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  Zeng Yuqun, chairman of CATL, stressed the importance of battery recycling at the Davos 2024. The company recycled a large amount of lithium carbonate last year, with the recovery rate exceeding 90%. It is predicted that the recycling of retired batteries in 2035 can meet the market demand, set a benchmark for global battery recycling, and lead the industry to a green, efficient and sustainable future.   At the Davos 2024, the words of Zeng Yuqun, attracted global attention. What he proposed is not how to renovate the batteries, but how to turn the used batteries into valuable resources for the CATL. Battery recycling problem is a key problem, lithium, nickel, cobalt prices have been sold to hundreds of thousands of yuan a ton. At the same time, the battery recycling is directly related to the environmental protection issues.   Ni Jun, chief manufacturing officer of CATL, has previously shown that Ningde Times has become the world's largest battery recycler of electric vehicles, with recovery rates of more than 99 percent of nickel, cobalt and manganese, and lithium of more than 90 percent. Behind this achievement is the excellent performance of Brunp, a subsidiary of CATL, whose data of "nickel-cobalt-manganese recovery rate of more than 99%, and lithium recovery rate of more than 90%" is impressive. In 2042, there will be no need to mine lithium, and existing batteries can be recycled.   Under the multiple challenges of technology, economy and scale, CATL is leading the global battery recycling industry to a greener, more efficient and sustainable future with an innovative and cooperative attitude. China's lithium battery recycling is leading the world, which also solves the worries of battery recycling for the rapid development of new energy vehicles in China, reduce environmental pollution, and complete the commercial closed loop. The technology is very social and economic benefits.

What is the difference between gel cell and AGM batteries? AGM Vs Gel Batteries Tutorial AGM and Gel cell batteries are both non-spillable and maintenance-free batteries that share quite a few common traits. Because of these common traits, they often get mistaken for each other, which can cause issues if the battery is being used in an application that is not ideal for its technology.   Construction Differences AGM Construction AGM stands for absorbed glass mat, which uses a specially designed glass mat to absorb the battery’s liquid electrolyte surrounding the lead plates. AGM batteries contain enough liquid to keep the matting wet but not too much liquid where excess liquid is not absorbed. For this reason, AGM batteries are considered non-spillable batteries, and should the case break, no free liquid is available to leak out.   Gel Construction Gel Cell batteries contain an acid-based silica-type gel electrolyte. This electrolyte has the consistency of a thick paste-like material that allows electrons to flow between plates.   Gel batteries like AGMs are considered non-spillable and will not leak from the battery if the case is broken.   Common Traits Often, AGM Batteries are mistakenly identified as Gel Cell Batteries, given their non-spillable construction. Both AGM and Gel batteries have similar traits, such as being: Non-spillable Found in Deep cycle applications Mounted on their side or standing up Low self-discharge rate Safe for use in limited ventilation areas May be transported via Air or Ground safely without special handling AGM Characteristics AGMs are versatile batteries that tend to outsell Gel batteries by at least 100 to 1. The main reason for their versatility is that they can release high bursts of amps and hold under load at lower depths of discharge.   An AGM's ability to release high bursts of amps makes them ideal for starting applications. Today, you will find starting AGM batteries in Automotive, Marine, RV, Motorcycle, ATV, and other Powersport applications. In fact, most motorcycle and ATV manufacturers primarily use AGM batteries for their OEM batteries.   While AGM batteries use a liquid electrolyte, they do not off-gas like flooded batteries. AGMs are designed to reintroduce the gasses back into the battery, so they are great for applications with limited ventilation. Also, since the batteries do not off-gas, corrosion is non-existent.   An AGM's ability to hold under load at lower depths of discharge gives it an added edge over flooded or gel batteries. Just be aware that AGM batteries typically have the same cycle life as flooded batteries, so excessively discharging the battery can reduce cycle life.   The average AGM brand will see about 500 cycles at 50% depth of discharge, with premium brands like Lifeline Battery seeing 1000+ cycles. If your needs are not extreme, it is worth suitably sizing the battery so it isn’t discharged over 50%.   Charging an AGM Battery Picture of an Quick Power battery isolator Since AGM batteries use liquid electrolyte, they can typically be charged with the same charger you used on your flooded batteries. In most cases, a good-quality standard battery charger or engine alternator using a battery isolator is all you will need for an AGM battery.   The only issue you might need to address regarding charging is that more advanced charges might have an equalization setting. Since the electrolyte in an AGM battery is suspended in the fiberglass matting, there is no reason to equalize the battery so that this setting can be disabled.   If you have a newer charger with an AGM setting, we recommend using this setting, as it will typically disable the charger's equalization setting.   AGM Advantages While not a complete list, these are the main advantages of AGM batteries: Low self-discharge rate Ability to hold under load at lower depths of discharge. Ability to release high bursts of amp. Used in both Starting and Deep Cycle Applications No need for a special charger means they can easily replace a flooded battery. Non-spillable No corrosion Gel Characteristics Due to their construction, Gel Cell Batteries are typically a bit more costly. However, gel batteries excel in cycle life, with some higher-end lines like MK Battery offering up to 2x the cycle life at a 50% depth of discharge over the average AGM battery.   Gel batteries react slower than AGM or Flooded batteries. This slower reaction time has the positive effect of increasing cycle life and slowing the battery's aging process.   For this reason, we find them being used exclusively by mobility devices like electric wheelchairs and scooters. We also find gel batteries great for marine and RV applications, where the batteries tend to get excessively discharged.   GEL Limitations Gel cell batteries, however, do have a couple of caveats that people need to be aware of when deciding whether to go with an AGM or Gel battery.   First, gel batteries are typically only recommended for moderate deep-cycle applications as they cannot release high amounts of amps like an AGM or flooded battery. In other words, we would not recommend a gel battery for an application like a winch that requires a 100+ amp draw.

