Electric Motorcycles & Electric Bicycles

Created by Steven Minichiello on 30 October, 2020

Highest density 18650 Lithium Ion Battery from NanoGraph at 3.8 Ah (3,800 mAh)

This year marked a watershed level for the 18650 Lithium Ion cells that are widely accepted in the industry today. The typical best Lithium Ion batteries in the world that are commodity come from Korea (Samsung, LG) and Japan (Panasonic/Sanyo) with energy densities up to 3,400 milli-Amp * hour capacities (see my many grabcad models for more information).

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/06/10/2245386/0/en/NanoGraf-Reaches-Energy-Density-Milestone-for-its-Lithium-Ion-Battery-Material.html


However the key to generating higher energies will be from :

  • variations on materials (e.g. graphene, carbyne, etc)
  • packaging to reduce electrode and internal resistances (e.g. Telsa multi contact terminations)
  • temperature control (e.g. Lucid motors liquid battery cooling)
  • micro structures and MEMs electrodes (e.g. carbon nanotubes)
  • volumetric efficiency (larger packages - less materials, e.;g. 21700 case size)
  • organic and solid electrolytes


One of these companies has taken the challenge to improve energy density called NanoGraph and has created a battery that is now at 3.8 Ah (3,800 mAh) for an 18650 case size.


Other companies such as this German company are focused on electrode efficiency to maintain a higher battery life :

https://newatlas.com/science/lithium-metal-ev-battery-benchmark-density-stability/


Here's an article on solid electrolytes :

https://cen.acs.org/energy/energy-storage-/solid-opportunity-lithium-ion-batteries/99/i32


and a comparison of solid electrolytes :

https://www.electronicdesign.com/power-management/whitepaper/21170511/electronic-design-lithium-wars-solidstate-batteries-vie-with-wet-chemistries-in-race-to-market


Whether this technology becomes mainstream at an affordable and competitive price is anyone's guess, but the message is clear worldwide that that race for an order of magnitude in battery technology is needed to reduce the cost, size, weight, and total volume of batteries in the world if we are to truly get to a full electrified world.


Note : anyone looking for 18650 Li-Ion cells should be aware that claims for beyond this 3,800 mAh capacity should be investigated heavily as there are many, many scams out there for claims beyond this capacity regardless of costs !!