Tesla’s Technique to Reduce Cobalt Used In Lithium-Ion Batteries

According to Bloomberg News, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a conference call: Tesla has mastered the technology to reduce the amount of cobalt metal in lithium-ion batteries. The original words are: We think we can get Cobalt to almost nothing. Tesla is currently mass producing the Model 3, which is powered by a lithium-ion battery pack.

At present, cobalt is an important metal for the production of lithium ion batteries, and is mainly used for positive electrode materials of batteries, such as lithium cobalt oxide, lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) and the like. Cobalt can significantly increase the energy density of lithium batteries. It is estimated that by 2020, 75% of lithium batteries will use cobalt, because cobalt has the effect of increasing the battery life. However, about half of the world's cobalt comes from the Congo Republic in the war. Many people are worried about the stability of cobalt supply. Coupled with the soaring demand for cobalt in various countries, the price of cobalt has doubled. Therefore, reducing the amount of cobalt in a lithium ion battery has very practical significance.

As we all know, the biggest driving factor for the rise in cobalt prices is the release of China's new energy vehicle policy, and the ternary battery has boosted the price of cobalt. China Tungsten Online has analyzed that no matter how good the concept cannot withstand hype, it cannot last long. In 2017, the Chinese people paid too much attention and enthusiasm for pure electric vehicles, which led to the inconsistency of the contradiction between supply and demand of cobalt, and the price of cobalt was continuously overdrawn. Excessive rise in cobalt prices will inevitably lead battery manufacturers to look for other materials or technologies to replace or reduce the amount of cobalt used to seek cost-effectiveness.

So how should we reduce the amount of cobalt? From Musk's point of view, Tesla's future lithium-ion battery solution should be more nickel. The technical solution is to increase the amount of nickel used. The main role of nickel is to increase the energy density of the battery. This research direction is called high nickel ternary material. However, the increased use of nickel leads to a decrease in the structural stability of the corresponding electrode material, resulting in a significant reduction in cycle life and safety of the battery. Therefore, it is necessary to add other elements to optimize the electrolyte formulation. Tungsten.

It is reported that the lithium-ion battery for Tesla is Japan's Matsushita, one of the few companies in the world to master high-nickel ternary mass production technology, using nickel-cobalt lithium aluminate (NCA), the ratio is 8: 1.5:0.5. Tesla's previous disclosure to shareholders said that its lithium-ion battery has the highest energy density in the industry and solves the thermal stability problem after high nickel.

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