Gadgets
Explained: How EVs Can Be Made Better With Solid-State Batteries
How are they different from liquid lithium-ion batteries?
Solid-state batteries use thin layers of solid electrolytes, which carry lithium ions between electrodes.
Lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries use liquid electrolytes and have separators that keep the positive electrode from coming in contact with the negative electrode.
Currently, solid-state batteries are used in devices such as pacemakers and smart watches.
Mass market production of these batteries for EVs is three to five years away, experts say.
What are the advantages of solid state batteries?
They are likely to be safer and more stable than liquid li-ion batteries in which the electrolyte is volatile and flammable at high temperatures. This makes electric vehicles that use li-ion batteries more vulnerable to fires and chemical leaks.
Increased stability means faster charging and reduces the need for bulky safety equipment.
They can hold more energy than liquid li-ion batteries, helping speed up a switch from gasoline vehicles to EVs because drivers would not need to stop as often to charge their cars.
Why is it difficult to mass produce solid state batteries?
Carmakers and technology companies have produced solid-state li-ion battery cells one at a time in a lab, but have been unable so far to scale that up to a mass production.
It is hard to design a solid electrolyte that is stable, chemically inert and still a good conductor of ions between the electrodes. They are expensive to fabricate and are prone to cracking because of the brittleness of the electrolytes when they expand and contract during use.
Currently, a solid-state cell costs about eight times more to make than a liquid li-ion battery, experts say.
Who’s trying to make them?
Japan’s Toyota is one of the front runners to mass produce solid-state batteries. It has said it is struggling with their short service life but still intends to start making them by mid 2020s.
In addition to Toyota’s in-house research, it has teamed up with Japan’s Panasonic to develop these powerpacks with their Prime Planet Energy & Solutions venture.
Close on their heels, Germany’s Volkswagen has invested in Bill Gates-backed US battery firm QuantumScape, which aims to introduce its battery in 2024 for VW’s EVs and eventually for other carmakers.
VW says the battery will offer about 30 percent more range than a liquid one and charge to 80 percent capacity in 12 minutes, which is less than half the time of the fastest charging li-ion cells now available.
Stellantis, formed in January by the merger of Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, has a venture called Automotive Cells Co with TotalEnergies and a partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL). Stellantis intends to introduce solid-state batteries by 2026.
Ford Motor and BMW AG have invested in startup Solid Power, which says its solid-state technology can deliver 50 percent more energy density than current lithium-ion batteries. Ford expects to cut battery costs by 40 percent by mid-decade.
South Korea’s Hyundai Motor, which has invested in startup SolidEnergy Systems, plans to mass produce solid-state batteries in 2030.
Samsung SDI, an affiliate of Samsung, is working on developing solid-state batteries.
EV market leader Tesla has so far not said it wants to develop or use solid-state cells in its cars.
© Thomson Reuters 2021
“At Xbox, we believe that with better tools, creators can make even more extraordinary games,” Haiyan Zhang, GM, Xbox Gaming AI, said in a blog post. “This partnership will bring together: Inworld’s expertise in working with generative AI models for character development, Microsoft’s cutting-edge cloud-based AI solutions including Azure OpenAI Service, Microsoft Research’s technical insights into the future of play, and Team Xbox’s strengths in revolutionizing accessible and responsible creator tools for all developers.”
The aforementioned AI design copilot is a toolset that will help game designers turn prompts into scripts and dialogue trees. In contrast, the character runtime will enable dynamically generated plot beats and quests. We’ve already seen heavy AI integration in games by way of procedural generation — a more recent example being the 1000+ planets in Starfield. Not to mention, enemy AI has been around for way longer.
Inworld made headlines in August when it launched a modded story mode for Grand Theft Auto V, Sentient Streets, in which players had to investigate the rise of a bizarre AI-worshipping cult — a segment loaded with characters that spoke in AI-generated dialogue, on the fly. The mod was later taken down by publisher Take-Two, leaving a permanent strike on the creator Bloc’s YouTube channel. As per The Verge, Inworld’s AI technology can also be used for narration in top-down RPGs to warn players about any events awaiting off-screen and respond to questions like we’ve seen in the past year with AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat. Microsoft has also been heavily banking on artificial intelligence, having made a $10 billion (about Rs. 83,254 crore) investment in OpenAI. The company has also integrated AI tools into its popular suite of services and also added an AI copilot to Windows.
Despite being a Microsoft-affiliated AI toolset, it would be interesting to see whether titles using them will be allowed to thrive on other platforms. In July, Valve claimed that it would be cracking down on games that included AI-generated assets if the developer didn’t own the copyright to the piece of art. For the uninitiated, when you insert a prompt to create something in AI, the software simply repurposes existing assets found online and mushes them together — basically stealing from other artists and writers without appropriate commercial licenses. Infringing them would lead to the game not being distributed on Steam, forcing the developers to seek proper licenses for the asset by reaching out to the AI companies involved. It’s unclear how Microsoft’s partnership will play out — as long as AI content is being used as a catalyst to innovate and create something new, it should be fine.
In a post on X shared by BSNL’s Andhra Pradesh (@bsnl_ap_circle) unit, the company confirmed that BSNL users can upgrade their older 2G or 3G SIMs to a 4G SIM for free. Not only will the upgrade be free, but a promotional image shared with the post suggests that users who opt for the upgrade will also receive 4GB of free data that will be valid for three months. It is speculated that BSNL is aiming to boost its upcoming 4G services with this offer. The announcement was first spotted by Telecom Talk.
To access the free data offer and the free upgrade, BSNL users are requested to get in touch with executives at BSNL’s Customer Service Centre, franchisee or retailer stores, or contact one of their Direct Selling Agents (DSA). The promo image also adds in a finer print that the offer is available with certain terms and conditions, but hasn’t detailed any, so far.
Reliance’s Jio recently launched the 4G-supported Bharat B1 feature phone in India. The handset is priced at Rs. 1,299 in India. Alongside 4G connectivity, the phone comes with JioCinema and JioSaavn applications pre-installed.
The Jio Bharat B1 is equipped with the JioPay application, which is said to allow users to make UPI payments. Aiming to increase accessibility, the phone supports 23 languages overall, including multiple regional languages.
Realme, via Weibo, announced the arrival of the Realme GT 5 Pro in China. The display of the handset is confirmed to offer 3000 nits peak brightness. It has also been teased to offer heat dissipation with a surface area of around 10,000mm2. It is confirmed to ship with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. The post doesn’t specify the exact launch date of the smartphone, however, given the release of the teasers, the launch could be just around the corner.
The Realme GT 5 Pro has been in the news a lot lately. It is expected to feature a 6.78-inch (1,264×2,780 pixels) AMOLED display and is tipped to come in 8GB, 12GB, and 16GB RAM options along with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB inbuilt storage options.
For optics, the Realme GT 5 Pro is said to have a triple rear camera unit comprising two 50-megapixel sensors and an 8-megapixel shooter at the rear. The camera setup might include a Sony LYTIA LYT808 sensor, an OmniVision OV08D10 secondary sensor, and a Sony IMX890 telephoto sensor. For selfies, there could be a 32-megapixel sensor at the front. It is said to carry a 5,400mAh battery with support for 100W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The Realme GT 5 Pro is expected to come with upgrades over Realme GT 5. The latter was launched in China in August with a price tag of CNY 2,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
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