NEC and Nissan may have had an advancement in batteries

I am more or less certain that I have talked about energy density at least once before here. For those of us here who are uneducated to what this means, it simply means (in terms of batteries that is) how much energy can be stored by the battery in terms of its weight. NEC in collaboration with Nissan has just came out with a battery which increases the energy density of the battery by thirty percent.

Now what does all of this mean? In its simplest terms, as I explained in an earlier article on my blog, they (battery manufacturers) are rapidly approaching the energy density of gasoline. What does all of this mean is they do so? Quite honestly, it means that electric vehicles will be more efficient than their fossil fueled counterparts.

They hve done this by alterin the chemistry of the battery itself, and I quote directly from the Greenoptimistic website: 'The positive electrode was modified from spinel-type lithium-manganese oxide [LiMn2o4] by substituting nickel [Ni]. The new electrode, Li(Ni0.5Mn1.5)O4, when combined with graphite, enabled them to realize a higher 4.5V, about 0.7V higher than the LiMn2O4 compound. The problem with the higher voltage though, was that it led to oxidation of the polycarbonate-based electrolyte. To combat this issue, NEC developed a flourinated solvent. By increasing the voltage of the positive electrode and minimizing the oxidation of the electrolyte, NEC Corp has increased the energy-density of the new rechargeable battery by about 30%, from about 150Wh/kg to over 200Wh/kg.' And here is a link to the article which I am referencing here.

And as was noticed in that article, there was supposed to be more discussed about this battery at the PRIME 2012 exhibit in October. Perhaps I will try to look that up later and bring you their discussions about this battery at the PRIME exhibit in the future. But I say kudos to both NEC and Nissan over this one, and I can only hope that other people will take their advancement and improve upon it.