The United States established an organization to develop new lithium battery technology for electric vehicles

Recently, the US federal government announced plans to accelerate the popularization of electric vehicles through the government and the private sector to promote electric vehicles and strengthen charging infrastructure to cope with climate change, increase clean energy use and reduce dependence on oil. The establishment of "Battery 500" and the development of high-performance batteries are part of the plan. The US Department of Energy will provide $10 million in funding annually for the agency over the next five years.

There are 11 member institutions participating in the research center, including 4 national laboratories such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5 research universities including Stanford University, and Tesla, a car manufacturer, and IBM, a technology company. Among them, Liu Jun, a material scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Cui Wei, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, served as co-directors of the research center.

Cui Wei explained the origin of the name "Battery 500". The research center's goal is to increase the weight energy density of lithium batteries used in electric vehicles to 500 watt-hours per kilogram by developing new high-energy-density materials, which is about two now. three times. Weight energy density refers to the amount of energy stored per unit weight of the battery. At present, lithium batteries used in electric vehicles have a weight energy density of 170 to 200 watt-hours per kilogram.

According to reports, the energy density of 500 watts per kilogram means that the new lithium battery will be smaller and lighter, which can reduce the weight and volume of the electric vehicle, and double the mileage after one charge, greatly reducing the price of electric vehicles.

It is worth noting that Chinese scientists will play an important role in the “Battery 500” project. In addition to the two co-directors, several Chinese scientists also participated in the work of the research center. Among them, former US Secretary of Energy and Nobel Prize Laureate Zhu Yiwen served as the director of the Advisory Committee of the Research Center.