Most electric car batteries are made of varying quantities of lithium-ion, cobalt, nickel, manganese, silicon and electrolytes. Within that are battery cells, which consist of the anode and cathode, the separator, the electrolyte, and the positive and negative current collectors (think flat side and side with the bump in an AA battery). But what does that mean exactly? Why lithium? Which ions? Fear not — we're here to explain what electric car batteries are made of. To start, let's establish that even though a Tesla battery and a Chevrolet Bolt battery are both lithium-ion batteries, that doesn't mean that they're made the same. Battery chemistry has a huge impact on the way a battery pack charges and discharges, how it manages heat, how much energy each cell in the battery pack can store, and what each cell costs. That's why battery manufacturers like Panasonic, CATL, Samsung SDI and LG are always trying to tweak their chemistry to get the best performance and lowest costs. The exact recipes for most manufacturers' battery cells aren't public information, as each company has its proprietary formula. Still, the basic ingredients are more or less the same, so let's break down what they are and what they do, starting with lithium. Lithium The lithium in a lithium-ion ("Li-ion" for short) battery makes up the cathode and anode, aka the positive and negative sides of a battery cell. The lithium ions move around inside the positive side of the cell (cathode) and generate electrons that, being negatively charged, want to get to the negative side (anode) of the battery but can't because of the separator between the cathode and anode. This means that the electrons will flow out of the positive side of the battery, through your device, powering it, and then back to the anode. The lithium in the cell isn't pure elemental lithium because it's far too reactive with other elements to be safe. Instead, the lithium used is in the form of a lithium metal oxide, which stabilizes the mix. In most cases, manufacturers use lithium cobalt oxide on the cathode side of the battery and lithium-carbon compounds on the anode. Cobalt Cobalt is used in batteries for two main reasons. First, it offers excellent energy density, meaning that the more cobalt a battery cell uses (to a point), the more electricity it can store. The other advantage is that cobalt increases the thermal stability of a battery cell. Why is thermal stability important? In our related article about electric car fires, we noted that the less a battery is reactive to temperature changes, the less prone it is to thermal runaway, and therefore less prone to bursting into a difficult-to-extinguish lithium fire. The overreliance on cobalt does have its downsides. Cobalt is considered a rare-earth element, and as the name implies, it isn't very common. That makes it expensive to source. It also tends to be found in regions that suffer from a great deal of political and societal instability, which can lead to wild price fluctuations as well as significant human rights abuses by mining companies and the countries in which they operate. These issues have led battery manufacturers to try to reduce the amount of cobalt in their chemistries. They offset the cobalt with nickel, which is considerably cheaper and less rare, but it too has its downsides. Nickel Nickel is used in batteries to increase a cell's energy density, similar to cobalt. Unlike cobalt, however, nickel-rich battery cells can have issues with microcracking on the surface of the cathode. This can cause performance degradation in a shorter time than a battery with less nickel and more cobalt. There are still plenty of upsides to using nickel. First, it sells for about $18,000 to $21,000 per ton, compared to cobalt, which regularly goes for over $30,000 per ton and has greater price fluctuations. Next, those microcracks that cause performance loss can be mitigated by using a "gradient" in the cathode construction. This means that the center of the cathode is mostly nickel, and then other metals with different performance characteristics are layered over it. Manganese The third main ingredient in many battery chemistries is manganese. While nickel and cobalt work with lithium to increase energy storage, manganese keeps everything together and stable. It's a structural additive, and as such, is used in smaller percentages than nickel or cobalt. Silicon Silicon is used in the anode alongside lithium and carbon to increase energy density. When you increase the energy density on the positive side of the cell with nickel and cobalt, those electrons will need a place to go after their trip through your EV's motors. Silicon is great because it's stable, inexpensive, and can hold around 10 times as many electrons as graphite. Electrolyte Without an electrolyte in a battery cell, there would be no way for electrons to move from the anode to the cathode during charging. It's the secret sauce that makes the whole battery work. There are several kinds of electrolytes and the chemistry can get complex, but they break down into a few different families. Aqueous solutions are liquid, while non-aqueous solutions aren't. Then we have ionic liquids, which are more temperature-stable and have better transfer characteristics than organic aqueous and non-aqueous solutions. Next, there are polymer electrolytes, which use plastics as their binding agents. Lastly, we have hybrid electrolytes, which are hybrids of the other types. Separator The separator's main job inside a cell is to prevent short circuits from occurring by separating the cathode and anode. The separator is typically made from microporous plastic and allows some electron flow from the cathode directly to the anode, which is known as self-discharge. This is normal, but when a cell gets too hot, the separator acts as a kind of fuse for the cell. The plastic in the separator melts and those micropores close up, fully sequestering one side of the cell from the other and hopefully preventing a nasty fire. Edmunds says There's plenty of advanced chemistry happening inside an electric car's battery. Since many EV batteries rely on rare-earth metals, they make up the most expensive part of the vehicle and are part of the reason why MSRPs remain high.

