https://electrek.co/2019/09/13/tesla-patent-battery-cell-better-performance-cheaper/
Tesla is making a lot of moves in the battery space lately and now it has added a patent for a new longer-lasting battery cell with better performance and cheaper cost.
Last week, we reported on Tesla’s battery research partner, Jeff Dahn and his team at the Dalhousie University, unveiling the impressive results of tests on a new battery cell that could last over 1 million miles in an electric vehicle.
The new battery tested is a Li-Ion battery cell with a next-generation “single crystal” NMC cathode and a new advanced electrolyte.
Now Tesla has filed for a new patent on which Jeff Dahn and his team are listed as inventors and it’s for a new battery cell that sounds a lot like what was tested in the other research.
They describe the electrode in the patent application:
“In particular, positive electrodes made from single-crystal NMC532 have been shown to be particularly robust, in part because the grain size of NMC532 is larger than the grain size of other standard NMC materials that are more polycrystalline, having smaller grain sizes.”
The new patent focuses on a new battery cell using two additives in the electrolyte, vinylene carbonate (VC) combined with 1,2,6-oxodithiane-2,2,6,6-tetraoxide, in order to boost the performance of the cell.