charge-discharge cycles and aging from time alone. While frequent cycling dominates battery aging for commercial vehicles like buses or delivery vans, time-induced aging becomes a larger factor for personal EVs, which are often parked and idle.
“We battery engineers have assumed that cycle aging is much more important than time-induced aging,” said Geslin. “For consumers using their EVs for daily errands but leaving them unused most of the time, time becomes the predominant aging factor.”
The researchers identified an optimal discharge rate balancing both time and cycle aging for the batteries tested, which aligns with typical consumer driving habits. Manufacturers could update battery management software to incorporate these findings, potentially extending battery lifespan under normal conditions.
Implications for the Future
Evaluating new battery chemistries and designs under realistic conditions is critical for future advancements, said Le Xu, a postdoctoral scholar in energy science and engineering. “Researchers can now revisit presumed aging mechanisms at the chemistry, materials, and cell levels to deepen their understanding,” Xu added.
The study’s principles could apply beyond EV batteries to other energy storage systems, plastics, solar cells, and biomaterials where aging is a key concern. “This work highlights the power of integrating multiple areas of expertise-from materials science and modeling to machine learning-to drive innovation,” Onori concluded.
Research Report:Dynamic cycling enhances battery lifetime
Related Links
SLAC-Stanford Battery
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
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