Lithium- probably the best decision I have made!

I will Mitsi. There will be a new video coming out soon on YouTube- a follow up to assess how things are going and to see what I’ve been up to over my first summer. There is no doubt that it has revolutionised my life off grid. It was something that had been nagging at me for months, particularly when the LA’s started to show signs of not liking what I asked of them after 2 years! So far, it’s been a blast but I still find myself holding my breath a little in case something goes wrong - I wanted to know about this new opportunity and was prepared to put my money where my mouth was but only after careful and searching research. I even sat with the chief technical guy from NDS Italy for 2 hrs at the Roadpro offices and went through everything I wanted to know about this new tech. As far as I have gone with it, I can say that we have asked quite a bit of the battery with the toaster, the microwave, the blender, the hoover etc and there is not the slightest sign of it complaining. The figures on the display are the same as they have always been. The extra SP power has made a big difference too.  So far it’s a 👍🏻

Not sure of what it all means  but it looks good to me. Getting 150ah into the same space that used to be 100ah which is what I think they mean by ‘greater energy density ‘ has got to be a move in the right direction! Technology marches on!! 

 

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed an electrolyte they say is compatible with lithium metal anodes, allowing for much greater energy density than current Li-ion battery designs. The new battery has also been shown to function well at temperatures as low as -60 degrees Celsius.

The key innovation is a liquefied gas electrolyte (LGE). Current commercial lithium-ion batteries all use liquid electrolytes, and most researchers are looking into solid materials as the next generation of battery technology. UC San Diego, however, is taking the opposite approach in working with a gas, liquified under pressure, as its electrolyte. The goal is a battery that can take advantage of lithium metal anodes, which could offer high specific capacity, low electrochemical potential and light weight, but can’t work safely or efficiently with conventional liquid electrolytes.

Details of UC San Diego’s LGE work were first published in Science in 2017. At the time, the researchers posited the idea batteries incorporating their electrolyte could power satellites and interplanetary rovers, among other outlandish suggestions.

A new paper, High-Efficiency Lithium-Metal Anode Enabled by Liquefied Gas Electrolytes, published this week in Joule, however, brings the technology down to earth. The paper reports that by optimizing their LGE the researchers were able to create a lithium battery cell which maintained 99.6% efficiency after 500 cycles at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius), and 98.4% at -60.

The team pointed out using a conventional liquid electrolyte with a lithium metal anode has ensured efficiency has not gone beyond 85%, and most liquid electrolytes cease to work entirely at temperatures around -20 degrees Celsius.

Safety first

Another concern about working with lithium metal anodes is the formation of dendrites, which can reduce performance, and in the worst cases lead to short circuits, fires and explosions. (This is not applicable to LifePo4 batteries!) UC San Diego reported that with its LGE, lithium particle deposition was “smooth and compact” and porosity of deposition was measured at 0.9%, compared with 16.8% for the same anode in combination with a conventional liquid electrolyte. 

“I am confident that we are going to develop the electrolytes that we need for lithium-metal anodes,” said UC San Diego nano engineering professor Shirley Meng. “I hope that this research inspires more research groups to take a serious look at liquefied gas electrolytes.”

The paper does not discuss the potential cost effectiveness of moving the concept to large scale manufacturing. However, UC San Diego looks to be moving toward commercialization through spin-out company South 8 Technologies, which says it is “leveraging conventional materials and manufacturing” to produce the batteries.

 

Perhaps the brains out there can simplify this for us mere mortals?

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

Hi, glad lithium iron phosphate is working well for you most impressive. What capacity inverter do you have fitted. 

I’ve done a fair bit of work and I think with battery, b2b charger, inverter, solar panels and labour then vat you could be nearer £3k?

Am I about right?

Cheers,

Clankie

 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

It works for me DD. It’s exciting in the fact that there is a tremendous push to come up with answers for future energy requirements. I keep a close eye on developments in this field. Obviously the push is for transport purposes but offshoots are always possible. 

Clankie, I was lucky in the fact that I was a ‘pioneer’ in the caravan world. If I was to avoid buying heavy expensive batteries every 2 or 3 years I had to move to the new tech- Lithium. Roadpro helped and only supplied the battery, the Votronic controller for the SP (which I already had), the wildside battery to battery charger was also supplied. it was under £1500 I already had a 2000w Pure sine wave inverter which I bought 5 years ago and am still using. My new van which was Registered on 4th May 2019 already had 300watts of SP on the roof which was part of the show offer. If I went out now and bought the whole shooting match, yes, it would cost me in the region of what is being quoted. I started slowly and bought things as I could afford it. The saving of site fees were always put to one side to improve the kit. I now have a van with a 10 year water ingress warranty and which, incidentally, I intend to keep. If, the battery and the kit perform as I believe it will, it will be an excellent investment. Already this year - the first year- I have saved £600+ as against staying on EHU sites but have had the same conveniences and comforts. You can glean some more information by going to YouTube and watching the video. 

The user and all related content has been Deleted User

 Merve is this the Video you mentioned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNB5pCIving

I've read this post with interest and took the jump!

100ah lifepo4 TN power battery, 110w victron  solar panel and victron mppt controller, together with a cheap battery monitor (shunt), cost me a notch more than £600. 

Things to note, most lifepo4 batteries (I think) come with screw terminals rather then the posts you get with lead batteries, so so connectors need changing.  The battery I've bought (TN power) can be charged with a standard 3 phase charger.

The victron  mppt controller is Bluetooth, so I can seen what one using and generating via an app on my phone ☺️

Well chuffed 👍😄