World's first 18650-sized potassium-ion battery aims to fill lithium gap

The 18650-format potassium-ion battery was launched at the 14th annual Beyond Lithium Conference at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. - Group1

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The vast majority of our portable electronic gadgets, and the new wave of electric transportation, are powered by lithium batteries. Texas-based startup Group1 has developed a more sustainable alternative, and has now launched the world's first 18650 potassium-ion battery.

Group1 was co-founded in 2021 by battery tech veterans, including Leigang Xue who currently serves as Chief Product Officer but previously worked in the lab of 2019 Nobel Laureate and battery pioneer Dr. John Goodenough at University of Texas at Austin – who co-invented the Li-ion battery.

It was in this lab that Dr. Xue invented the company's Potassium Prussian White (KBW) cathode material – which is reported to be the key development that enables production of the "safer, quickly charging, more efficient and sustainable" potassium-ion battery (KIB).

To make a KIB cell, KBW is paired with a commercial-grade graphite anode, along with readily available electrolyte formulations and separators – with the company also highlighting the distinct lack of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper in the new batteries.

"As our transition away from fossil fuels accelerates, the demand for lithium-ion batteries is spiking quickly, and our lithium supplies will soon be incapable of meeting that demand," said CEO Alexander Gira as the company came out of stealth in 2022. "Group1 and potassium-ion batteries can provide a viable alternative to bridge this supply gap."

Group1 notes that potassium is more than a thousand times more abundant than lithium, and its KBW cathode is produced using low-temperature sustainable processes.

“As our transition away from fossil fuels accelerates”

Hmm. I read that world consumption of fossil fuels continues to increase.

IMHO consumption of fossil fuels does not constitute an emergency.
OTOH production of available energy via solar, or other practical “renewables,” is also not a problem. We have plenty of CO₂ in the atmosphere now, so plants can grow readily.
The thing to understand is that generation of electricity from solar is a rapidly advancing technology. Whereas heat engine technology is quite mature. Each time you double the number of units of something that has ever been made, Wright’s Law projects that cost and quality will improve by a consistent factor (Mr. Theodore Wright identified the cost improvement factor as being 28%, for the particular case of the production of a given structural component of an aircraft).
Because so many billions of heat engines have been made over the past century plus, it takes a lot to double that number, and improvements come slowly. Solar panels basically started from scratch around 1960, and for a long time they were a niche product without much of a market. But now enough solar panels have been made to sustain so many halvings of the cost of production that the cost-effectiveness of solar panels has turned the corner, and the production rate has accelerated in a serious way.
It has gotten to the point where the use of solar panels should always be considered any time you have sun-facing room for them and good use for the electricity.

giant CATL has your first point covered with two technologies in production today it’s just not available in the USA because we don’t allow BYD motors yet...when they get here the legacy automakers are dead.

As to your second point. I have sitting next to each other a S60 Volvo AWD T5 and a Model 3 RWD LR. They are within one inch of each other in footprint that is length and width. They both ride on identical P4 Pirelli 18s 45 aspect ratio and I mean identical they have the same tire is codes since I put them on myself I know they are the same tires. The S60 is also 200lbs heavier vs the model 3 all that AWD drive is heavy vs light electric motors. Based on weight the S60 has higher tire patch psi and therefore wear rates. The 430+ HP of the model 3 also blows the S60 doors off in a side by side race. Been there with the wife driving the model 3 so I could shift the S60 at red line something she won’t do. So your second point is moot for a 5 passenger luxury sedan. The hummer EV might be heavier but not a Model 3 or Model S vs say a dodge charger of equal size.

Potassium is much more abundant than lithium so it should take less energy to concentrate it to pure form vs more dilute lithium. Never ever forget that pocket supercomputer you are using to post things cannot exist without the brilliance of UT Austin and their lithium ion battery. No other power cell tech had the density to make such a device possible before lithium ion was invented. Nicad no even in the same league ,same for nickel metal hydride. Lead acid please come to the 21st century. This KIB is neck and neck with LFP cells in production that alone means they will be commercialized for power tools, personal electronics and medical devices any EV us is just along for the ride. The market for the first three uses dwarfs the EV market. The next gen of cells is already in the works solid state with double valent Ca and Mg ions then right behind them are solid Al+3 cells with triple the electrons of lithium that by physics alone triples the capacity per ion. Anything a lithium cell does with a given cathode aluminum does three times more atom for atom. Aluminum is also the third most abundant element after Silicon and Oxygen. Aluminium graphene cells have proven to charge at 66C read that again 66C is full charged in under a minute. Obviously you cannot push 6 megawatts over a minute to charge a 100kwh pack in a single min. You can push enough to charge a phone battery or a power tool in a minutes time that’s where crazy high C rates matter. EVs need 10C for a 6 min charge that equals a petrol stop.

I have owned a number of vehicles that didn’t have 300+ mile ranges on a full tank of petrol. Both of my Ford explorers didn’t, the K5 blazer nope barely 220 on a full tank. Rx7 had just over 225 range. My Jaguar with dual tanks ten gal each would go maybe 300 city if I was nice to it a s didn’t open up the V12 then it drank petrol like a drunk sailor. Only having 200 ish miles didn’t matter when you could put 20 gal in 5 or 6 min at a pump. Once 10C LFP or Algr or Naion cells become common range as an issue disappears for City and suburban types. In the City you are always within a few miles of a HVDC point. I’m in Addison Texas today there are 30 spots in 3 miles radius for my Model 3 open right now all of them 100kw or above. Range anxiety is a boomer issue I trust the tech to take me home or to a HVDC point along the way. I have taken my 3 as far as terlingua way out in West Texas for chili fest last November and as far East as Orlando FL never once had a issue finding a supercharger or a CCS 50+kw on someone else’s network. Even on the way to Terlingua there was a supercharger in Alpine Texas well within the radius to get from there and back. Use ARCGIS drop a 150 mile radius around every supercharger the areas not covered are where a Model 3 LR can get out and back with 50 miles in reserve. Hint virtually no where in Texas is not covered by a radius. Look for yourself.

https://chargefinder.com/us/search

Zoom into far west Texas then drop 150 mile circles. The only place not covered is by the Mexican border del Rio area. You could find L2 charges I limited it to fast DC only.

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