Will lithium titanate batteries become a new force in new energy vehicle battery technology?

　　Proponents of lithium titanate batteries say that no power battery is perfect. The word "mainstream" is just a hat held by the times. It is not a criterion for judging the quality of a company. The market is the "touchstone". "You might as well give the new technology some time and respect. Using facts to speak is the criterion for testing things right and wrong.

　　So, what exactly is the controversial lithium titanate battery?

　　Know about lithium titanate battery

　　According to the interpretation of relevant experts, lithium titanate itself cannot provide a lithium source, so it can only be used with electrode materials containing lithium. When lithium titanate is used as the positive electrode, the negative electrode can only be metal lithium or lithium alloy, and the voltage of the battery is about 1.5V at this time. Lithium titanate as a negative electrode and LiCoO2, LiMn2O4 and other positive electrode materials can form a battery with a voltage of about 3V.

　　Although lithium titanate can be used as both a negative electrode and a positive electrode, since the potential relative to Li+/Li is 1.5V, there is not much research and application as a positive electrode material. Therefore, the lithium titanate battery we usually refer to generally refers to the power lithium or energy storage battery with lithium titanate as the negative electrode.

　　What are the advantages of lithium titanate batteries

　　As a power battery, consumers are most concerned about the five key indicators of safety and stability, cycle life, wide temperature resistance, charging speed and energy density. Under current technical conditions, only batteries with balanced performance indicators can adapt to a wider operating environment, and while ensuring user safety, reduce use costs and improve use efficiency, thus becoming the mainstream of the market. Compared with traditional lithium manganate batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries, lithium titanate batteries have obvious advantages in these aspects.

　　1. Good safety and stability.

　　Once the traditional carbon electrode is overcharged after lithium insertion, metallic lithium is easily precipitated on the surface of the electrode, which will react with the electrolyte to produce flammable gas, which brings safety hazards. The potential of lithium titanate is higher than that of pure metal lithium, and it is not easy to produce lithium crystal branches, and the discharge voltage is stable, and therefore, the safety performance of the lithium battery is improved. A third-party organization once tested lithium titanate batteries and found that they did not emit smoke, fire, or explode under rigorous tests such as acupuncture, squeeze, and short circuit, and their safety was much higher than other lithium batteries. Therefore, many people in the industry believe that lithium titanate is very suitable for use in military and other fields that require extremely high battery stability.

　　The safety and stability of electric vehicles are the most important indicators for consumers. No matter how far the cruising range is, if the safety problem cannot be solved, the consumer is only driving a car with an untimely bomb, and the super-safe performance of the lithium titanate battery It will undoubtedly be favored by consumers.

　　2. Excellent fast charging performance.

　　Compared with carbon anode materials, lithium titanate has a higher lithium ion diffusion coefficient and can be charged and discharged at a high rate. While greatly shortening the charging time, the impact on the cycle life is small, and the thermal stability is also strong. According to the test, the lithium titanate battery developed by the latest technology can be fully charged in about ten minutes, which is a qualitative leap from traditional batteries.

　　Too long charging time has always been an obstacle that is difficult to overcome in the development of electric vehicles. Generally, slow-charging pure electric buses are used, and the charging time is at least 4 hours, and the charging time of many pure electric passenger cars is as long as 8 hours. Fast charging of electric vehicles is the future trend, and consumers do not want to waste too much time waiting for charging.

　　3. Long cycle life.

　　The battery cycle life determines the cost-effectiveness of the entire new energy vehicle, which is the main point of competition for future new energy vehicles after they are separated from the subsidy policy. The extension of the cycle life of car batteries makes it affordable and affordable for consumers.

　　Other traditional lithium-ion batteries, such as lithium iron phosphate batteries, will experience significant capacity degradation and shortened lifespan during use, which not only affects the normal use of users, but also increases the cost of battery replacement. This poor user experience is likely to discourage consumers from electric vehicles, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of the new energy vehicle industry. Lithium titanate batteries solve these problems well.

　　When charging and discharging lithium titanate batteries, the intercalation and deintercalation of lithium ions will not cause changes in the crystal structure of lithium titanate, so it has almost no effect on the structure of lithium titanate materials. Because of this, lithium titanate is also called "zero strain material". Compared with the current lithium iron phosphate battery with "slow charge for up to 5 years and fast charge for up to 2 years", the advantages of lithium titanate batteries are very prominent. According to the test data, the average cycle life of ordinary batteries is 3000 times, while the full charge and discharge cycles of lithium titanate batteries can reach more than 30,000 times. After 10 years of use as power batteries, they may be reused as energy storage batteries. 20 years. This also means that the lithium titanate battery can achieve the same life cycle as the vehicle, and the user does not need to replace the battery in actual use, and it hardly increases the subsequent cost.

　　4. Good performance in wide temperature resistance.

　　The spinel structure of the lithium titanate battery has a three-dimensional lithium ion diffusion channel, so the lithium titanate battery has excellent performance in high and low temperature performance. Generally, electric vehicles will have problems when charging and discharging at minus 10°C. Lithium titanate batteries have good wide temperature resistance and strong durability. They can be charged and discharged normally at minus 50°C to minus 60°C, regardless of whether they are frozen in ice. In the north, or in the hot south, the vehicles will not be affected by battery "shock", which eliminates the worries of users.

　　These advantages of lithium titanate batteries can greatly save charging station site construction and staffing costs, and are more suitable for promotion and application in the field of public transportation, and the public transportation system is the "main battlefield" for the promotion and application of new energy buses in my country. Feedback from the bus market, which currently has the highest proportion of new energy vehicles in the promotion and application of new energy vehicles, shows that the fast charging method is more suitable for the actual needs of the current bus market. A bus company in Handan, Hebei Province has been operating new energy buses using lithium titanate batteries for more than two years. The experience of the relevant person in charge is: "A car can be fully charged in 6-10 minutes, and the driver can take a break from shift. The gap can be filled."

　　Lithium titanate battery's "impact in the ointment"

　　Lithium titanate battery has obvious advantages, and its shortcomings are also obvious, such as relatively low energy density and weak endurance. After testing, the gram capacity of lithium titanate is 160-170mAh/g, which is only half of the traditional graphite anode material, and the potential for lithium is 1.5V, which will greatly lose energy density.

　　The charge and discharge of lithium batteries are completed by the migration of lithium ions back and forth. Lithium batteries of different battery systems consume the same lithium element per ampere hour. Therefore, the higher the energy density of the battery system, the higher the utilization rate of lithium elements, while lithium titanate batteries The energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries is less than half of that of lithium iron phosphate batteries, and the utilization rate of lithium elements is less than half of that of lithium iron phosphate batteries. This not only causes a serious waste of lithium resources, but also leads to high material costs for lithium titanate batteries. In addition, the cost of titanium is relatively high, and problems such as the lithium titanate process also need to be solved urgently. At present, the cost of ternary-lithium titanate batteries is about two to three times that of ternary-graphite batteries. The high cost limits the amount of lithium titanate batteries used when loading vehicles. This is an objective shortcoming of the technical route.