ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands—Graphene will play an increasingly important role in electric vehicle batteries, according to a new “State of Charge” report from Focus, a predictive AI analysis platform that predicts future technology based on global patent data.
"The future of transportation is electric,” says Jard van Ingen, CEO of Focus. “Battery technology, however, remains a key bottleneck in terms of availability of resources, cost of production and performance.
"There are currently over a dozen emerging chemistries in the EV sector, and new technologies emerge exponentially faster every year, making it harder to evaluate and invest in the right technology — which is a major challenge in competitive industries like the EV sector.”
Major findings of the report include the following:
•Lithium-based batteries remain the most viable in the near term. As the most established battery chemistry for EVs, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries are improving the fastest — showing a slightly faster improvement rate than the other lithium-based battery chemistries.
•Despite the hype, solid-state lithium under delivers. “Solid-state lithium is improving at the same rate as more established lithium-based chemistries, even though it is currently behind in its development,” says van Ingen. “As a result, it is highly questionable whether or not solid-state Lithium will ever catch up and become the dominant battery chemistry.”
•Graphene and dual-ion battery chemistries are improving the fastest at approximately 50 percent annually. Innovation among emerging battery chemistries is significantly faster than current dominant chemistries, such as nickel manganese cobalt and more than 20 percent faster than lithium ion.
•Graphene production will reach cost parety with lithium by the mid-2030s. “Graphene batteries will become economically viable around that time,” predicts van Ingen.
