Lithium–titanate battery

The lithium–titanate battery is a type of rechargeable battery, which has the advantage of being faster to charge than other lithium-ion batteries. Titanate batteries are used in Mitsubishi's i-MiEV^[1] electric vehicle and Honda uses them in its EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV.^[2][3] Opportunity charging in public transportation, such as large capacity electric bus project TOSA, is using the Titanate batteries high charging capability to partly recharge the battery in 15 seconds while passengers are disembarking and embarking at bus stops^[4]

A lithium–titanate battery is a modified lithium-ion battery that uses lithium-titanate nanocrystals on the surface of its anode instead of carbon. This gives the anode a surface area of about 100 square meters per gram, compared with 3 square meters per gram for carbon, allowing electrons to enter and leave the anode quickly. This makes fast recharging possible and provides high currents when needed.^[5]

A disadvantage of lithium-titanate batteries is that they have a lower inherent voltage (2.4 V), which leads to a lower energy density of about 30-110Wh/kg^[6] than conventional lithium-ion battery technologies (which have an inherent voltage of 3.7 V).^[7]

Brands and uses

Altairnano

Altairnano produce lithium–titanate batteries under the "Nanosafe" line, mainly for battery electric vehicles. Some vehicle manufacturers which announced plans to use Altairnano batteries includes Lightning Car Company, which plan to use them for Lightning GT, an all-electric sports car,^[8][9] Phoenix Motorcars, in its electric sport-utility vehicles,^[10] and Proterra, in its all-electric EcoRide BE35 vehicle, a lightweight 35-foot bus.^[11]

Altairnano has also deployed their lithium–titanate energy storage systems for electric grid ancillary services^[12] and in various military applications.^[13]

Leclanché

Leclanché is a Swiss battery manufacturer, founded in 1909. In 2006 acquisition of Bullith AG (Germany) to establish a Li-Ion manufacturing line in Germany. In 2014 the "TiBox" was launched on the market. The power content of the "TiBox" is 3.2kWh with 20'000 cycles.

Toshiba

An example of a SCiB battery

Toshiba released a lithium–titanate battery, dubbed Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB).^[14][15] The battery is designed to offer 90% charge capacity in just 10 minutes.^[16]

SCiB batteries are used in the Schwinn Tailwind electric bike.^[17] Toshiba has also demonstrated its use as a prototype laptop battery.^[18] Toshiba SCiB batteries are also used in Mitsubishi's i-MiEV and Minicab MiEV^[1] electric vehicles, and Honda uses them in its EV-neo electric bike and Fit EV model which will be launched in summer 2012.^[2][3]

Seiko

Seiko uses lithium titanate batteries in its recent Kinetic (automatic quartz) wristwatches. Earlier Kinetic watches used a capacitor to store energy but the battery gives larger capacity and longer service life. It can be replaced easily by a technician when its capacity eventually deteriorates to an unacceptable level.

YABO

YABO Power Technology released lithium titanate battery in 2012. The standard model YB-LITE2344 2.4V/15Ah battery cell has been used in electric vehicle and energy storage systems.

See also

• Battery (electricity)
• Electrochemical cell
• Energy storage
• Fuel cell
• Lithium iron phosphate battery

References

Galvanic cells Types Voltaic pile Battery Flow battery Trough battery Concentration cell Fuel cell Thermogalvanic cell Primary cell (non-rechargable) Alkaline Aluminium–air Bunsen Chromic acid Clark Daniell Dry Edison-Lalande Grove Leclanché Lithium Mercury Nickel oxyhydroxide Silicon–air Silver oxide Weston Zamboni Zinc–air Zinc–carbon Secondary cell (rechargeable) Automotive Lead–acid gel / VRLA Lithium–air Lithium–ion Lithium polymer Lithium iron phosphate Lithium titanate Lithium–sulfur Dual carbon battery Molten salt Nanopore Nanowire Nickel–cadmium Nickel–hydrogen Nickel–iron Nickel–lithium Nickel–metal hydride Nickel–zinc Polysulfide bromide Potassium-ion Rechargeable alkaline Sodium-ion Sodium–sulfur Vanadium redox Zinc–bromine Zinc–cerium Cell parts Anode Binder Catalyst Cathode Electrode Electrolyte Half-cell Ions Salt bridge Semipermeable membrane