There are international efforts to adopt net zero emissions by 2050, and lithium is the battery chemistry of choice. The valuable metal is the key active material in rechargeable batteries for both consumer electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy systems, although the percentage of batteries that contain lithium will vary depending on the battery application, type, and size. In 2022, according to sources, lithium-ion batteries were the dominant technology for electric vehicles and some renewable energy systems which account for 60% of the global battery market, with the prediction of reaching 85% by 2030. Albeit, this does not mean that all lithium-ion batteries use the same amount of lithium, as different chemistries have different compositions and performance characteristics. The top five lithium batteries are: Lithium iron phosphate. Lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide. Lithium manganese oxide. Lithium nickel cobalt aluminium. Lithium titanate. It depends on the want and need of the features, such as energy density, power performance, safety, lifespan, and cost to highlight the correct battery. Since 1996, the National Minerals Information Center has provided mineral year-books and mineral commodity summaries on the worldwide supply, demand, and flow of the mineral commodity lithium in the yearly U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). In the USGS’s 2023 global report, lithium reserves were estimated at 21 million t and distributed among various regions and countries. The top five countries with the largest lithium reserves were: Chile (9.3 million t), Australia (6.2 million t), Argentina (2.2 million t), China (1.5 million t), and the US (1.1 million t). One of the largest known lithium deposits identified in the US Concerning energy storage and battery technology, the recent identification of one of the largest lithium deposits in the US has sparked profound interest and anticipation within the energy sector. The vast new lithium deposit has been discovered in the Nevada-Oregon border region in a volcano crater, marking a significant milestone in the realm of sustainable energy. This newfound source of lithium has sparked intrigue across multiple industries which are reliant on battery technology and energy storage solutions. The deposit is estimated between 20 – 40 million t, which could make it the world’s largest source of lithium. This discovery is set to revolutionise the landscape of battery production and energy storage projects moving forward, particularly in Nevada and California. Battery manufacturers, energy storage companies, and researchers are eagerly anticipating the potential implications of tapping into these newfound lithium resources. Excitement in the industry The industry’s response to this groundbreaking discovery has been nothing short of electrifying. Battery manufacturers, energy storage companies, and researchers are eagerly anticipating the potential implications of tapping into these newfound lithium resources. The abundance of lithium in the US signifies a significant stride towards self-sufficiency in battery materials, reducing dependency on imports and potentially lowering costs for consumers. The prospects of leveraging these vast lithium deposits for battery technology are tantalising. Manufacturers are considering how this newfound resource could enhance the efficiency and performance of batteries, leading to advancements in electric vehicle capabilities and grid scale energy storage solutions. The excitement in the industry is palpable, fuelling ambitions for applications and sustainable energy practices. Inferred resource estimates The inferred resource estimates associated with these lithium deposits hold immense promise for driving future lithium extraction projects in the US. These estimates provide crucial insights into the potential size and quality of the deposits, guiding investment decisions and operational strategies for mining companies. With the increased focus on sustainable energy sources and the urgent need to transition towards cleaner technologies, the significance of inferred resource estimates cannot be overstated. The data derived from these estimates will play a pivotal role in shaping the development of extraction methods, environmental mitigation strategies, and supply chain management practices within the lithium mining sector. As the industry shifts towards a more sustainable and eco-conscious approach to energy storage, the reliable and extensive availability of lithium in the US offers a strategic advantage. By harnessing these inferred resources effectively, stakeholders aim to bolster domestic battery production, foster innovation in long-duration energy storage systems, and contribute