Energy Storage

The first batch of electric vehicle batteries are reaching their retirement age and the next ten years will see a huge increase in the volume of retired batteries. What will happen to the huge amount of used EV batteries? IDTechEx has recently released the latest report named Second-life Electric Vehicle Batteries 2020-2030.

Since 2013, the global residential energy storage market has been dominated by Germany, but the country may be dethroned soon as promising new residential energy storage markets gather momentum.

One of the most rapidly evolving areas of energy storage in electric vehicles is the thermal management of lithium-ion cells. Although most of the focus is on cell chemistry advancements, improvements to the battery pack can have a significant advantage in safety, performance, and longevity.

IDTechEx's upcoming electric vehicle forums will take place in Tokyo, Japan, on 18th and 19th of September, and in Seoul, South Korea, on 25th and 26th of September.

It is nonsense to forecast pure electric cars costing the same as traditional ones, then life continuing much as usual. The up-front price of pure electric cars will be dropping below that of internal combustion engine ones around 2025. The fundamentals are now clear. Short range electric cars will continue to sell badly because of range and financial anxiety: their resale value after three years can be down 80%. 200 miles/ 320 km is the tipping point where resale value can be only 40% down on purchase price. See the IDTechEx report, "Electric Vehicles 2020-2030" for the full picture of 100 categories of electric vehicle EV by land, water and air.

Shortage of lithium-ion batteries is probable. Too few gigafactories. Too many burning batteries: factories shut to sort out their problems. The US-China trade war cuts off materials. Inadequate lithium or cobalt mining.

Is it all about cars and extrapolation? Not anymore. The unique new IDTechEx report, "Lithium-Ion Batteries for Electric Vehicles 2020-2030" avoids mindless extrapolation. It uses fundamentals to predict huge changes in the electric vehicle business and the way these vehicles store electricity.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 11 July 2019 titled Manufacturing with Direct Diode Lasers

2018 was a remarkable year for stationary energy storage. Governments and policymakers around the world are beginning to wake up to the value batteries can offer to the grid, both in terms of flexibility and decarbonisation. Over 6GWh was deployed, and market leaders such as Tesla expect to double their deployments for 2019.

It is easy to say that, although small electric aircraft are at last selling, they are a negligible part of the overall aircraft market. Mistake. They will work up from the bottom to be mainstream. Airbus, Boeing and Rolls Royce know this, but many others are sleeping through the future. Some of the successes are from small companies.