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Making EV Batteries More Sustainable

Led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a consortium of the nation’s top battery scientists will accelerate the commercialization of a new family of battery cathode materials called DRX or “disordered rock salt.” Watch this video to learn how DRX cathodes could provide batteries with higher energy density than conventional Li-ion battery cathodes made of nickel and cobalt, two metals that are in critically short supply.

“DRX offers more sustainable, more abundant, and cheaper mineral sources for battery cathodes,” said principal investigator Gerbrand Ceder  . “The lithium-ion battery is a really good energy storage technology, but to stay relevant, it will need to grow toward higher production of multiple terawatt hours per year. Without DRX, lithium-ion batteries would require enormous amounts of nickel and cobalt if we stay with current technologies.”

Topics:
Automotive Batteries Electrification Energy Power

More From SAE Media Group

    Transcript

    00:00:00 A new battery material called disordered rock salt (DRX) could pave the way for replacing gasoline vehicles with electric vehicles at an accelerated pace. DRX cathodes could provide lithium-ion batteries with higher energy density than conventional cathodes made of nickel and cobalt. Researchers at Berkeley Lab are testing DRX cathode materials made of manganese or titanium which are both more abundant and cheaper than nickel or cobalt. The Berkeley Lab team first used computational experiments

    00:00:28 to develop DRX. Now they are testing hundreds of DRX cathodes at a time. The work supports the larger efforts of the DRX Consortium, a DOE-funded project led by Berkeley Lab. New battery materials have traditionally taken decades to commercialize. But now, DRX cathodes could be ready to roll out in just a few years.