From pv magazine USA
Our Next Energy (ONE) has secured $65 million in a funding round led by BMW i Ventures to scale up its electric vehicle business. The funds add to a $25 million Series A funding round in October that was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
ONE has signed contracts with four automakers and has a five-year, 25GWh energy storage pipeline. This equates to 300,000 electric vehicles, it said. It noted that the latest round of funding will help it begin the site selection process for its first US-based battery factory. It said it will also accelerate R&D in Michigan and San Francisco.
In January, ONE created a proof-of-concept device with 732 miles of range. In another pilot, the company paired a Tesla Model S with an experimental battery with 203.7kWh and an energy density of 416Wh/L. The battery was able to power the Model S at 55 miles per hours for 882 miles on a single charge, as validated by third-party testing.
“ONE’s core principles of doubling the range, decreasing the cost of the batteries and creating a local supply chain, resonated strongly with us at BMW i Ventures,” said Baris Guzel, partner at BMW i Ventures. “ONE’s battery factory in the US is an important step for the larger electric vehicle value chain, and ONE has the potential to truly transform the ecosystem.”
The company builds lithium-ferro-phosphate batteries, which don't need earth-rare cobalt, said ONE. It currently has two proof-of-concept battery models: the Aries and the larger Gemini, which was used in the Tesla demonstration. ONE said it will begin Aries production in late 2022, and will demonstrate a production-level prototype of Gemini in 2023.
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The effective reasonable range when considering fast charging is only 250 miles. To charge to 725 miles it would take 3 hours even with a reasonable fast charger without destroying the battery. Batteries are not a good technology. Fuels can fill up a car with extra tanks in 5 minutes to go 1000 miles. I am also talking now about a green hydrogen car.
This solution allows driving 12 hours without stopping. What is the problem you are trying to solve?
I have an electric car (Tesla Model Y), live in a rural area, and travel cross-country quite frequently. I stop only slightly more than if I had an ICE. The extra range and charging speed would not be worth very much money if it would buy a car that charged faster or had more range. The issues of fire and sustainable lifecycle and materials are more important.
Charging speed is proportional to battery size. And LiFePO4 batteries can charge faster that traditional Lithium Ion and don’t have thermal runaway risk. They also last anywhere from 2000-6000 cycles depending on how they’re used.
I agree hydrogen is a great option but who really drives more than 350 or four hundred miles without stopping. I support both but hydrogen electrolysis is still relatively expensive. It will come down with time and economies of scale but batteries are much further along and infrastructure is rapidly expanding. First battery then mainstream hydrogen. Just my two cents
I think many people would be happy to charge at home for 3 hours if they didn’t have to charge their car again for another 3 or 4 weeks. Especially if they did it with their own solar panels. Overnight.
I have an electric car and charging every night is not an issue. Three vs eight hours of charging makes no difference when sleeping. Reducing the fire danger is a much bigger issue. Finding sustainable battery production and materials is also a much bigger issue.
Especially if they did it with their own solar panels. Overnight.—Robert.
Well…where I live the sun doesn’t shine at night. I am told in certain northerly latitudes, this might work.
You would not be able to fully this thing from empty using solar panels in 3 hours unless you had over a hundred panels. That said I don’t think homeowners really care about charging times as you just plug it in overnight. It is super nice to be er have to worry about filling up with gas or dealing with a gas station.
If you really do have a 800 mile range then that is a days worth of driving. Just have to make sure that you can charge it overnight. More and more hotels are advertising ev charging as a perk (sometimes charging a bit for it) so I don’t see this as a problem.
3 hours? At home? This is a 200kWh pack. You’d need a 70,000 watt charger at least to charge it up in three hours. Not happening at your home, or even close.
Math.
Target is NOT 700 mile range cars. It’s small footprint batteries – high energy density per liter. The numbers cited in the article imply 83kWh packs x 300,000
If the packs take up less room, weigh less, then you get “free” gains in efficiency.
I installed my own panels and charging 4-10 hours at night is never a problem. Paid all my systems off in 18 months of saving on my electric bill. 400-500 seems a sufficient range for traveling. I have a Nissan Leaf with 150 range and it’s sufficient for 95% of the actual driving I do. You can’t beat free with gas heading for $6.
@Auburn Packwood
The new Infrastructure bill recently passed in the USA will eliminate ALL free driving, as tracking tech will be installed in all new vehicles to track miles driven and charge a per-mile user-fee.
See H.R.3684 Sec.13002 “National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot”
This could be revolutionary, especially if the battery weight is not excessive. Either batteries that charge really fast or batteries with excessive range will accelerate the transition to BEV’s. Very exciting times lie ahead.
“Very exciting times lie ahead”
Umm, for whom?
H.R.3684 – Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act Sec. 13002. National motor vehicle per-mile user fee pilot: “…provide different methods that volunteer participants can choose from to track motor vehicle miles traveled”
The USA intends to have tracking tech (GPS?) put into ALL vehicles to track every mile that’s driven and charge you a “per mile” driving fee. That means no more free driving from solar charging or otherwise!
I have a question about range. Why doesn’t the EPA use a simple test to determine a more accurate estimate iof range? I’d recommend putting 200lbs in the test car (including the driver) and driving around a level track (indoors would be fine) at a set set temperature and just drive at 65mph until the car stops. Do the test 5 times and take the average (or median c range even). Just be sure all things are the same (windows up, radio off, lights off, etc.). At least then the estimates would be much more accurate (and even across the different vehicles being tested).
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not, but EPA testing is way more advanced than that. Going on a set track at a set speed until the battery dies is actually a terrible idea.
There seems to be three most important factors that were not mentioned by the article (which were mentioned by most of the feedbacks so far): a) charging time b)weight and c) fire (most important of all).
It doesn’t work. You consume the same amount you produce. EV cars do charge when braking and that does help. I’m not saying some chargers couldn’t be more efficient than the motors but it’s very unlikely.
Every single article on this companu ony cites the Watts per liter without telling how much this battery weight. Improvents in pakaging are defintely important but if the battery weights 2 tons I cannot see how this is a viable solution yo increase range. At best this is good for small cars where the underfloor space is limited. What are the Watts per kilo?
Who wants to drive 55. When most speed limits are 75 on highways, why has no one made a self charger on the wheels to keep batteries charged?
It doesn’t work. You consume the same amount you produce. EV cars do charge when braking and that does help. I’m not saying some chargers couldn’t be more efficient than the motors but it’s very unlikely.
Batteries are not the problem. It’s the way that we use the energy in the batteries that needs to be improved. A company has recently patented tech that increases the efficiency of the energy from a battery by over 1,400%. That’s like increasing your gas mileage in a gas car by 1,400%. The tech is real and relatively simple. I don’t think that I can post links, so just google “Battery life extender and method” for the patent.