Extending EV Range with a Battery

Battery startup Our Next Energy (ONE) based in Novi, Michigan, is just one of many young companies that are trying to address the challenges that come with converting our transportation ecosystem from internal combustion to zero emissions. When I first wrote about ONE in mid-2021, it shared some of the basic ideas behind its new battery concept. Now that it has done a public demonstration with a Tesla Model S that reached 752 miles on a single charge, it has shared a bit more information. 

I met ONE founder and CEO Mujeeb Ijaz in early 2007 when he was leading a project at Ford Motor Company to develop an extended-range EV (EREV). Conceptually similar to the Chevrolet Volt, a modestly sized traction battery could be charged from a plug to provide energy to the motors for most propulsion. In place of the Volt’s internal combustion engine-driven generator to extend the range beyond the nominal capacity of the battery, Ijaz’s team used a hydrogen fuel cell. Ford Motor Company’s HySeries Drive Edge could go about 25 miles from a plug-in charge and another 200 miles with the fuel cell maintaining the charge in the battery. 

Following stints at A123 Systems and Apple, Ijaz is again working on EREV technology that uses a second battery system as the range extender. As with most fuel-burning vehicles, most EVs are rarely used to their full capability every day. With 75% of drivers going less than 40 miles per day, a 300-mile range is overkill for most uses, but it does get used sometimes. 

Maximizing Pack Filling

Besides range anxiety, Guidehouse Insights finds that the biggest barriers to EV adoption are charging availability, charging time, and vehicle cost. ONE’s approach tackles these challenges in the hybrid battery system. The traction battery that powers the motors makes up about one-third of the capacity. It is filled with prismatic lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells that are glued into a structural pack, which is similar to what has been proposed by Tesla, Volvo Cars, Stellantis, and others.

The other two-thirds of the pack consists of five banks filled with manganese-rich cells. Despite LFP cells having about 30%-40% lower energy density than the nickel-rich cells typically used in EV batteries, ONE achieves a density of 287 Wh/L compared with 232 Wh/L for the standard nickel cobalt aluminum battery in a Tesla Model 3. 

Extending the Range with Manganese

The manganese used for the cathodes costs about $1/kg compared with $22/kg in a nickel cobalt aluminum mix. On their own, these manganese cells might be good for about 200 charge cycles—less than one-tenth the LFP cycle life, which is not nearly enough for an EV. Given the limited daily miles that most drivers accumulate, an LFP traction battery will meet most driving needs with a long life. On the far less common long road trips, each of the manganese battery banks can individually replenish the LFP bank as needed. 

Ijaz expects this hybrid battery pack to have a lifespan of well over 500,000 miles and cost significantly less than nickel-rich batteries. While there is no single solution to affordable long-range EVs yet, layering multiple incremental solutions could provide similar benefits to solid-state cells by using more proven manufacturing techniques. 

ONE’s approach is not the only innovation in development. Solid-state batteries hold promise, as do some other chemistries such as lithium sulfur and aluminum ion. Any of these could be used in hybrid combinations. EV batteries are set to continue improving significantly in the coming years.