Panasonic aims for EV batteries with 20 percent higher energy density by 2030

Panasonic Energy, one of Tesla’s battery suppliers, wants to increase the energy density of its batteries by 20 percent in the coming years. The company wants to achieve this with a new mix of materials and chemicals.

The new composition should, among other things, increase the voltage of a Panasonic battery from 4.2 volts to 4.3 or 4.4 volts. This ensures that the energy density can be higher, claims Panasonic Energy CTO Shoichiro Watanabe to Reuters. Currently, Panasonic’s most advanced battery has an energy density of roughly 750 watt-hours per litre. This should eventually become 900Wh/l.

In practice, this can, for example, add up to 100 kilometers to the range of a Tesla Model Y, while the battery remains the same size. Instead, the company could also install smaller batteries without affecting the range of an EV, which could save weight and costs.

Watanabe also explains that the company has developed a way to prevent ‘microcracking’; the formation of small cracks in the cathode. Those cracks have a negative effect on the life of the battery. The battery must be better protected by means of monocrystalline materials.

The company is also working on replacing part of the graphite with materials based on silicon, a technique that, according to the Dutch company E-magy, could even provide a 40 percent higher energy density. Silicon materials, on the other hand, are significantly more expensive than graphite, forcing Panasonic to balance the cost with any performance gains.

According to a battery science expert, Panasonic Energy’s claim is plausible. “Increasing the energy density by 20 percent is certainly possible,” the source told Reuters. Studies would have already shown that such a battery can be realized in practice. In fact, batteries with an energy density of more than 900Wh/l have been working in controlled environments for some time. Samsung did this a few years ago, for example.