🔋The Battery Powered World

The importance of batteries in modern life, pros and cons of Li-ion batteries, applications and systems they make possible, and their future outlook

Jul 14, 2022

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Did You Buy a Phone, Tablet, or Laptop Between 2000 and 2011? You Are Owed Money | Inc.com — Inc. Magazine

Humans for all of history have been finding ways to harness and use energy to overcome obstacles in the world. From fire to tools to engines we have been manipulating the environment to gain more control over our surroundings. In using energy, we can shape and manipulate the chaos of the world into comfortable order. Our quality of life and prosperity over the generations has resulted directly from the amount of energy harnessed, or perhaps more accurately, the amount of energy available to waste. I believe energy is the life force for human ingenuity and harnessing energy and putting it to work to yield better lives for ourselves and others is a noble pursuit.

Sometimes we can’t bring our energy sources with us or perhaps sometimes they don’t work all of the time, thus we need to store it. Whether that is building a dam or freezing food for later, forgoing usage in the present for a more secure future is often desirable. This wasn’t the case and we live in very luxurious times. People used to have to work solely during the daytime to take advantage of sunlight, now we can use electricity to power our lives 24/7. We used to use mills along waterways to power factories, now we can access higher forms of energy like fossil fuels which allow for a more stable and long term utilization of energy into the future.

Although fossil fuels for example are storage mediums in themselves (so far as you have a container), sometimes we need to access energy far from our sources of energy generation. Batteries and eventually Li-ion batteries (LIBs) specifically quickly became the best way to store “future electrical energy” in chemical form, which had the major advantage of not being constrained geographically of physically like many other energy storage mediums. Lets look at the pros and cons of LIBs to understand why they have become so foundational and and what inhibits their further growth.

Pros

Portability
LIBs are most famously used in phones which can be taken in your pocket anywhere you go, literally anywhere around the world. Instant communication anywhere on earth (with cell service, assuming no satellite phone) would not be possible without portable stored chemical energy.
Energy Density
Almost everything has some inherent stored energy, your food is stored energy as well. The process of burning or digesting food is obviously not a feasible way to power your phone however. LIB can pack a significant amount of energy into a small space. This is done through very specific material selections that have been studied and optimized in research labs for decades. Energy density is the property which enables so many of these portable technologies to be practically effective.
Rechargeability
Many ‘primary’ batteries store charge and can offer one full discharge and they they need to be disposed. LIBs are known for their reversibility or rechargeability. Again through material selection, it is possible to get thousands of cycles out of commercial cells with little degradation in terms of overall capacity.
Versatility
With the positive characteristics I’ve discussed, many useful applications arise. LIBs can be seen everywhere in modern society. More on this below.

Cons

Cost
For LIBs, better performance with respect to other batteries comes at the cost of the price tag. With raw materials needed from around the world, batteries tend to play a large role in the cost of whatever application they are needed for.
Safety
There have been many instances of LIBs exploding and causing harm to devices and even people. With quality manufacturing and proper care, LIBs pose little danger. Nonetheless, with flammable liquid electrolytes and the propensity to form oxygen gas at high states of charge, LIBs have some inherent safety risk. Battery management systems as well as proper care (such as making sure cells don’t get too hot, not overcharging, and not letting them get damaged) are strategies used to mitigate safety issues.
Energy Density
Hold up, how can this be a pro and a con? While miraculous that LIBs can power the things they do, the desire for more energy and thus energy storage mediums is endless. Larger and larger applications like cars, buses, planes, or grid storage demand more energy density to properly function. This continues to put pressure on engineers and researchers to push the envelope and make batteries better.
Geopolitical Risk
This one has not been on most people’s radars until recently. As conflicts and issues arise in countries, supply chains as well as literal supply of battery materials can come into question. Uncertainty in markets gives rise to volatility and inflation of prices. This is not a good atmosphere for long term investment, especially when LIBs depend on specific materials coming from specific locations in the world.

Applications

The advent of battery technology paved the way for handheld devices, laptops, satellites, storing intermittent power, drones, vehicles, military technology, many household items, medical equipment, logistics equipment, and emergency equipment. Here are some of my favorite downstream effects.

Instant Communication
Using cell phones, laptops, or satellite communication devices, it is possible to communicate and get work done virtually anywhere on the world. Not long ago our phones could not access the internet, and cheaper/better LIBs allowed for this energy intensive feature to be possible.
GPS
Global positioning systems are made possible through a network of satellites in earth’s orbit. Many satellites were launched prior to LIBs, but as performance and cost of the batteries have increased, so has the ability of the satellites. Being able to work synchronously with solar panels, satellites have superb lifetimes. It is hard to imagine life as efficient and precise as we have today without the magic of GPS that guides our world.
Decentralized Energy
Harnessing solar or other energy generation sources for future use has the advantage of stabilizing intermittent sources and making decentralized energy possible. Not only could batteries make stable renewable energy possible, but there could be less reliance on the centralized energy grid as well. This could have some positive impacts on individual energy independence and is a great option for many homeowners looking to get a good economic investment out of solar panels for example.

It is safe to say that portable electricity has changed our lives. Instant communication regardless of location, our financial network, GPS, efficient shipping networks, and off grid energy are just some of the things that literally wouldn’t be possible they way they are without batteries. Even random things like electric chain saws and better preforming batteries in hearing aids have tremendously improved lives of people. You can probably think of more unique applications in your own lives.

Future

Looking ahead there will be no shortage of demand for batteries. This is especially exacerbated by the rise in demand for full electric vehicles and grid storage. It has gotten to the point actually that many of the raw materials (including lithium and graphite) are expected to be in short supply in the not too distant future. Some of the new battery technologies that may play a role in the future are

Regardless of whether lithium ion battery production can match demand for electric vehicles and the grid, there exists no future that looks as good as it does today without them due to the vast array of applications and possibilities that they have generated. Stay tuned as we follow developing trends, whether grid batteries like flow and metal air can take over on the grid scene, whether solid-state and sodium ion can become commercially viable and take over electric vehicles or the grid themselves. Or will the man on the throne aka lithium-ion be here to stay. I am following how the world is not only making better batteries, but also how we can make batteries better in terms of geopolitical, economic, energy resource, political, and macro trend considerations.

Thank you to all new and long term subscribers. This independent project continues to grow and excite me each and every week. Please consider liking and/or sharing this short overview piece or any of my previous more in-depth works on specific topics including plenty that stretch beyond the scope of just batteries. Much more to come. Until next week,

-Grayson

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