from chemistry to pack
Nigel
How much energy will a cell hold in 2030, or in 2035? (If you need a refresher on the two measures, see cell energy density.) Most answers to that question start from a target or a press release. This one starts from the cells themselves. We took every cell in our cell database that has … Read more
Jerry Wan’s post (right) asks whether cell design has a “golden ratio” for aspect ratio. He concludes that there isn’t a universal one, and that’s right. But the reasons are worth working through, because the best shape changes completely depending on where the tabs are and which edge the heat leaves by. A ratio that … Read more
CATL and Quibo’s Mobile Power Plant Ultra 2.0 packs up to 2,036 kWh, a converter, EV chargers and a solar inverter into a 20-foot container. What the IAA 2026 placard discloses, what it leaves out, and how it compares.
In 2019 the median 10-80% charge time for BEV road cars was 39 minutes. In 2026 that median has fallen to 22 minutes. The fastest quoted pack in our database is 6.5 minutes and that is the 3rd generation of CATL Shenxing pack. Over this timeframe there has been a steady increase in the peak … Read more
Selective Relithiation vs Pyro- and Hydrometallurgical Routes Recycling Processes and Recycling Process Engineering both mention direct recycling in passing, alongside the pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes. This post stays with direct recycling specifically, and with the step that makes it viable at all: relithiation, putting the lithium a degraded cathode has lost back where it belongs … Read more
The Battery Data Behind IAA Transportation 2026 IAA Transportation 2026 ran in Hannover from 15 to 20 September, and electrification was the theme running through most of the exhibitor announcements: Volvo, DAF, MAN, Scania and SANY all had electric truck news on the stand. The one battery-specific launch worth digging into in detail is CATL’s … Read more
Every solid-state battery announcement over the past year or so has come with a headline charge time: 15 minutes, 12 minutes, sometimes under 10. Feels like a limbo dance at a bar, getting lower and lower as we all get drunk on the lemonade. Lined up next to each other the claims look almost interchangeable, … Read more
“What are the benefits of a Magnesium battery pack enclosure?” arrived in my inbox with a link to the Estes Energy website. That got me looking at this particular design as a benchmark and also more generally about the use of magnesium as a structural material within the pack design. This post has been built … Read more
Single side busbars give you some advantages in designing cylindrical cells, but we have always known there is a resistance increase. Single Side 21700 Busbars If we look at the section through the cylindrical cell we see that the main can of the cell is the negative electrode. This can gets crimped onto the top-cap … Read more
An update on the Rivian R2 battery pack, now we have more information and more hard data. Trouble is the 2024 Investor Day R2 data left out a lot of the detail and the CEO updates in 2025 (Rivian R2 Pack – 2025 Update) were a little bit confusing. Time to again see if we … Read more