What Makes Up a Li-ion Battery?
Lithium ion batteries make up a huge and ever increasing industry worldwide. Currently batteries are used for small devices, phones, cars, buses, drones, laptops, and some other niche applications. As the increase in demand for electric vehicles will likely only increase, more importance will be placed on the industry in coming years.
In this thread I discuss what makes up batteries and how they work in a general sense.
Tesla is leading the way in terms of electric vehicles with other car companies desperately trying to take down the king. Will solid state batteries be the answer that these companies are looking for in order to compete? I don’t have this answer for you, but the money is flowing.
Where else could the demand for batteries play a crucial role? Regardless of what energy source you believe is best suited for the grid, there is no question that for solar or wind to be impactful, essential storage mechanisms like batteries are essential because of the intermittent nature of their energy collection. Basically batteries can store energy for when it is needed whether it be cloudy and not windy on a given day, week, or season.
There is research going on into creating better batteries that are better suited for this role. That is not the only place in which batteries may be used. Batteries are also crucial for more sustainable transportation network which makes up a large portion of the energy used in the United States.
The way it sits right now even if there are more electric vehicles and transportation, the energy still comes from the grid which is made up of mostly petroleum and natural gas.
While nuclear energy is a great option, not everywhere is suitable geographically and there is not an immense push for it in government.
Batteries are thus essential to storing solar and wind energy collected for use during non-peak operation. Secondly, it is essential for all forms of sustainable transportation in the future. Lastly, lithium ion batteries will continue to be used for phones, laptops, and any small scale electronics devices for years to come.
Hopefully you found this quick article useful and helps you understand batteries a bit more!
-Grayson