Lithium Titanate Batteries Face Testing
A Portland-based battery developer is rolling out a new battery technology and letting power customers kick the tires. EnerSol Energy Systems Solutions’ push to find early adapters to put lithium titanate batteries to the test is part of an increased focus on grid storage and electric vehicles.
The three-man company focuses on consulting and product development in batteries and energy systems for electric vehicles, grid storage, and portable devices. It posts annual revenues of less than $500,000 and has partnerships among battery suppliers and manufacturers worldwide.
Now reaching out to energy companies, utilities, hospitals, cellular phone companies, IT server rooms and fire stations, EnerSol is looking for partners interested in developing and testing lithium titanate batteries as a back-up power supply for use in large scale energy storage applications or for use in semi trucks and other larger, commercial scale vehicles that can accommodate its size.
The company has a particular interest in testing the technology as a backup to renewable energy generators like wind and solar farms. Batteries can store excess power while generation is high and demand low. They can also help mitigate the stress of mass consumer power use during peak hours and give operators greater flexibility in power sales.
EnerSol’s product comes forward as observers predict the market for grid storage is poised to balloon. The market was pegged at $5.6 billion in 2010 in a report from GTM Research, and the company speculated the market would grow to $9.6 billion by 2015.
Positioning for market-share in grid storage is a key objective for EnerSol and other battery makers.
Batteries are just one of the technologies being eyed for large-scale grid storage, along with fly wheels, compressed air, hydrogen, pumped water, thermal and superconducting magnetic energy systems.
In a game where costs and lifespan limit solutions, the objective is on to find affordable technologies that will last. Among battery makers, there is stiff competition to prove out the best technology.
EnerSol president Doug Morris said the company’s recent demonstration project is designed to show customers what lithium titanate can do.
A modified lithium-ion laptop battery — lithium ion batteries are used in cell phones, laptops and most consumer and portable electronic products — the battery uses an electrochemical version of lithium ion, lithium titanate, instead of carbon, making for fast recharging and high currents.
The battery itself is supplied by suppliers Toshiba and PHET and developed for grid and vehicle uses by EnerSol.
Morris said the result is a battery that charges 5 to 10 times faster than lithium-ion batteries and lasts beyond 25,000 charging cycles, or about 10 to 20 times longer than lithium iron phosphate batteries (used in power tools and cars).
Though lithium ion batteries are cheapest to build, at 60 cents or less per watt-hour, their short life cycle means they would need constant replacement if assembled for grid storage. That makes lithium titanate competitive at $1.15 per watt-hour, Morris said, given its long life span.
Spying opportunity, EnerSol has developed three table-top, 20 amp-hour, 12 volt demonstration batteries valued at $30,000 to lure beta trials.
“What we’re really hoping for is to get enough interest in the demo so that people can test the technology,” said Morris. “It’s great to tell people about a new technology, but when you can actually give them one to test and try they say, ‘Oh, I get it,’ and can talk about what they want to do with it.”
The demo is a piece of where the EnerSol vision could lead. The batteries can be built small, like the tabletop unit, or assembled in packs that fill multiple trailers, storing multiple kilowatts per trailer. They are controlled by a simple, menu-driven software and control module developed by Denmark-based vehicle-battery developer Lithium Balance, for which Morris is involved in developing a U.S.-based headquarters. The package is a slimmed-down version of Lithium Balance’s robust system that’s used in its electric vehicle batteries to balance the charge and temperatures across cells in a battery pack through a system that interfaces with a PC computer.
Morris, whose career stretches 30 years in the battery world, much of it developing technology for Motorola, said battery development was previously focused elsewhere, fine-tuning different chemistries for particular functions. Lithium ion batteries, for example, were established as a best fit for portable devices like cell phones and computers for their long-lasting charge, he said. And lithium phosphate batteries were deemed most suitable for electric vehicles for their safety performance.
“Now, with storage… people are trying to figure out what the best chemistry is,” Morris said.
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