The first innovation, projected to arrive in the next two years, is the silicon anode. EV batteries currently utilize an anode consisting of a copper foil coated with graphite. As Prachi Patel wrote last year for IEEE Spectrum, "Silicon promises longer-range, faster-charging and more-affordable EVs... It not only soaks up more lithium ions, it also shuttles them across the battery’s membrane faster. And as the most abundant metal in Earth’s crust, it should be cheaper and less susceptible to supply-chain issues." With silicon, we could be able to double current batteries' energy density and realize 10-minute fast-charging.
The second innovation, estimated at just over two years out to mass adoption, is the blade cell. Blade cells are longer and thinner than the current, conventional prismatic design. The form factor difference allows them to deliver more current, be cooled more efficiently, and packed more tightly. As icing on the cake, leading Chinese EV company BYD claims that its blade design passes a gold-standard safety test for EV batteries: it will never never spontaneously ignite.
The third innovation, slated to hit the market in three to four years, is dry coating. Currently, constructing batteries necessitates a time-consuming and environmentally-intensive process whereby an electrode material is combined with a solvent, applied to the current collector, then allowed to dry. Dry coating eliminates this process entirely. The result is an estimated 20 percent boost to a battery's energy density and a 10 percent reduction in costs.
The net result of these "transformative" battery innovations, and other minor tweaks, means that by 2030, EVs will be radically cheaper and vastly outperform today's models.
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