Breakthrough EV Battery Aims For A 1000km Driving Range

The driving range for EVs is improving all the time; longer driving distances between charges is one of the keys to getting more people to buy electric vehicles. Battery maker Innolith AG has announced that it is developing the world's first 1000 Wh/kg rechargeable battery. The battery is under development in the Innolith AG German laboratory and would pack enough energy inside to allow an EV to go 1,000km per charge.

In addition to the impressive driving range, the battery would also reduce costs "radically" thanks to avoiding exotic and expensive materials combined with a high energy density. Innolith uses a non-flammable inorganic electrolyte for the battery that makes the battery safer than conventional EV batteries that use a flammable organic electrolyte.

Eliminating that flammable electrolyte would remove the primary cause of battery fires that have been seen in the EV industry. Innolith calls the battery the Innolith Energy Battery, and it will come to market initially as a pilot in Germany.

Later the battery will be licensed with major battery and automotive companies. Innolith expects the development and commercialization of the battery to take three to five years. The battery breakthrough is the result of years of work according to the company. That work focused specifically on inorganic electrolytes and applications for rechargeable batteries.

The chemistry used in the battery has been proven capable of operating over 55,000 full-depth discharge cycles. That is between 10 and 100 times the maximum number of cycles conventional Li-ion batteries can handle that are in use today. Tesla's Model S 100D can go 335 miles, or about 540 km, per charge. The new battery promises to up that range to over 600 miles per charge.