Metals Tech

It’s not a big leap from using batteries to power electric cars to using them to store electricity from solar panels. Tesla and Daimler have already made inroads into the energy-storage business, and now Nissan is joining them.

The Japanese automaker is launching Nissan Energy Solar, which will sell solar panels and energy-storage battery packs to customers. Nissan first unveiled a stationary battery pack for energy storage in 2016, but the company is only now making the packs available to customers. Even now, sales are limited to the U.K. Nissan said it may expand sales to other European countries.

Energy storage increases the practicality of renewable-energy sources, in this case solar. The sun doesn’t shine 24 hours a day, but when it does shine enough, the energy produced is often more than what a household needs. Homeowners can sell this excess power to their utilities, but they still can run their houses on solar power 100 percent of the time. The source of electricity is especially important for owners of electric cars (like, say… the Nissan Leaf), because the overall carbon emissions of those cars is dependent on how the electricity that powers them is generated.

By installing a stationary battery pack, homeowners can store the excess electricity generated by their solar panels for later use. That means less reliance on the grid, and thus a cleaner mix of household electricity. It’s also a potentially lucrative market for automakers already investing in batteries for electric cars, leading Tesla and Daimler to develop their own energy-storage products. Tesla even sells massive, utility-scale energy-storage arrays that can harvest electricity from solar or wind farms.

Battery packs don’t have to be stationary to contribute to this trend. In Japan, Nissan is testing a system that allows fleets of electric cars to soak up excess power from the grid, and discharge it when needed. If this technology pans out, electric cars could become fully integrated with grid infrastructure.

 

It may sound like something out of a science fiction movie, however, Norway’s newly announced pledge to electrify all planes in the next 20 years, shows that powering planes on batteries is no longer a mere vision, but reality. Emissions from aviation are increasing worldwide alongside passengers’ appetite for cheaper and faster journeys, making aviation one of the fastest growing sources of climate-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Meanwhile, thanks to technological advancement in terms of battery price and performance, electrification is rapidly becoming an accessible option for the heavier transport modes, such as aviation.

A pioneer in electric transport

Despite being the largest oil and gas producer in Western Europe, Norway has global leadership in electric transport, which has over the years expanded beyond light duty vehicles, to include maritime transport, heavy duty vehicles and now even aviation.

Avinor, the Norwegian airport operator and air navigation service provider is leading in making Norwegian airports, as well as domestic flights better for the climate, and Avinor director Dag Falk-Petersen promises that this is only the beginning.

For example, Svalbard airport is today already operated partly by solar power, while at Oslo airport winter snow is stored in order to cool buildings down in the summer, making it a climate-neutral airport.

Due to Norwegian topography and physical barriers like fjords and mountains, there are many small airports scattered around, often within short distances. Flying has become the preferred mode of transport for many Norwegians, and the most efficient way to reach remote places. This is of course taking its toll on the climate.

“Many of our airports are less than 130 km away from each other”, explains Avinor advisor Olav Mosvold Larsen. For example, from Bodø airport in Northern Norway, there is only 100 km to four other Avinor airports. Technically, this small network could already operate on today’s technology, and could be replicated along the entire Norwegian coast.

Avinor is now looking into electrifying all local flights in Norway and has a strong ambition of making all the planes electric by 2040. Dag Falk-Petersen believes that all flights lasting up to 1.5 hours can operate with pure battery electric aircrafts, which would cover all domestic flights and those to neighbouring Scandinavian capitals.

Why Norway?

Falk-Petersen also believes that Norway has the potential to be the first country with a significant market share of electric planes. Moreover, the network of small, nearby airports and few passengers are perfect for the first battery electric and hybrid planes on the market.

“Another crucial advantage is the political will, with support coming from the state and government for electrification of the entire transport sector”, says Falk-Petersen.

According to Avinor, electric aircrafts will have much lower operation costs than today’s conventionally-fueled aircrafts, due to fuel savings. What is more, electric flights will offer significant reductions in noise levels, which in turn is particularly beneficial for safeguarding the serenity of remote, wildlife-inhabited areas.

First steps

Currently there is no infrastructure for electric aircrafts in Norway, so this will have to be developed.

Alpha Electro G2 is the first electric two-seat plane to be produced on a commercial basis. It has a range of 130 km and can fly one hour per charge. According to the contract, the plane will be delivered to Avinor in May this year, mainly for demonstration purposes.

Avinor plans to launch a tender to test a commercial route flown with a small electric plane of 19 seats, starting in 2025.

However, before reaching that point, Avinor would need to use intermediary technologies, such as advanced biofuels and hybrid fuel-electric solutions. These are also important for long-haul routes.

When it comes to intermediary technologies, Bellona has looked into the potential of advanced biofuels derived from marine biomass (notably seaweed), which promises a more sustainable solution than conventional land-based biofuels.

Advancements in a fuel cell technology powered by solid carbon could make electricity generation from resources such as coal and biomass cleaner and more efficient, according to a new paper published by Idaho National Laboratory researchers.

The fuel cell design incorporates innovations in three components: the anode, the electrolyte and the fuel. Together, these advancements allow the fuel cell to utilize about three times as much carbon as earlier direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) designs.

The fuel cells also operate at lower temperatures and showed higher maximum power densities than earlier DCFCs, according to INL materials engineer Dong Ding. The results appear in this week’s edition of the journal Advanced Materials.

Whereas hydrogen fuel cells (e.g., proton exchange membrane (PEM) and other fuel cells) generate electricity from the chemical reaction between pure hydrogen and oxygen, DCFCs can use any number of carbon-based resources for fuel, including coal, coke, tar, biomass and organic waste.

