Energy density restricts the development of electric vehicles

At present, the road for electric vehicles to become mainstream consumer goods is still long. Although electric vehicles can achieve zero emissions, have government policies, and financial support, they are limited by battery technology. When the power battery can achieve high power output, short-term charging and low-cost manufacturing, the spring of electric vehicle development will really come.

Dr. Gary Smyth, executive director of General Motors' global R&D laboratory, said that the current stage of electric vehicles can only be miniaturized due to battery manufacturing costs and energy density constraints. Although increasing the number of batteries can increase cruising range, the weight of the battery will cause various problems, such as offsetting increased mileage and poor handling of the vehicle... Volt uses a battery with an energy density of approximately 140 Wh/kg. However, the extended range technology frees the user from the anxiety of the cruising range and also makes the pure electric drive of the medium-sized passenger vehicle possible.

High-performance batteries have become a hot point of technological development. At present, China's power battery can achieve 1200 charge and discharge times, energy density is about 100Wh/kg, and the cost per kilogram of battery is about 400 yuan. By 2020, the power battery technology is expected to achieve 3,000 times of charge and discharge, energy density 300Wh/kg, cost per kilogram dropped to 30% today. Professor Ouyang Minggao of Tsinghua University stated that when the power battery's energy density reaches the level of 250Wh/kg-300Wh/kg, the EV users can really get rid of anxiety about the cruising range.

Dr. Du Jiangling, president of the General Motors China Academy of Sciences, said that many countries in China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, etc. are conducting research on power batteries. It is difficult to assess who is more advanced and whose direction is more correct. In addition to vehicle manufacturers, there are many small startup companies that are also conducting research on power battery technology, first modeling, trial production, and then small-batch, real-path testing... Because of the efforts of the entire industry, the next-generation power battery will soon reach 300Wh/kg level.

At this stage, hybrid power obviously has more advantages than pure electric drive. It not only has a mature technology structure and a consumer market, but also does not depend on the investment and construction of infrastructure. The first one-million-car sales were achieved, and the hybrid model took nine years; but it only took nine months to increase from four million to five million. According to statistics, China currently has about 15,000 hybrid buses and only 0.25 million pure-electric buses.