In the past, battery packs were regarded as components that must be designed and manufactured to meet the specifications of some more significant main product. Battery performance was often compromised so that the battery packs would be compact in size and shape. Taiwan-based All Good Energy (AGE) said battery packs are going to play a completely different role in the era of electric vehicles (EV) and clean energy.
According to IEA's data, 145 million vehicles will hit the road around the world by 2030; approximately 1400% growth is expected from 10 million units in 2020. The popularization of EVs means that decision makers will prioritize battery and clean energy products. According to Adamas Intelligence's data, the world's total installed capacity in newly sold passenger electric vehicles reached 108GWh in the first six months of 2021, having grown 157% from the same period in the previous year. Given how fast capacity rises, car buyers should feel less and less anxious over EV range in the future.
As of early 2021, nearly 90% of EV batteries were supplied by six Asian battery makers – BYD, CATL, LGES, Panasonic, Samsung SDI, and SK On.
AGE's co-founder and software development manager Theo Wan told DIGITIMES that the major turning point for battery packs was when they were sold under warranty. Although consumer electronics still contain single-use batteries that must be renewed periodically, EV batteries are a different story because they are part of a car's powertrain system. Any minuscule battery instability could put drivers in danger, so each EV must have a battery management system (BMS) to track every detail of battery performance. Furthermore, EV batteries are much more expensive to produce.
Battery management systems (BMSs) will gain more importance
Despite Taiwan's lack of natural chemical resources needed for battery manufacturing, Taiwanese companies are among the top suppliers for electrolytes and electrode materials. Wan said Taiwanese suppliers could also focus on designing components and developing BMSs. Currently battery makers are minimizing costs, and integration and performance are taking a back seat. In the coming phases of electrification, integration of systems will gain unprecedented importance; suppliers will need to evolve with the trends and focus more on performance than on cost reduction. Safety, consistency, and integration will be the priorities for the EV supply chain.
Batteries die fast in high-temperature environments, so it is important to dissipate heat from batteries equipped in EVs and power storage systems; each system must keep multiple batteries at the same level of battery life. When the market starts measuring the value of a battery by the power it contains, a good BMS must show how much power the battery carries; this highly informative type of BMS is what AGE is focusing on right now.
Battery power will become the next crude oil, said Wan. It will be seen as a carrier of power, instead of a disposable component. Demand for reusable batteries will grow as well. In Taiwan, Gogoro has proved that multi-vehicle and multi-brand battery swapping was possible; the market is highly anticipating a sharing/using system for EV battery, power storage, and power carriers.
CES 2022: All Good Energy talks the next step of electrification and the role BMS plays in reusing batteries as power storage
Reusing batteries as power storage
It is projected that there will be 12 million retired lithium batteries in the world by 2030. These batteries contain lithium, nickel, and cobalt; they can cause great harm to the natural environment if they are not properly recycled. To address this challenge, the EU seeks to recycle 70% of all lithium batteries and 95% of all cobalt, copper, lead, and nickel batteries. Starting in 2030, new batteries will be required to contain a certain percentage of recycled materials from old batteries.
Wan said BMSs are only getting more and more important as battery recycling and reuse rates continue to increase. AGE's product applies algorithms to track a single battery's real-time status and capacity through a communication module. The information retrieved from batteries will provide a basis for battery reuse. For example, batteries retired from gas tank trucks can be reused in light-duty motorcycles before being reused in the backup battery systems for smart light posts. In the end, such retired batteries can be used for power storage.
What AGE does
AGE has built three production lines – power storage batteries, communication batteries, and scooter batteries – to support its own battery ecosystem. In order to connect all the possible reusage scenarios, they need to design their batteries in a way that can meet requirements in all three dimensions.
Wan said that currently most battery makers and users are not considering reuse. But AGE's entry into the power storage sector is part of setting up a battery ecosystem that could achieve a complete circular economy of recycling. Their power storage system has been implemented by Megaforce in US, south Asia, Mexico, China, and Taiwan. Through collaboration with Megaforce, AGE was able to secure numerous orders from various countries including the US and some of Megaforce's clients.
Most real estate in the US requires add-on power storage, which belongs to the aftermarket segment, said Wan. One major differentiating facor between AGE and other suppliers is that most other suppliers do not necessarily provide flexible, customizable services for medium and small factories, buildings, and houses.
As for communication batteries, Wan added that since the US-China trade war started around 2020, US clients have been looking for non-Chinese products, so AGE has been working with Megaforce to supply the American market as an ODM supplier.
CES 2022: All Good Energy talks the next step of electrification and the role BMS plays in reusing batteries as power storage