to the global shift towards renewable energy sources. Addressing global energy needs This lithium deposit comes at a crucial time when the demand for energy storage solutions is skyrocketing worldwide. With the rapid expansion of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, the need for efficient and reliable energy storage systems has never been more urgent. The abundance of lithium in the US can play a pivotal role in meeting these escalating energy requirements and reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Implications for energy storage systems The discovery of this vast lithium resource has far-reaching implications for the development of long-duration energy storage systems. As the backbone of the transition to clean energy, advanced energy storage technologies are essential for stabilising the grid and ensuring a sustainable power supply. The availability of such a significant lithium deposit in the US paves the way for the accelerated deployment of cutting-edge storage solutions that can store immense amounts of energy for extended periods, enabling grid flexibility and enhancing renewable integration. This monumental discovery of one of the largest lithium deposits in the US heralds a new era of possibilities for battery technology and energy storage initiatives, paving the way for a greener and more resilient energy future. Enjoyed what you've read so far? Read the full article and the rest of the Spring issue of Energy Global by following the link or below, or why not register today for free!     For more news and technical articles from the global renewable industry, read the lat-est issue of Energy Global magazine. Energy Global's Spring 2024 issue The Spring 2024 issue of Energy Global starts with a guest comment from Field on how battery storage sites can serve as a viable solution to curtailed energy, before moving on to a region-al report from Théodore Reed-Martin, Editorial Assistant, Energy Global, looking at the state of re-newables in Europe. This issue also hosts an array of technical articles on electrical infrastructure, turbine and blade monitoring, battery storage technology, coatings, and more.

Virtual power plants (VPPs) in California using technologies including home batteries and demand response (DR) could provide 7.5GW of capacity in ten years’ time, 15% of peak demand, analysis from consultancy the Brattle Group shows. The report, California’s Virtual Power Potential: How Five Consumer Technologies Could Improve the State’s Energy Affordability, looks at the market potential for VPP deployment in the western US state which could save consumers US$550 million per year in California. Commissioned by non-profit organisation Gridlab, it examined five commercially available technologies: smart thermostat-based air-conditioning control, behind-the-meter batteries, residential electric vehicle charging, grid-interactive water heating, and automated demand response systems for large commercial buildings and industrial facilities. The five together could represent over 7.5GW of capacity, approximately a fivefold increase from the current demand response (DR) in California used in Resource Adequacy, by 2035. Not only could the deployment of VPPs in California generate over half a billion dollars in savings for consumers, but it could also avoid over US$750 million per year in system costs. This would translate to fewer new power plants needed and fewer necessary upgrades in transmission lines, and reduce risks linked to interconnection delays. This is an ever-growing issue in the US, with nearly 1TW of solar PV capacity in interconnection queues by the end of 2022. A previous report from the Brattle Group estimated that VPPs could save US utilities up to US$35 billion in the next decade with the deployment of 60GW of VPP. “In the face of rapidly rising utility bills across the state, this report shows the tremendous potential of VPPs to provide affordable, clean generating capacity as well as critical support for grid reliability,” said Ric O’Connell, executive director of Gridlab.

    With the theme of "IoT building the base of digital economy", this exhibition was held in Shenzhen International Convention and Exhibition Center. The three-day IOTE 2023 20th International Internet of Things Exhibition Shenzhen station came to an end, and this grand ceremony was full of harvest.     Through interactive exchanges in the form of exhibitions, forums, speeches, seminars, etc., we aim to explore the application and prospects of the battery industry in the future, displaying primary batteries, secondary batteries, energy storage batteries, and focusing on a series of achievements of batteries in the field of new energy. In terms of technology: improve battery efficiency and reuse, emphasize battery safety, and reduce battery costs; In business: Emphasizing cooperation, the exhibition follows the market development trend, creating an opportunity for the lithium battery industry to enhance brand degree and expand domestic and foreign markets, and jointly creating a new energy vehicle ecosystem.     At this exhibition, we can learn that the battery industry is more and more widely used in various fields. New energy batteries can not only improve the convenience of life, but also have great potential to promote economic development and the effectiveness of resource utilization. The space for the advancement of new energy in practical applications is still huge, and we still need to continue to reclaim and innovate.