Ionic Materials unveils aluminium-based rechargeable alkaline batteries for EVs

<p>With the electric vehicles becoming the order of the future, technology experts are spending hours in the lab developing battery technologies that are better than the best. In a similar endeavour to design a cheaper yet safer alternative to lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, Sun Microsystems co-founder Bill Joy and his company Ionic Materials has recently introduced a solid-state alkaline battery design using aluminium instead of zinc.</p> <p>Aluminium-based alkaline batteries could potentially weigh less than lithium-ion designs and could be cheaper than the alkaline designs available today, Joy told the New York Times.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/chargingEV.jpg" alt="News" width="500" height="439" /></p> <p>The prototype designs of the aluminium-based alkaline batteries have demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles; Ionic Materials believes that the number of recharge cycles could be tripled.</p> <p>According to Joy and his team, the three main possible applications of the new alkaline battery technology would be consumer electronics, electric cars, and energy storage for the power grid.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>Presently, Ionic Materials does not have a factory to manufacture the rechargeable aluminium-based alkaline batteries on a commercial scale. It would take around five years for the company to commercialise it.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the prices of lithium-ion batteries have dropped significantly over the past few years. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), &ldquo;The real take-off for EVs will happen in the second half of the 2020s due to plunging lithium-ion battery prices, which are set to fall by more than 70% by 2030.&rdquo;</p>