The search for the perfect battery continues apace. The American company 24M has just unveiled a new technology for Lithium-Metal batteries, which gives hope for unprecedented autonomy and lifespan. Bonus: this should benefit the next electric cars from Volkswagen, which holds a 25% stake in the company. We will explain everything to you.
Volkswagen ID.3 // Source: Volkswagen
The perfect battery? It has an endless lifespan, a four-digit battery life and recharges in a flash. The solid-state battery seems to go in this direction, but it is not without its flaws. 24M, an American company, has just presented new technology that could lead to this miracle battery.
To do this, it uses a liquid electrolyte which, combined with the company’s other technologies, suggests a range of 1,600 km and a lifespan exceeding 800,000 km, as its press release attests.
The dendrites are over
Let’s get to the heart of the matter. 24M is therefore developing a Lithium-Metal type battery, of which solid-state batteries are a sub-family, with a major advantage over the latter: reliability.
Volkswagen ID.3 battery (for illustration)
The main disadvantage of solid-state batteries is their reliability over time, due to the formation of dendrites on the electrodes (metal projections, which can branch out and create a sort of root, which can cause short circuits). Work is underway by Harvard University to eliminate this phenomenon, but 24M offers a different technology.
This company has just presented a solid electrolyte, called Eternalyte, which cancels any form of creation of dendrites, promising extended lifespan and endless autonomy. Judge for yourself: after 500 charge/discharge cycles, 24M announces a loss of capacity limited to 17%. On a car with a range of 450 km, this would equate to a lifespan of 225,000 km with minimal wear and tear.
A complete solution
This electrolyte is only part of the products developed by the American company, which also offers a technology integrating electrodes into the battery pack, thereby increasing the energy density of the pack.
Thanks to this, 24M does not hesitate to announce a range of 1,600 km on one charge (omitting to specify the target capacity of a pack). 1,600 km over 500 cycles: that gives us an absolutely phenomenal lifespan of 800,000 km.
The test results of this new battery // Source: 24M
There remains a current limit: the charging and discharging power of the battery, currently limited to 1C for each – concretely, the battery is not capable of providing or receiving power greater than its capacity. A 50 kWh battery will not be able to charge at more than 50 kW, for example.
Something that could change, since initial results promise the equivalent of 3,000 cycles (!) with charging at 4C (a rare score, even if the best batteries in the field charge at 6C), all without short circuits or increased internal resistance.
Even though the company does not communicate about the loss of capacity during the exercise, it is excellent proof of the stability and security provided by this set of technologies.
The next Volkswagens will benefit from it
The last thing to know is that Volkswagen has held a 25% stake in 24M since 2022, and the press release at the time was clear: “thanks to this strategic partnership, the Volkswagen group will manufacture lithium-ion batteries of next generation using the 24M platform for use in electric vehicles.”
Volkswagen ID. 2all // Source : Volkswagen
Perhaps, but one thing is certain: we will have to be patient; 24M carefully omitting to mention any date for putting this new technology into production.
New proof, in any case, of the automobile group’s colossal investments in batteries, since VW is also investing in pure solid-state batteries with QuantumScape… or our national Bolloré, as well as in sodium batteries via its Chinese partner JAC. Such investments which can, in theory, only bring very concrete new developments.