Because DCFCs make use of readily available fuels, they are potentially more efficient than conventional hydrogen fuel cells. “You can skip the energy-intensive step of producing hydrogen,” Ding said.

But earlier DCFC designs have several drawbacks: They require high temperatures — 700 to 900 degrees Celsius — which makes them less efficient and less durable. Further, as a consequence of those high temperatures, they’re typically constructed of expensive materials that can handle the heat.

Also, early DCFC designs aren’t able to effectively utilize the carbon fuel.

Ding and his colleagues addressed these challenges by designing a true direct carbon fuel cell that’s capable of operating at lower temperatures — below 600 degrees Celsius. The fuel cell makes use of solid carbon, which is finely ground and injected via an airstream into the cell. The researchers tackled the need for high temperatures by developing an electrolyte using highly conductive materials — doped cerium oxide and carbonate. These materials maintain their performance under lower temperatures.

Next, they increased carbon utilization by developing a 3-D ceramic textile anode design that interlaces bundles of fibers together like a piece of cloth. The fibers themselves are hollow and porous. All of these features combine to maximize the amount of surface area that’s available for a chemical reaction with the carbon fuel.

Finally, the researchers developed a composite fuel made from solid carbon and carbonate. “At the operating temperature, that composite is fluidlike,” Ding said. “It can easily flow into the interface.”

The molten carbonate carries the solid carbon into the hollow fibers and the pinholes of the anode, increasing the power density of the fuel cell.

The resulting fuel cell looks like a green, ceramic watch battery that’s about as thick as a piece of construction paper. A larger square is 10 centimeters on each side. The fuel cells can be stacked on top of one another depending on the application.

The technology has the potential for improved utilization of carbon fuels, such as coal and biomass, because direct carbon fuel cells produce carbon dioxide without the mixture of other gases and particulates found in smoke from coal-fired power plants, for example. This makes it easier to implement carbon capture technologies, Ding said.

The advanced DCFC design has already attracted notice from industry. Ding and his colleagues are partnering with Salt Lake City-based Storagenergy, Inc., to apply for a Department of Energy Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Funding Opportunity. The results will be announced in February 2018. A Canadian energy-related company has also shown interest in these DCFC technologies.

Bet not too many knew BMW had its own wireless charging system, and now the company says it will offer it to its US customers.

We’ve been hearing for years that inductive charging or wireless charging systems are the way to go. But so far, only a handful companies offer wireless charging. It’s funny to think that a technology so prevalent as to be found in almost all bathroom charging electric toothbrushes is taking so long to make it into EVs and PHEVs. So what’s the holdup?

Efficiency. Cost. Accuracy and reliability. These may be some of the key hurdles and sources of delay, but BMW is apparently ready to push forward with its option nonetheless.

OK, so, finally no more untangling a charging cord when your EV needs a charge? BMW is offering its Wireless Charging Pad as an option for the 530e iPerformance plug-in hybrid. The pad should be available in the US by the end of 2018. The system will use a base pad as the primary coil. It can be installed in a garage or outdoors. The secondary coil is on the underside of the vehicle.

Before you get too excited about the deployment of the charging system, however, BMW is being very pragmatic and cautious about its use. The company is doing a small test trial in order to better understand how its customers will use the technology — and if they will want to use it all.

Technically speaking, the wireless system charges at 3.2 kWh. BMW says it will completely recharge the PHEV’s battery in 3½ hours. It needs to be connected to a 220-volt (240V) outlet to work. BMW’s infotainment detects the pad as soon as the car parks over it, and the driver starts the charging at that point.

According to BMW Blog, the BMW 530e is just the test trial before more models will be offered with the charging package. BMW says the price hasn’t yet been fixed, but should be slightly above the current $900 BMW i Wallbox Pro. It was shown at the Detroit Auto Show.

 

Audi isn’t going to let rival automakers like BMW and Tesla corner the market on home batteries. The German badge is testing a Smart Energy Network where solar-powered batteries not only help your home minimize use of the electrical grid, but talk to each other. The result is, as Audi put it, a “virtual power plant” — households collectively feed power into the grid and help balance overall consumption.

The trial is limited to both Audi’s home of Ingolstadt as well as the Zurich area. There’s no mention of how long it will run or how likely it is the pilot will expand.

The strategy is a logical one for companies making deeper commitments to electric vehicles. It’s easier for Audi to sell you on the concept of an EV if it can promise to lower your power bill in the long run. Also, this makes the most of the VW brand’s work on batteries — it can venture beyond selling cars and make sure the batteries it makes find customers. It just so happens that this can both save you some money and, potentially, help the environment in the process.

Researchers from Korea’s KAIST institute developed a lithium-air rechargeable battery using a nano fiber graphene composite catalyst. This battery has five times greater storage compared to current lithium-ion batteries, and is the highest performing lithium-air battery ever developed. Such batteries may enable electric vehicle to travel almost a 1,000 kilometers on a single charge.

Lithium-Air battery uses lithium on the cathode and oxygen on the anode. Such batteries has been researched for a long time as they are cheap to make and are lighter than lithium-ion batteries. But they are difficult to commercialize because they suffer from short lifespan (because of high resistance during the charge-discharge process). This new battery has a new catalyst made by mixing cobalt oxide nano fiber and graphene. This not just increased the storage, but also resulted in good lifespan – over 80 recharge cycles with capacity greater than 100mAh/g.

Of course there’s still work to be done before this technology can reach the market, for example to increase the stability of the battery. But the researchers are now seeking to collaborate with other organizations to advance the technology.