Advanced Battery Technologies Will Help Transform Our Energy Economy
The shift to a low-/no-carbon economy is already underway, made possible in large part by the rapid decline in the cost of solar, wind, and other renewable-energy technologies. Even in the early years of this 20+ year transition, it’s already producing substantial economic and environmental benefits,1 but several technical obstacles still must be overcome along the way to a vibrant, sustainable future. Perhaps the most immediate challenge we face is finding better ways to store electrical power produced by clean, but variable, sources for use whenever and wherever it's needed. Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have evolved rapidly since the pioneering work2 that eventually enabled Sony and Asahi Kasei to release the first commercial Li-ion battery in 1991. Since then, their performance has steadily improved while cost has declined, due to technical improvements and the economies of scale, made possible by a rapidly growing market. A recent Bloomberg-NEF (BNEF) analysis repod that the average cost of a Li-ion electric-vehicle (EV) battery pack dropped by 89% from $1,200/kWh in 2010 to $132/kWh in 2021.