Tesla researcher demonstrates battery that can last 100 years

Whoops, that would be nice: a battery that can last 100 years. A Tesla researcher is investigating this.

You already have experience with it yourself. Like with your smartphone, which needs to be charged sooner after three years of intensive use. This is also the case with EVs and their manufacturers have been concerned about this for a long time. Replacing it costs a lot of money and is not sustainable. But a Tesla researcher is getting ready to solve this problem once and for all. This after he demonstrated batteries that could potentially outlast most people.

Tesla battery that can last 100 years

Tesla enthusiasts have probably already heard of Jeff Dahn. He is a professor at Dalhousie University and has been a Tesla research partner since 2016. His focus was on increasing the energy density and longevity of lithium-ion batteries. And thereby reducing their costs. Dahn is not sitting still, because together with colleagues in his research team, he has conducted a new study. In a paper published in the Journal of the Electrochemical Society, the group claims to have created a battery design that can last 100 years under the right conditions.

Dahn’s paper contrasts cells based on Li [Ni0.5Mn0.3Co0.2] O2 chemistry (“NMC 532”) with LiFePO4. The LFP chemistry has a lower energy density than the more widespread lithium-ion alternatives, but is cheaper, more durable and reportedly safer. LFP can last up to 12,000 charge-discharge cycles. Dahn’s NMC 532 cells showed no capacity loss after nearly 2000 cycles. The paper extrapolates this to a lifespan of 100 years (they obviously haven’t tested the battery that long).

Sustainable

Dahn had previously promised the “million-mile battery” and has been testing cells based on his modified chemistry since October 2017. Apparently they work well and after 4.5 years of continuous cycling at room temperature they have only 5% degradation. This would mean that they can power an EV for 4 million miles (more than 6 million kilometers) with a Tesla battery before needing to be replaced.