DOE awarding $19M to 12 projects for advanced battery and electrification research to enable extreme fast charging
30 April 2018
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is awarding $19 million in funding to 12 cost-shared research projects focused on batteries and vehicle electrification technologies to enable extreme fast charging. (DE-FOA-0001808, earlier post.) Selected research projects are focused on developing electric vehicle systems that can recharge rapidly at high power levels, decreasing typical charge times to 15 minutes or less using a connector or wireless fast charging system.
The projects will help advance DOE’s research on batteries and electrification aimed at reducing battery pack cost to less than $100 per kilowatt-hour, increasing range to more than 300 miles, and charging in under 15 minutes or less by 2028.
Recharging current EV batteries takes much longer than refueling the average liquid-fueled internal combustion vehicle. Slower charge rates are required to allow the lithium-ions to penetrate to the deepest portions of the active material on the electrode.
Charging at too high a rate runs the risk of lithium plating, increased battery temperature, and other detrimental side chemical reactions which decrease life and performance characteristics of the batteries.
Nine of the selected battery projects focus on advanced anodes, electrolytes, and battery cell designs that can be charged rapidly—in less than 10 minutes—while still maintaining performance over the 10-year life goal:
UC San Diego. Research surface-acoustic wave turbulent electrolyte mixing during charging to enable rapid charging. DOE award: $653,641.
Pennsylvania State University. Research advanced battery cell designs and strategies to operate and improve life and fast charging at higher temperatures. DOE award: $1,000,000.
University of Michigan. Research three-dimensional hierarchical graphite architectures for anodes for fast charging. DOE award: $1,500,000.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Research of an advanced electrolyte and optimized cell design to enable extreme fast charging. DOE award: $1,500,000.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Novel electrolyte research that increases the transport rate of lithium-ion from cathode to anode. DOE award: $900,000.
Microvast Inc. Develop new electrolyte additives, optimized active materials, and electrode formulations. DOE award: $1,500,000.
State University of New York - Stony Brook University. Research to control lithium deposition over-potential on metal-coated graphite electrodes. DOE award: $800,000.
University of Tennessee. Research on high power, doped titanium-niobium oxide anodes. DOE award: $720,000.
Coulometrics, LLC. Research advanced battery cell designs with lower resistance to enable extreme fast charging. DOE award: $1,000,000.
The three selected electrification projects will develop and verify electric drive systems and infrastructure for electric vehicle extreme fast charging, which increases charging power levels from current home charging at 7 kW to power levels up to 400 kW. They will also reduce typical charging times from 8 hours down to 15 minutes or less.
Wireless Advanced Vehicle Electrification Inc. Develop high-power wireless extreme fast charging technology that reduces charging time for electric drayage trucks at the Port of Los Angeles. DOE award: $4,292,137.
Delta Products Corporation. Design and test a high-efficiency, medium voltage solid- state transformer based 400-kW extreme fast charger for electric vehicles. DOE award: $3,499,962.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Develop a high power inductive extreme fast charging system that is fully automated, modular, and scaleable for electric vehicles. DOE award: $2,207,902.
California has recently encountered rolling blackouts due to local power companies not paying their wholesale provider. Yet, they believe fully electrifying the Port of LA with 400KW charging will be possible in the near future. They need to readjust priorities to even be capable to support what they desire long term.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=93795&page=1
- Officials at California's Independent System Operator (ISO), which monitors the state's power grid, called a Stage Three alert at midday because of increased temperatures, a higher power demand and a lack of electricity from the Northwest. (Key note the article is dated March 19th and the "increased temps" shocked the grid)
- Further complicating the situation was the closure of two power plants. One was offline for maintenance and the other was shutdown due to unpaid bills, the officials said.
Posted by: YutaRyu84 | 01 May 2018 at 12:08 PM
Now imagine what it will be like if the conspiracy to shut down Diablo Canyon isn't foiled in the courts.
Posted by: Engineer-Poet | 01 May 2018 at 02:24 PM