24M Technologies has developed a battery packing system that can increase EV driving range by up to 50%. 24M ETOP (Electrode-to-Pack) features technology that seals electrodes in thin polymer films that are then integrated directly into the pack to vastly improve packaging efficiencies.
Currently, battery manufacturers and car makers build modules and packs from individual cells meaning that lithium-ion batteries feature a large proportion of inactive, non-energy-carrying materials – such as supporting metals and plastics – within a cell’s casing, adding cost and wasting space.
24M ETOP replaces this approach by creating a sealed cathode/anode pair that eliminates the cell and module and unnecessary materials. This allows manufacturers to achieve the highest energy density for any chemistry (NMC, LFP, NCA, sodium-ion, LTO, LiS) available at the pack level, because a higher percentage of the battery is electrodes, the energy-storing components.
The ETOP solution enables electrodes to comprise 80% of a pack’s volume, compared to the 30% to 60% of traditional battery packs. This offers customers improved EV ranges by packing more energy into the same-sized pack or reducing EV costs by using less expensive chemistries.
For example, a 75kWh NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) battery – the size and type used by many mid-sized electric vehicles – with 24M ETOP could be increased to 100kWh using the same chemistry, increasing range by 33% within the same-sized pack. ETOP enables manufacturers to swap NMC chemistry for less expensive LFP (lithium-iron phosphate) technology, resulting in a less costly pack, but with the same overall range.
The ETOP features a design flexibility that enables completely customizable battery packs in different voltages and virtually any shape. OEMs and designers can create shapes such as ovals and hexagons.
The solution aims to ease manufacturing. With the electrodes sealed individually, electrode safety tolerances do not have to be as tight as in a traditional battery, improving yield and safety while reducing investment costs by eliminating the need for traditional high-tolerance and precision equipment. Because the sealed electrodes can be flipped, they can be connected in series and parallel arrangements, enabling anything from a compact 48V battery all the way up to a mixed series/parallel 400-800V pack, giving battery designers further freedom. ETOP also enables cell formation to be done in series which can reduce formation equipment investment.
Naoki Ota, president and CEO at 24M Technologies, said, “Minimizing packaging materials and wasted space, 24M ETOP brings a step change in performance, replacing traditional cell-to-module-to-pack construction with electrode-to-pack construction, maximizing energy density.” He continued, “24M ETOP makes it easier to build compact, flexible and safe high-voltage batteries, presenting a revolutionary opportunity for electric vehicle manufacturers – longer ranges with the same chemistry or the same range with lower cost, safer chemistries, both in the same space. It truly is the closest version of an ideal battery – it is essentially all active material in a sophisticated wrapper.”
24M ETOP can also be used with 24M’s Impervio separator, Eternalyte electrolyte, and its LiForever electrode, all of which are aimed at creating a fundamentally safer, higher performing and longer-lived battery through the reimagination of internal battery design.
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