Hot New Battery: Twice The Charge At One Tenth Of The Money

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

What was the problem of EVs again? It’s the battery. Too expensive. Empty too fast. Also known as price and range.

Japan’s Sumitomo Electric thinks they have a solution, in the true sense of the word. Their molten salt battery is said to cost about 10 percent of the price of lithium ion batteries. It also holds twice the charge. That according to The Nikkei [sub] .

  • Molten salt technology has been around for decades, but existing molten-salt batteries need to be kept at a temperature higher than 300 C. Sumitomo Electric and researchers at Kyoto University developed a sodium material that melts at 57 C.
  • The new battery has roughly double the energy density of a typical lithium ion battery. That would give a car twice the range as when powered by a lithium ion battery of the same size.
  • Molten-salt batteries have high heat and impact resistance and are less prone to go up in flames than lithium ion batteries.
  • Sodium is much cheaper than lithium. It is in abundant supply. The new battery is expected to be priced at about 20,000 yen ($ 243) per kilowatt-hour — about 10 percent of Made in Japan li-ion batteries and a fifth of Chinese batteries.

An where’s the catch, you ask? There is a little problem: The new battery must be kept at 80 centigrade (176 F) to output power. In a car, most of the energy would be used to heat the battery. Until that problem is solved, Sumitomo Electric wants to use the battery in controlled environments; such as homes and electric buses. Sorry!

Sumitomo Electric wants the hot battery ready for sale in 2015.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Cmoibenlepro Cmoibenlepro on Mar 03, 2011

    This technology was already used in the Th!nk car (a former Ford subsidiary in Norway)

  • Twotone Twotone on Mar 03, 2011

    A margarita on wheels -- I love it!

  • Kericf Kericf on Mar 03, 2011

    Why not have something like the engine warmer on diesels. You plug it when when the car isn't running to keep the temperature up. Considering all the heat generated by the electric motor and various parts of the car there should be enough heat to keep the battery going while you are driving but it would take good design to make good use of that heat. Either way this is an interesting development. I think I would rather have to deal with molten salt than flaming lithium during a crash.

  • Akitadog Akitadog on Mar 04, 2011

    This seems a better solution for a residence that uses solar or wind energy, in order to store and use energy overnight.

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