Electric vehicles (EV’s for short) have been evolving steadily since Tesla stirred up the motoring world. We could say the same for their batteries, where lithium-ion still dominates despite environmental and safety concerns. However, there are signs of a leap forward in practical battery technology. Will this be further, steady EV battery evolution, or something more dramatic?
Comparing EV Battery Evolution And Revolution
Evolutionary change is incremental, and takes place gradually over time, according to Change Leader, Inc. Whereas revolutionary or transformational change is profound, irreversible, dramatic and fundamental.
So we could say we were in an evolutionary phase, if we kept on tweaking lithium-ion. Whereas we might have witnessed a revolution, if a new battery became the market leader and lithium-ion left center stage.
YTech News seemed to think we are somewhere between the two phases on April 8, 2024. The website did not appear to believe the demise of lithium-ion was imminent, although it did see major inroads by solid-state and lithium-sulfur batteries.
The Next Step in the Electric Vehicle (R)Evolution
Certainly, solid-state and lithium-sulfur batteries are knocking loudly at the door of change. They promise longer driving ranges, and shorter battery charging times. The market is not short of promises either. But we have yet to see these materialize on commercial scale.
Certainly, we are witnessing signs of more than EV battery evolution. New solid-state and lithium-sulfur battery designs are coming to the forefront, although we could say something similar for lithium-ion technology too. So we are not seeing sufficient evidence of a revolution, as yet.
Safer solid-state lithium batteries do offer higher density than lithium-ion, and they charge faster too. Lithium-sulfur could take these benefits further, but they don’t last as long. So yes, we could well be standing at the brink of an EV battery revolution, but we’ll have to wait for the motoring shows to be sure.
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